Rivian

Documents obtained by WGLT show Rivian trying to make its case for why its Normal properties are significantly overvalued and overtaxed. Millions of tax dollars are at risk for Unit 5 schools and other local taxing bodies.

Unit 5 leaders say Rivian’s fight to lower its property tax bill could cost the school district as much as $6.8 million in lost revenue — uncertainty that looms over Unit 5’s budget planning.

The electric automaker Rivian confirmed Thursday it plans to add a second shift for R2 production at its Normal manufacturing plant within the next two months.

The electric automaker Rivian has sued the Trump administration to get its refund on tariffs it paid that the courts later ruled were illegal.

As the City of Bloomington considers how to get more water in the future, planners could look to the city of Joliet for an example. One of the options under study by Bloomington would be for the city to build a pipeline to the Illinois River.

Bloomington-Normal could soon be home to a second state-supported manufacturing training academy — this time based at Rivian. State officials announced the development during a visit to Rivian on Tuesday.

Gov. JB Pritzker visited Rivian’s new manufacturing plant in Normal on Tuesday and suggested that the company’s new R2 model could open up the market for EVs to middle-income buyers in the same way that Ford’s Model T did for regular cars a century ago.

The new R2 — Rivian’s first mass-market vehicle — was the focal point of Thursday’s first-quarter earnings call. R2 production began last week in Normal. They’ll reach customers later this spring.

Two years after announcing a new model would be built first in Normal, the first Rivian R2s built for real customers rolled off the production line on Wednesday.

A group of workers trying to unionize Rivian’s manufacturing plant in Normal say they are growing frustrated with an apparent pullback in support from the United Auto Workers.