When electric school bus manufacturer Lion Electric opened its sprawling 900,000 square-foot factory in Channahon last year, Gov. JB Pritzker and both Illinois senators attended the ceremony. The facility — the first new vehicle assembly plant to open in metropolitan Chicago since 1965 — was hailed as a source of good jobs and a step forward into a carbon-free future.

Lion Electric, an electric bus manufacturing company, announced hundreds of layoffs this month and suspended its operations in a Chicago suburb,

Gov. JB Pritzker and other state leaders cut the ribbon on the facility back in July 2023.