Workforce & Training: Northwest Shoals Community College’s FAME team took second nationally at the 2026 FAME National Conference in Jacksonville, presenting lean problem-solving solutions and earning runner-up honors in the advanced “Second Year Students Presenting MCE 4” category. Energy & Grid Resilience: A new look at U.S. power planning says extreme heat is shifting from a tail risk to a design baseline, with reliability groups flagging early-summer heat overlapping spring maintenance as a recurring concern. Advanced Manufacturing & Materials: Helios Horizon says it completed the first human-piloted flight using solid-state battery propulsion out of Zephyrhills, aiming to make electric aviation more viable with better range and faster charging. Space Tech for Industry: NASA Kennedy sent a deployable wastewater treatment system to the University of North Dakota to test separate-stream recycling for long-duration Moon/Mars missions. Policy for Florida Agriculture: Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart backed House passage of the FY27 agriculture and FDA funding bill, including major citrus health support. Solar Industry Move: Suniva and SUNation signed a definitive reverse merger deal to accelerate U.S. solar cell manufacturing under the Suniva name. Events: METALCON returns Oct. 7–9 in Orlando with expanded hands-on training, market outlooks, Florida contractor CE credits, and a new Spanish-language Latino Track.