In the News
Reviving the 1603 Cash-grant program for Smaller, More Innovative Renewable Energy Developers
July 15, 2020
The lockdown death of a 20-year-old day trader
The suicide of Alex Kearns — who thought he had lost heavily — has triggered calls for reform of online … Continue Reading
July 15, 2020
Lawmakers press Robinhood about investor protections on trading platform
Letter from Capitol Hill says the firm ‘must do better' in the wake of the suicide of a … Continue Reading
July 15, 2020
Should Banks Be Forced to Price In Climate Change?
June 30, 2020
House Democrats Call for ‘Negative Emissions’ in Climate Plan
June 08, 2020
This moderate Dem just might be the Hill's top climate nerd
April 13, 2020
Casten discusses how nonprofits can benefit from CARES Act
Some 300 to 400 nonprofit business leaders listened in Wednesday afternoon as U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, helped explain some of the inner workings of Congress' recently passed CARES Act. CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) was passed on March 30 to lend financial aid to businesses and individuals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, Casten was joined by Robert "Bo" Steiner, district director of the U.S. Small Business Association on a webinar to help … Continue Reading
February 25, 2020
Rep. Casten Discusses His Work to Combat Climate Change, State Issues
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, who serves the 6th Congressional District, discussed on Thursday afternoon his accomplishments and goals before the end of his term with the Northwest Herald.Using his tech expertise as former CEO of Turbosteam Corp. and Recycled Energy Development, using energy recycling technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emission and converting energy facilities to cleaner, more economic uses. Casten's mission, he said, is to set legislative agenda to avert "climate … Continue Reading
February 13, 2020
House Science Panel Advances Bipartisan Battery Storage Bill
A House committee advanced a bill that would direct the Energy Department to boost its research on batteries and other energy storage for utilities to better handle increased wind and solar power.The Better Energy Storage Technology Act (BEST Act) (H.R. 2986) was advanced by voice vote on Wednesday after the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee approved three amendments, also by voice vote. Those included an amendment making technical changes offered by the House bill's author, Rep. … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
Tackling Climate Change: A View from The Hill
Congressman Sean Casten is a first-term legislator representing Illinois' 6th congressional district, located in the suburbs west of Chicago.A scientist by trade (he has a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and biochemistry and two advanced degrees in engineering management and biochemical engineering), he's a clean energy entrepreneur and is dedicated to fighting climate change. Casten serves on the House Financial Services Committee, the Science, Space and Technology Committee, and the … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten Discusses State of Democracy at Town Hall in Algonquin
In the wake of the State of the Union address delivered by President Donald Trump last week, U.S. Rep. Sean Casten said he felt compelled to talk about the condition of our democracy at a town hall Saturday afternoon at the Ganek Municipal Center in Algonquin."I had an obligation to talk about some of the fiasco that was the State of the Union that became a reality television show for all in a Trump campaign rally," Casten told the Northwest Herald. "It was just disgusting. The fact that the … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
Democrats Pan, Republicans Applaud Kraninger’s Tenure at CFPB
At a hearing Thursday, Democrats castigated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathleen Kraninger, who wasn't willing to say that her agency needs to exist. "I will say it is very clear Congress determined that and it's my job to carry out the law," Kraninger said in response to House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who asked if she believed that CFPB was necessary.Facing further questioning from New York Democrat Gregory W. Meeks, Kraninger clarified her … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
Casten, Argonne Scientist Draw SOTU Spotlight to Climate Change
A freshman congressman is using President Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday to shine a spotlight on the need to address climate change by inviting along a veteran of the Manhattan Project who's now working on solar energy.U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove has decided to make Dieter Martin Gruen, a 97-year-old German Nazi refugee who went on to work on the World War II Manhattan Project and the U.S. nuclear naval fleet, his guest for the State of the Union in the nation's capital … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
Berwyn, Glen Ellyn Students Help Fight Food Insecurities During MLK Service Day Project
GLEN ELLYN - Students from Lincoln Middle School in Berwyn joined students from Glen Crest Middle School in Glen Ellyn and volunteers from United Cerebral Palsy Seguin of Greater Chicago on Jan. 18 to follow the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.To celebrate the annual MLK Day of Service, volunteers from UCP Seguin, a charitable nonprofit agency serving individuals with disabilities, and the middle school students filled the gymnasium of Glen Crest Middle School, 725 Sheehan Ave., Glen Ellyn, … Continue Reading
January 24, 2020
Greta Thunberg Responds to Steven Mnuchin Mocking Her at the World Economic Forum
Seventeen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made a dramatic speech Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.In her address, she called for a public and private sector divestment from fossil fuel companies"Immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels. We don't want these things done by 2050, or 2030 or even 2021 — we want this done now," she said.U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin mocked the teenager on … Continue Reading
January 23, 2020
Esteemed Physicist Tells North Central Crowd to Fight Hidden Racism on Martin Luther King Day
A recently retired Fermilab physicist who grew up in the South during the burgeoning civil rights movement challenged those gathered at North Central College's Martin Luther King Day breakfast Monday to speak out against subtle racism."Our state suffered not from the violence of bad people but the silence of good people," said Herman B. White Jr., now a Naperville resident, paraphrasing a letter written by King in 1963 from his jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, about 130 miles from White's … Continue Reading
January 21, 2020
Let’s Ban Secluded ‘Quiet Rooms’ in Schools Nationwide
Until recently, state Rep. Jonathan Carroll, a Northbrook Democrat, says he has avoided talking much in public about his childhood experiences with isolation punishment.But he was moved to blog about it after the chilling revelations in a recent investigation by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois of the disciplinary policy called "isolated timeout" or "quiet rooms," among other names.Diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at a time when the condition was still poorly … Continue Reading
January 17, 2020
Ed Department Urged To Ban Seclusion In Schools
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos should ban seclusion and prohibit certain restraint techniques in the nation's schools, a dozen lawmakers say.In a letter to DeVos this week, two senators and 10 members of Congress are calling for the Department of Education to update its 2016 guidance on restraint and seclusion, which data indicate are most frequently used on students with disabilities.The existing guidance advised against using restraint or seclusion for disciplinary purposes and said … Continue Reading
January 17, 2020
Ban Student Seclusion in Schools, Lawmakers Tell Betsy DeVos
After an investigation by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune found Illinois schools put children in "isolated timeout" for illegal reasons, a group of the state's federal lawmakers have asked U.S. Secretary of Education to ban seclusion in schools nationwide."We are gravely concerned by harmful student seclusion and restraint practices occurring in schools around our country," said a letter sent to DeVos Thursday by 11 Illinois Democrats, including organizer Rep. Sean Casten and … Continue Reading
January 15, 2020
Illinois Lawmakers Are Calling for a Nationwide Ban on Isolated Timeouts of Students
Four states currently ban the practice of secluding students at school. Illinois lawmakers want Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to make it 50. "This shouldn't be controversial," said U.S. Rep. Sean Casten.Saying tens of millions of children are at risk, two U.S. senators and 10 members of the House of Representatives, all but one of them from Illinois, on Wednesday urged the nation's top education official to tell schools to stop putting students in seclusion rooms.They also asked Secretary of … Continue Reading