With more than 6,500 employees working for nearly 100 aerospace and aviation businesses, the Rockford region is a national leader in the aerospace industry. Rockford’s reach is so great, it can boast that every airplane being constructed today includes parts made or designed in the area.

Companies are drawn to the region’s highly skilled workforce, Midwestern work ethic and access to an extensive transportation network. Rockford’s location just 70 miles from O’Hare International Airport also affords it access to Chicago’s major markets and facilities.

In the last few years, several large-scale expansions have solidified the Rockford region’s presence in the aerospace industry. Woodward Aircraft Turbine Systems recently completed a $300 million expansion that will add 1,000 employees by 2021. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University also recently expanded, constructing a new facility that doubled the size of their original location.

Illinois’ role in the aerospace industry also extends beyond Rockford. Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company with nearly 165,000 employees throughout the country, is headquarted in Chicago, moving from Washington State in 2001. Less than a mile away, the Willis (Sears) Tower is headquarters for United Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the country.

Learn more:
Rockford’s hopes soar on strength of its aviation, aerospace industry – Chicago Tribune

Alley Mills, known for her roles on The Wonder Years, The Bold and the Beautiful and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was born in Chicago on May 9, 1951.

Mills’ acting career kicked off during college when she landed a role in the 1970 film Diary of a Mad Housewife. She graduated from Yale in 1973 and then honed her acting skills at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.  Her first television role was on a sitcom called The Associates, a short-lived show about a recent law school graduate.

Perhaps her most noteworthy role came as Norma Arnold, the mother of three on the show The Wonder Years. The show depicted a family during the countercultural 1960s dealing with the typical family crises. After its first season on the air, it won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1988.

The Wonder Years eventually ended in 1993 and Mills took a role on the drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman as Jane Seymour. In addition to these roles she has made numerous guest appearances on television series.

Learn more:
Alley Mills – IMDb

Comedian Richard Pryor had a statue erected in his honor recently in his hometown of Peoria. Pryor was a very successful stand-up comedian and actor who used humor to bring attention to the troubles of being an African-American man during the 20th century.

Pryor was born on December 1, 1940 to Gertrude and LeRoy Pryor and had a less than conventional childhood. He spent a significant portion of his childhood growing up in his grandmother’s brothel, and frequented the local movie theaters to escape this environment. After working multiple jobs in Peoria, he spent two years in the U.S. Army, where he developed a knack for performing in theaters. This helped him realize that his true calling was comedy, and he then spent time in New York and Las Vegas to sharpen his skills.

He began in the film industry with a role in the 1967 movie The Busy Body, followed by many other roles spanning a 13 year period. He flourished as a stand-up comedic, though his raunchy and foul-mouthed delivery style did not play well with all crowds.  He performed his comedy routine frequently in front of sold-out theaters, and many of them, like Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin’, were recorded and sold after the fact.

Peoria’s statue in his honor is over 9 feet tall and was unveiled before hundreds of people on Sunday, May 3.

Learn more:
Richard Pryor statue unveiled in his Illinois hometown - WGN News
Richard Pryor - IMDb.com

More than 3,500 athletes gathered at Eckersall Stadium on Chicago’s South Side on Monday, celebrating the beginning of Special Olympics Chicago’s Spring Games.

Founded in the 1960’s by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics gives athletes with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to compete with their peers in a variety of athletic events. In 1968, the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago, drawing more than 1,000 athletes from across the country.

Since that time, more and more athletes have participated in Special Olympics, with an estimated 4.4 million athletes involved in Special Olympics events worldwide in 2014.

Learn more:
Special Olympics Illinois
Special Olympics ceremony kicks off spring games in Chicago - Chicago Sun-Times

Cities across the United States are celebrating Cinco de Mayo today with festivals, parades and other public events.

The holiday is a celebration of the Mexican army’s defeat of the French in an 1862 battle during the Franco-Mexican War, which lasted from 1861 until 1867. Widely celebrated in the United States as a celebration of Mexican-American culture, the holiday is not nearly as celebrated in Mexico outside of Puebla, where the defeat of the French took place.

Celebrations over the weekend brought an estimated 100,000 people to Chicago’s Douglas Park in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, which included a parade on the city’s West Side.

Learn more:
Cinco de Mayo – History.com
Cinco de Mayo celebrations begin with West Side parade - ABC 7 Chicago