Helicopters and airplanes such as these will be seen flying to the Havana Pancake Breakfast and Fly-In. This year’s event will be held June 23, starting at 7 a.m. Adult rides for hire will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon.

STATE

Gubernatorial candidates contribute to mansion repairs

After an almost $15 million renovation, Gov. Bruce Rauner and his wife, Diana, have moved back into the Governor’s Mansion in downtown Springfield. Rauner and his opponent in the November election, J.B. Pritzer, have both donated to the effort. So, whoever is the mansion’s next occupant, he has helped in the effort to make the mansion livable again.

Diana Rauner, the governor’s wife, has co-chaired the non-profit Illinois Governor’s Mansion Association, which raised the money for the work from private donors.

And, it turns out, a couple of those donors are Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker, and his wife, M.K. The Pritzker campaign says M.K. Pritzker was on the mansion association board before her husband’s bid for the office. A list of all donors is expected to be released this week.

The Rauners do not live in the mansion full time, but use it when they are in Springfield and for governmental social functions.

A July 14 event is being planned to reopen the mansion to the public.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Pancake breakfast, fly-in at Havana

The Harvey Tapscott Memorial Fly-In and Pancake Breakfast will be held at the Havana Regional Airport June 23, six miles south of Havana on Route 97.

This is the 12th year that a fly-in and breakfast have been hosted at the Havana airport. The public is invited to enjoy a breakfast of pancakes and sausages and to get an up-close look at the airplanes that will be on display on the parking pad that day. They will also get to see a variety of airplanes landing and taking off as pilots from throughout Central Illinois arrive.

Air craft expected include everything from home-built bi-planes to commercial Air Tractors.

Returning to the annual event will be a group of World War II re-enactors who will be set up on the airport grounds.

Breakfast will be served from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

The airport is located about six miles south of Havana, just off Route 97. Watch for signs. The event is hosted by the local EAA Chapter 1420, which has named the event in honor of one of their founding members, the late Harvey Tapscott.

New this year will be a Friday night outdoor movie as a warm-up to the event. The movie will be shown outdoors at dusk, and the audience is invited to fly in or drive in and bring lawn chairs. Popcorn will be provided.

PEORIA

Public schools hiring for variety of positions

Peoria public schools have more than 100 job vacancies, ranging from cafeteria help to openings for teachers at every grade level and subject area. The district also needs counselors, social workers, facility maintenance workers and more. If you’re interested in filling one of the district’s open positions, go to hskyweb.psd150.org/.

Hotel closed 5 years ago expects to open in October

Peoria’s largest downtown hotel is expected to reopen in October, five years after it closed. The Four Points by Sheraton, 500 Hamilton Blvd., closed for repairs in October 2013. Since then, the hotel was sold twice and stood idle for various periods while minor repairs turned into a major overhaul.

Iowa-based Hawkeye Hotels purchased the 323-room hotel at auction, initially planning to reopen in early 2017. But various problems have impeded remodeling progress. A burst pipe in January caused damage on five floors of the hotel, damaging 45 rooms that had already been renovated.

One of the major renovations was the overhaul of the swimming pool, which dated from 1956 and had to be rebuilt.

Airport is ranked in fast-growing group

Peoria International Airport is the nation’s third fastest-growing, a new report from Bloomberg says.

Data from aviation consultants ICF Inc. said Peoria had a growth rate of 28.7 percent over the past two years. Only Destin, Fla. and Asheville, N.C. grew more quickly. 

The Peoria airport was ranked third in capacity for small airports with between 5,000 and 25,000 seats. Over the last two years, seats were added on flights to and from Dallas, Charlotte and Destin. 

Air traffic to Destin and Asheville is largely driven by tourism.

New computer platform uses 3D to teach complex concepts

A new virtual reality teaching platform could make teaching in 2D for some courses obsolete. Instead of sitting quietly through a lecture or trying to absorb complex information from a book, students step into a three-dimensional environment free from distractions, thanks to advancements made by Enduvo.

After loading Enduvo into a gaming computer and putting on a VR headset, they stand beside a virtual instructor with the power to rewind and pause. Students can explore a variety of informational media hanging in the air around them, and even enlarge a medium — like a three-dimensional beating heart — to the point where they can walk inside it.

Enduvo is the product of the Advanced Imaging and Modeling Program at Jump Simulation. A huge strength of the software is its ability to bring three dimensions into the mostly 2D world of learning. Complex 3D problems can now be shown in 3D.

Enduvo is the first commercial product to come out of ARCHES, an endowment that supports collaboration between engineers from the University of Illinois College of Engineering and health care providers at OSF HealthCare and University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. Already some large entities have shown interest in using Enduvo, including the National Institutes of Health, which is building a VR lab in Uganda where the software will be used to teach doctors working in rural areas.

–Peoria County News Briefs–