Odds and ends for July 26

Drone flies near the Space Needle

SEATTLE (AP) — An Amazon.com employee from out of town was the operator of a drone that buzzed the Seattle Space Needle this week, police said.

Witnesses told police they saw the craft fly back into a fifth-floor room of a nearby hotel. Police contacted the man and he admitted operating the drone equipped with a camera Tuesday. He told authorities he wanted to try out the craft he recently purchased at a hobby shop.

Police had received reports that the drone had crashed into the landmark of Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair, but they saw no evidence of that.

The man showed officers video taken during the drone’s flight, police said. It showed people waving from the Space Needle’s observation deck but no indication that it had struck the tower.

The man agreed not to fly his drone in public while in town.

Amazon.com Inc. recently asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to use drones as part of plans to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less.

The FAA allows hobbyists and model aircraft makers to fly drones, but commercial use is mostly banned.

Amazon is asking for an exemption so it can test its drones in the U.S.

Prostate exam in 7th-inning stretch

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — A minor league baseball manager in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has done his part to spread prostate cancer awareness — he had a prostate cancer exam before a field packed with baseball fans.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ general manager Andy Milovich stuck his head out of the press box to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the 7th inning stretch while a doctor below and out-of-sight performed the screening.

Milovich agreed to have the exam in support of a 10-year-old girl suffering from brain cancer if her Facebook page got 10,000 “likes.” That number was reached Monday.

The team has held several events to help raise funds for the girl.