Next May, Holiday World amusement park will look a little different as the owners said they plan to expand and add new attractions.

Holiday World announced Friday they will “add a classic swinging ship ride” named the Mayflower to its Thanksgiving-themed section of the park. The ride will hold ups to 60 riders and swing 54 feet in the air over a pool of water.

Park president, Matt Eckert, said Holiday World has a few projects set for 2014.

Projects for 2014 include:

• Friday Night Fireworks (Friday evenings from June 13 through August 1)
• Extended Splashin’ Safari hours
• Summer Fun Card program, for multi-day summer visits
• New restaurant and shop in Splashin’ Safari
• Covered-bridge entry to Thanksgiving section
• More cabanas
• Additional benches and shade structures
• Parking lot improvements

Eckert said the improvements will cost about $8 million and the cost will not translate to an increase in ticket prices.

Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari will reopen to the public on September 14 and 15 after being closed this weekend for private outings. Happy Halloween Weekends begin September 21.

Pekin native Janet Hattabaugh, 25, who now lives and works in Nashville, will hold a CD release party this Sunday at Pekin Park.

The event, from 2-5 p.m., is open to the public.

Hattabaugh will be performing with her band, and guest musicians performing will be the Lanny Hatt band and Josh Glauber.

Hattabaugh moved to Nashville in 2010 to further her music career. Her new CD “Corners Of My Mind” contains six songs that she wrote or co-wrote in Nashville; the last track won the 2012 Hard Rock Café songwriter Nashville contest.

She’s excited to have her CD release party in her hometown and for her community to hear her new music along with some old favorites. Red Neck Food vendor will be present, bring a chair or blanket and the whole family out to enjoy a Sunday afternoon of music.

A Schererville woman, along with her friend from Cedar Lake, are going to strap on full-body industrial harnesses and lower themselves over the side of a Chicago Loop hotel this afternoon  to raise money for the Respiratory Health Association.

Janet Sicnicki  (sin-NICKY) says “Team Andy” will go off the roof of the Hotel Witt at State and Lake Streets for their Skyline Plunge.  Sinicki and her friend Rose started their fundraising efforts on behalf of a Crown Point man who received a lung transplant.

Janet says she reached her goal of one-thousand dollars and Rose is working on her own goal.  Janet will undergo some pre-plunge training, on a lower floor, after she arrives at the hotel.

As governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels launched a 10-year highway-building push, and reached into Hank Williams‘ songbook to dub it “Major Moves.”
So there was a touch of deja vu when Purdue, where Daniels is now president, announced a rollout this week of what a news release calls the university‘s “next big moves.”

Those moves involve answering a question Daniels posed when his selection as president was first announced: how to bring a college education in sync with an increasingly digital world. Daniels says Purdue will rethink just what classroom time is for:

A piece of history will be dedicated just before IU plays Navy Saturday night, and it has nothing to do with football.
Another piece of the World War Two battleship the USS Indiana will officially go on display outside Memorial Stadium on the Bloomington campus.

The prow of the ship – the forward-most part of the bow – was purchased earlier this year from the family of Frank Spenger, who had displayed the prow for years outside his seafood restaurant in Berkeley, California.   IU Athletic Director Fred Glass says an alumnus saw the prow during a trip to Berkeley and wrote a letter to the editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times asking IU‘s president, Michael McRobbie, to try to bring it back to Indiana.

“Lori, the president‘s wife, read it in the paper and brought it to the president‘s attention,” Glass said.  “Through a lot of work from a lot of different people, the local (IU) alumni association in California was able to get it and donate it back to the university.”   The prow has since been restored and is on the stadium‘s west concourse along with the Indiana‘s mainmast and two of the ship‘s gun mounts.

The gun mounts and mainmast have been outside the stadium since 1966.  “We are Memorial Stadium, and there‘s a certain obligation that goes along with the name to make sure we‘re finding different ways to honor the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces,” said Glass.  IU had already scheduled Navy – the Hoosiers lost to the Midshipmen 31-30 in Annapolis last year – before there was talk of obtaining the battleship prow.

But Glass says connecting the prow to the Navy game was a natural once the deal was done.  “We‘ve got the Midshipmen in town, but we‘ll also have the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus here.

The Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, Vice Admiral Michael Miller will be here.  Both of our United States Senators will be here…. We‘re treating it as a major event.”
Built in 1942, the USS Indiana was part of the invasions of the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands and Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater.  The ship earned nine battle stars during the war, but was decommissioned in 1947, when large battleships were no longer a requirement for warfare.

It was sold for scrap in 1963.   The dedication of the prow will be part of a pre-game ceremony that will include the dedication of “the tallest flagpole in college football” according to Glass.

It will take place in the hour or so before the 6:00pm kickoff.

“Old Settlers’ Days is one of the most exciting times of the year at The Depot railroad museum,” says Cecil J. Smith, the volunteer stationmaster.

“We have model trains running, tours of the 1929 Monon caboose and the Monon motor car house.; exhibits in The  Depot building, and plenty of good food for sale in the Depot Diner.”

Old Settlers’ Day is Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21 and 22. Depot hours for that weekend are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Many of Salem’s Old Settlers’ Days activities are centered at the John Hay Center. Craft booths, demonstrators, old time games, and other forms of entertainment will provide something for everyone.

The Depot, which is part of the John Hay Center, will host music groups on its front platform. A large tent set up in the parking lot will provide an enjoyable place to sit in the shade to hear various groups perform.

The Depot diner will offer barbecue sandwiches and low fat hot dogs. Chips and drinks will also be available.

New this year is a 3,000 square foot addition which houses a new meeting and display room on the main floor, and a basement level that serves as the world headquarters and archives room for the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society, Inc.

Depot volunteers will be available both days to conduct tours and answer questions.

Shelbyville residents are fighting plans from a Nebraska company to build a 500 million dollar power plant in the area.

They say the natural gas-fueled plant would damage and disrupt their quiet way of life.

The proposed project is called the Blue River Generating Station and would encompass nearly 100 acres next to the Bunge soybean mill.

Company officials say they have addressed any environmental concerns and that the air permits will be regulated by the state and by the federal government.

Plans for the power plant will be discussed at next week’s town council meeting in Morristown.

The latest commercial real estate figures show the markets are improving, but certain factors are hampering progress.  Cassidy Turley Regional Vice President Jason Tolliver says the vacancy rate for commercial real estate in Indiana now stands at 13% compared to 12.9% back in 2007.  Tolliver says the figure for industrial properties is even better; 13.5% now compared to 14% back in 2007.  Tolliver says the vacancy rate was upwards of eight percent higher in 2009.  The vacancy rate or occupancy rate basically tracks the percentage of available office space for businesses.  In short, business demand for space as an indicator of economic health. Tolliver says the property markets are improving, but not fast enough.  He says lending to small and medium-sized businesses remains an issue along with lack of clarity out of Washington on public policy.  Despite that, Tolliver expects 2013 to be a strong year for commercial real estate.

Indiana State Police are continuing Operation Blue Light with Ohio State Police. Troopers from both states have been conducting saturation points along I-70. From June 1st through August 31st, troopers made over 37,000 traffic stops, including 185 drug arrests. Officers also seized over 2,000 pounds of marijuana, 48 pounds of cocaine, 25 pounds of K2 and 7 pounds of bath salts.

The state‘s moped laws might get a much-needed update.

A coalition of lawmakers, law enforcement, and business leaders is making an effort to improve moped safety.

State Representative Milo Smith (R-Columbus) has been trying to get mopeds licensed for the last 4 years but he thinks this might be it.

Smith says registering mopeds would be a great start to better safety for everyone on two and four wheels, as Indiana‘s laws haven‘t been updated since 1971.