Biotechnology

Plans to convert a vacant former mental health facility and homeless shelter near the south end of Peoria’s Warehouse District into a 12-bedroom halfway house for parolees are on hold for at least three weeks.

Veloxity Labs is a new biotech startup founded right here in Peoria.

A group of Peoria-area community and business leaders hope to develop the city into a major biomanufacturing center in the next several years. Among them is Jake Becraft, a Metamora High School graduate who is co-founder and CEO of a Massachusetts-based biomanufacturing start-up.

Two Illinois lawmakers have proposed a plan to offer tax credits to biotechnology businesses in hopes of boosting agricultural jobs in central Illinois.…