Ex-Alabama coach Nick Saban dragged into UAW's fight to unionize Mercedes plant
Saban, a co-owner in seven Mercedes-Benz dealerships, said his comments about college football unionization were used out of context in a pro-UAW ad.
UCF lab hosts NASA challenge, but ‘Lunar Knights’ robotics club has rough go
UCF’s robot looked the part but couldn’t do the job in the end.
The Lunar Knights robotics club was one of 43 university teams taking part in NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge on Tuesday on the final day of the first round of competition at the UCF’s Exolith Lab near the Orlando campus.
“The first time I walked in here, it was like a kid in a candy store. It was just like Disney World,” said UCF’s Samentha Simmons, 30, a computer science major and software engineer ahead of her teammates’ attempt. “I’ve always wanted to be in robotics and aerospace, so the second I walked in here, seeing all the teams and seeing all the different designs, and knowing it was all part of NASA too, it was the most amazing feeling in the world.”
The goal for each team was to have its robotic rover navigate the obstacles of simulated moon terrain cooked up by the lab and create a berm of lunar regolith. In other words, dig up moon dirt and build a pile.
Members of the University of Central Florida’s robotics team carry their entry out of the competition court after it failed to start in the national NASA Lunabotics Challenge, at the UCF Exolith Lab, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)Four members of each team donned white scrubs with booties on their feet and masks to enter the arena, a giant sandbox made up of the course rocky grains designed to mirror the lunar south pole.
Seminole hotel guests may soon fund new indoor events complex in county
Seminole County commissioners took the first step Tuesday toward building a large indoor complex for sports tournaments and other events estimated to cost more than $65 million.
Commissioners approved forming a tourism improvement district (TID) which allows hotels with more than 65 rooms to tack on an extra fee to a guest’s bill for each room night’s stay.
County officials and hoteliers have long said Seminole needs an indoor venue for events that attract visitors and fill hotel rooms.
“We need to continue to build tourism here and this is the next step,” said Bruce Skwarlo, general manager of the Orlando Marriott Lake Mary and chair of Seminole’s Tourist Development Council. “This is going to drive room nights. … This is going to be wonderful for our citizens.”
The TID assessment would be set and collected by hoteliers. The revenue would fund building and maintaining the indoor facility — proposed for a 28-acre site near the Boombah Sports Complex and Orlando Sanford International Airport.
8 automakers misled customers about giving driver data to police, lawmakers say
The lawmakers’ findings raise questions about whether automakers can be held to account for departing from promises made about user privacy.
Input from young and aspiring technicians wanted for survey
TechForce Foundation is soliciting feedback from new technicians and high school and post-secondary students enrolled in automotive training programs for its inaugural Techs Talk survey.