Regulatory Update

Trenton – September 23, 2026 -- New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has signed bipartisan legislation (A5016/S4218) creating an Employee Ownership Transition Program and a revolving loan fund at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) to finance conversions of businesses into employee-owned firms.

NJEDA revives a financing model that returned ninefold on its original loan

The new Employee Ownership Revolving Loan Fund reactivates a mechanism NJEDA first used 50 years ago to finance the employee buyout of the Okonite Company in Passaic County. That original loan was fully repaid and revolved nine times over; Okonite remains 100% employee-owned today and has distributed more than $300 million in ESOP payouts to workers. The fund can draw capital from state appropriations, federal sources including U.S. Economic Development Administration grants, and philanthropic capital.

Ottawa – September 22, 2026 -- Nearly 60% of Ottawa's occupied private dwellings were built in 1990 or earlier, placing them squarely within the era when asbestos was commonly used in construction, according to a housing-age analysis published by PatchBoyz Asbestos Removal. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census counts 243,080 of Ottawa's 407,250 occupied private dwellings as built in 1990 or earlier, equal to 59.7%.

Charlottesville, Va. – September 22, 2026 -- RIVANNA has filed its 100th patent, U.S. application #64/080,862, covering an AI-powered ultrasound pathology detection pipeline for automated computer-aided diagnosis on its Accuro XV platform, marking 15 years of continuous intellectual-property development at the medical technology company.

Redmond – September 22, 2026 -- SystImmune Inc. has secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its Investigational New Drug application for SI-B037, a bispecific antibody, marking the first time the company has built a regulatory submission entirely on New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) rather than traditional animal toxicology studies.

SystImmune replaces animal testing with human organ-on-chip models

The IND package for SI-B037 relied on human organ-on-chip systems and primary human tissue models instead of conventional animal studies to assess nonclinical safety. Dr. Jahan Khalili, Senior Vice President of Research at SystImmune, said the human-relevant models provided a more direct read on a molecule engineered to engage multiple human pathways simultaneously.

Toronto – September 22, 2026 -- The United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed BiomeRenewables Inc.'s Application No. 18/942094, covering the serration structure behind its FeatherEdge® wind turbine blade technology, the Canadian cleantech firm announced.

Patent covers owl-inspired serration design that cuts turbine noise

The application, titled "STRUCTURE WITH SERRATIONS ADAPTED TO TRAVERSE A FLUID ENVIRONMENT," protects Biome's double-dip serration design modeled on the silent flight of owls. The technology reduces aerodynamic noise from wind turbine blades while increasing power output, according to the company.

Cleveland – September 22, 2026 -- Inglewood Associates and Gordon Brothers confirmed that the court-appointed Receiver overseeing the sale of 925 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland has not selected a stalking horse bidder, despite months of marketing the 1.45 million-square-foot historic tower.

Bidders opt for open auction over stalking horse role

Victor, Montana – – September 22, 2026 -- Ridgeway Pharmacy, Ltd. has confirmed that a vulnerability in its vendor-supported website allowed an unauthorized third party to gain elevated access, potentially exposing patient names, dates of birth, addresses, prescription and health information, insurance details, and, for some individuals, payment card data.

Ridgeway confirms breach originated in vendor-managed site, not internal systems

The pharmacy said the compromise was limited to its externally developed website and did not touch Ridgeway's own internal infrastructure. External cybersecurity and forensic specialists were brought in after operational irregularities were first detected on the site.

Atlanta – September 22, 2026 -- Georgia Power and Google have filed a new agreement with the Georgia Public Service Commission that ties Google's subscription to nuclear capacity uprates at Plants Hatch and Vogtle, a move projected to deliver approximately $900 million in customer benefits over the life of the units.

Google subscription funds 96 megawatts of new nuclear capacity

The filings, submitted under Docket 44280 and Docket 56002, detail how Google's support for extended power uprates (EPUs) at Georgia Power's owned nuclear units will add roughly 96 megawatts of capacity to the state grid. The agreement requires PSC approval and introduces a new Nuclear Uprate (NU-1) tariff structure.

Washington – September 22, 2026 -- The Teamsters Union has endorsed a settlement agreement announced by California Attorney General Rob Bonta that clears a path for the pending merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Bonta brokers deal covering unions and employers in entertainment merger

Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien credited Attorney General Bonta for coordinating unions, employers, and other stakeholders to reach terms on the merger. The union identified worker protections embedded in the agreement as the central issue for its 1.3 million members across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Seattle – September 22, 2026 -- Glacis Technologies has agreed to transfer stewardship of OVERT, its open technical specification for verifying AI safeguards at runtime, to the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) and the AIGovOps Foundation.

Glacis relinquishes sole control of the specification it created

Under the agreement announced today, CHAI and AIGovOps will jointly oversee the OVERT standard once a separate commencement certificate signed by all three parties takes effect. Glacis, the Seattle-based company that developed OVERT, will initially maintain the specification and operate its registry, but will act only as a non-voting editor once stewardship transfers.