University of Alabama lunabotics team looking to defend championship
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – May 15
The University of Alabama is preparing to defend their claim to an international championship.Last year, the University’s team took home the prize in NASA’s Lunabotics Competition. On May 20, 2013, the students will return to the Kennedy Space Center to compete again. The 20-person team has built a lunar robot this year. The robot is designed to collect lunar soil. For NASA, it’s almost like crowdsourcing ideas from some of the nation’s brightest newcomers.
Alabama grad Hunter Bell wins NBC’s ‘Fashion Star’ reality show, $3 million prize
Al.com – May 15
University of Alabama graduate and New York City-based fashion designer Hunter Bell scored a $3 million prize after winning NBC’s second season of “Fashion Star.” The Florence, S.C., native showcased her fashion sense and skills during the springtime reality series and won the opportunity to debut her own collection with three top U.S. retailers. Bell, 32, officially won $3 million in orders for capsule collections in Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Express stores. “This competition is all about perseverance, listening, challenging yourself and being challenged,” Bell said in a recent release. “Throughout the competition, I just kept reminding myself to run the race with fierce endurance and press on toward that goal. And, in that final moment, when I crossed that finish line … there was just an amazing sense of accomplishment and feeling of acceptance in this industry. It’s very surreal to have all three buyers say ‘We want you.’ That’s what all designers want to hear on a daily basis.”
Druid City Garden Project hosts ribbon cutting for greenhouse at University Place Elementary
Al.com – May 16
Principal Deron Cameron and third grader Emily Johnson cut the ribbon on a new greenhouse on the grounds of University Place Elementary School in the Forest Lake area Wednesday afternoon during a short ceremony hosted by the Druid City Garden Project. A collaborative effort, the greenhouse was funded by the school system, constructed by members of the University of Alabama’s Engineers Without Borders and filled with benches built by high school students from the Tuscaloosa Center for Technology. The greenhouse sits next to a vegetable and herb garden behind the school that was created three years ago and restored after the tornado. Cameron said DCGP’s involvement in the school allowed his students to learn hands-on about the science involved in growing plants.
SW Alabama highway officials unclear on effects of lower drunken driving threshold
Al.com – May 15
In 2011 Mobile County recorded the second highest number of alcohol-related traffic deaths in the state according to numbers from the National Transportation Safety Board, a group which Tuesday recommended lowering the legal blood alcohol content levels nationwide. The NTSB, a federal agency charged with investigating methods to lower transportation accident rates, suggests the legal blood alcohol percentage be lowered from .08 to .05 … According to preliminary 2012 numbers from the University of Alabama’s Critical Analysis Reporting Environment (CARE) System, 366 Mobile County crashes were primarily caused by drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In Baldwin County, 211 DUI crashes were reported while there were 52 in Escambia County. Area law enforcement officials have been working to curb the number of alcohol-related accidents through the Bay Area Selective Enforcement Program (BASE), a joint effort between officials in the three counties.
Creative writer Michael Martone to speak as part of a literary double header
Flagstaff Live – May 16
As summer approaches, the thoughts of wistfully reading a book for pleasure or catching up with a favorite novelist during vacation come to mind. And, it’s in this time that Flagstaff has a double header of literary events to prime the interest and get the pages turning. Well known given its 16-year run is the Northern Arizona Book Festival. It happens at the Coconino Center for the Arts on Sat, May 18 from 10 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. The event is free, except for the headliner event featuring Pam Houston, which is $5. Learn more at www.nazbookfest.org/wp. Also this week is Northern Arizona University’s annual High Altitude Summer Writing Institute, with visiting creative nonfiction author Michael Martone. He will give a reading that’s free and open to the public on Thu, May 16 at 7 p.m. in the Liberal Arts Building, 120. He also will host a writer’s workshop Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Learn more by emailing Nicole Walker at nicole.walker@nau.edu. A creative writing professor at the University of Alabama, Martone has received accolades from many critics and writers for his ability to blend and bend fact and fiction and genre and practice. His 2008 collection “Racing in Place,” as an example, is part memoir, part family history and possibly part fiction.
Fishing’s Future lends a helping hand
Tuscaloosa News – May 11
As principal of the alternative school in Port Isabel, Texas, Shane Wilson, noticed something about the kids who were sent to him. “They are lacking adult interaction and active engagement with adults,” Wilson said. “That’s why I started Fishing’s Future. Parents are not getting involved in the lives of their children.” Fishing’s Future is a non-profit organization that aims to get parents involved in their children’s lives and to reconnect children with nature. “Families are working all the time,” Wilson said. “Kids are always inside. They’re never spending time in nature. They’re always on their cell phones or Facebook.” So Fishing’s Future’s approach has been to educate both parents and children with family fish camps. The first of three in Tuscaloosa this year was held May 5 at Lake Tamaha. The University of Alabama Fly Fishing Club started a local chapter of Fishing’s Future.