The Illinois FILM Office released numbers that show Illinois’s film industry continues to grow, with estimated spending in 2016 reaching $499 million. Working with 345 different projects supporting over 13,000 jobs, spending by the film industry was up 51 percent from last year.

Illinois has become a center of film and television thanks to various factors from the tax incentives available to the wide-ranging talent. That talent has grown so much that Chicago has been named one of the top 10 cities for the third consecutive year to live as a filmmaker.

NBC currently has three shows in its lineup with more coming this spring that are filmed on location in Chicago; “Chicago Med”, “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Fire”. “Chicago Justice”, which dramatizes the people of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, airs in March.

Fox’s Emmy-nominated “Empire” is set in New York but filmed in Chicago.

The film industry in Illinois is not just confined to traditional cable networks either. Netflix and Amazon film shows in Chicago with Netflix filming “Easy” and “Sense8” and Amazon filming “Patriot”.

A large part of the growth can be attributed to Illinois’s 30 percent tax credit on all film expenditures. The tax credit is only one in the nation that sets a diversity standard in an attempt to generate opportunity in economically disadvantaged areas.

For more information about the Illinois Film Tax Credit and all Illinois has to offer to the film industry, you can visit the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s film office.

Koval Distillery, the largest craft distiller in Illinois, will quadruple its operation in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood thanks in part to a new state law that enabled it to boost production and make a stronger investment in the local economy.

Koval president Sonat Birnecker Hart told the Chicago Tribune that the distillery is committed to staying in Chicago.

With the purchase of the building Koval has been using on North Ravenswood Avenue, the company will increase its 11,000-square-foot operation to more than 45,000 square feet. This purchase will allow the distillery to combine its multiple locations under one roof and to increase its production from 70,000 gallons to 100,000 gallons each year.

A new state law in Illinois increased the production cap for craft distillers from 35,000 gallons to 100,000.

Koval was established in 2008 and produces organic whiskey and spirits. The company makes its products from scratch, contracting with local farmers to grow their grain and milling it on site. All of Koval’s whiskeys are “single barrel expressions” to ensure a pure flavor. The company has won numerous awards, including a gold medal for its bourbon whiskey at the International Whisky Competition and a platinum award for its rose hip liqueur from the Spirits International Prestige Awards.

Koval employs about 40 workers and expects to hire more after the expansion. It also plans to build a new tasting room to attract tourists and show visitors how spirits are made.

Champaign is among the fastest-growing cities in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, Champaign saw a 1.5 percent population bump, similar to three of the country's 15 largest cities (Dallas, Columbus and Jacksonville). Champaign grew from 84,805 to 86,906 during that time, according to new estimates.

That makes it the 380th-largest city nationwide and No. 10 in Illinois, just behind Elgin.

Read more at the Champaign News-Gazette.

Illinois leads all other states in green building design, construction and transformation for the third year in a row, according to new rankings announced.

The U.S. Green Building Council each year reveals the top 10 states for LEED-certified spaces. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

As state economies reap some of the benefits of lower energy costs, the Illinois economy grew more than its neighboring states and remains the top performer in the region, according to new 2014 data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.