Kimako Patterson, chief of staff at the Illinois State Board of Education, said that in the last two years, a total of 62,644 “newcomers” have arrived in the state’s schools: people age 3-21 who were born outside of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico and have been attending school in the U.S. for less than three years. She said those students come from 147 different countries, led by Mexico, Colombia, Ukraine, India and Venezuela.

Brian Granahan, the acting director of the Illinois Power Agency, said the current pace for solar developments is doing its part to help the state meet its renewable energy goals, but other renewables are falling short.