State and local elected officials blasted Peoples Gas Thursday at a City Hall news conference, saying the utility was misspending ratepayers’ money on new gas mains.

An affordability crisis is looming, Illinois PIRG’s Abe Scarr said, adding that he worries that those that can’t afford their bills will heat their homes with their ovens or other unsafe methods, or keep the heat at a dangerously low temperature. [A.D. Quig/The Daily Line]