Theme news

Hollywood, Fla. – September 29, 2026 -- Hard Rock International was named Land-Based Operator of the Year at the 2026 Global Gaming Awards Americas in Las Vegas, marking the company's third win in this category. A panel of 100 senior industry executives determined the winners, with the voting process independently adjudicated by KPMG US.

Judges cite Canada and California expansions as key growth drivers

The award recognized Hard Rock's operational performance over the past 12 months, including the opening of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa, the company's first fully integrated resort in Canada. Judges also pointed to continued progress at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tejon in Kern County, California, which completed Phase One of development in November 2025 and includes 150,000 square feet of gaming space located 90 minutes north of Los Angeles.

Washington – September 29, 2026 -- The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has named former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor as its next president and chief executive officer, effective November 9. Cantor succeeds Stephen J. Ubl, who has led the trade group since 2015 and will remain as a strategic advisor through January 15, 2027.

New York – – September 29, 2026 -- Dimora Medical unveiled a silicone foam wound dressing built on its MegaSorbTM Dual-Action Absorption System, targeting moderate to heavy exudate wounds common among elderly patients with pressure ulcers and chronic wounds. The launch coincides with the 2026 United Nations International Day of Older Persons, observed under the theme "The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives."

MegaSorb foam absorbs up to 15 times its own weight in wound exudate

The dressing uses a high-porosity polymer with an open-cell structure reaching up to 90%, enabling it to lock in exudate within one second and reduce leakage and backflow risk. Dimora Medical positions the technology as a direct response to gaps in traditional wound dressings, which frequently fail to manage moderate to heavy exudate, causing maceration of surrounding skin and painful dressing changes.

New York – September 29, 2026 -- MSIG USA has appointed Oscar Aguilar as head of excess and surplus property, tasking him with building out the insurer's E&S property platform for brokers navigating complex commercial risk.

Grand Rapids, Mich. – September 29, 2026 -- X-Rite Pantone, Sun Chemical, and CMA Imaging have made the CanJET digital proofing ecosystem commercially available across North America, targeting beverage brands, can makers, and packaging converters seeking to cut color-approval cycles on metal packaging.

CanJET replaces pilot-line prototyping with direct-on-can measurement

The connected workflow matches color and opacity directly on actual cans rather than through conventional pilot-line proofing, addressing a technical challenge unique to metal packaging: the reflective surface of cans alters final color appearance, requiring opacity matching alongside color matching. The system combines CMA Imaging's CanJET printing hardware, Sun Chemical's extended color gamut inks, PantoneLIVE digital color references, and X-Rite spectrophotometer measurement technology.

Austin, Texas – – September 29, 2026 -- A new national study of 8,353 family members across 77 colleges and universities finds that philanthropic giving is driven primarily by trust and visible student success rather than direct fundraising appeals. Encoura and CampusESP jointly released the findings from "Drivers of Family Giving: The 2026 National Study," based on data collected in May 2026 through CampusESP's family engagement platform.

Family members ranked trust and relevance above fundraising volume

The research shows that families who feel informed about their student's progress and trust the institution are more likely to engage philanthropically over time. Sarah Kleeberger, senior vice president of consulting fundraising management at Encoura, said the surveyed families made clear that seeing students supported and succeeding builds the foundation for lasting relationships with an institution.

New York – September 29, 2026 -- Global employment infrastructure provider Multiplier has surpassed $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) just six years after its founding, posting 80% year-over-year growth and 115% Net Revenue Retention for its core business.

North America now generates 60% of Multiplier's total revenue

Despite originating in Singapore and operating across more than 160 countries, Multiplier has built its primary growth engine in North America, a region where several industry peers have scaled back operations. Companies headquartered in the United States accounted for 47% of all Multiplier's expansion activity between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026.

Miami – September 29, 2026 -- Jeeves, a stablecoin-native banking platform for global enterprises, has raised $110 million in equity funding and launched a proprietary stablecoin wallet with payouts to 190 countries.

Stablecoin volume surges from zero to $1.5 billion annualized in eight months

The Miami-based company's total platform volume across cards and payments has surpassed $5 billion annualized, tripling year-over-year, while revenue has grown 4x in 14 months. Stablecoin-settled activity, effectively nonexistent eight months ago, now accounts for $1.5 billion of that annualized volume, driven by enterprises moving money between markets where correspondent banking is slow or costly.

Pittsburgh – September 29, 2026 -- Viatris Inc. (Nasdaq: VTRS) has been named to Forbes' World's Best Employers list for the sixth consecutive year, based on an independent survey of more than 300,000 employees across over 50 countries.

Forbes and Statista ranked 900 companies using employee trust and workplace culture data

The 2026 ranking, compiled by Forbes and Statista, drew on respondents who rated their willingness to recommend their employer on a 1-to-10 scale. Participants evaluated current and former employers across multiple workplace factors and could also weigh in on other companies within their country and industry.

Viatris cites the recognition as validation of its global workforce strategy

Lara Ramsburg, Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer at Viatris, said the sixth straight placement reflects the contributions of colleagues worldwide who help the company support patients while fostering a collaborative culture.

Las Vegas – September 29, 2026 -- UrVenue has won the 2027 Global Gaming Business Gaming & Technology Award for Best Consumer Service Technology, recognizing its Venue Management Software that converts hotel and casino amenities into bookable, revenue-generating inventory. The award will be presented during Global Gaming Expo (G2E), running Sept. 28 through Oct. 1 at The Venetian Expo in Las Vegas.

Dallas – – September 29, 2026 -- TrendAI, the AI security business unit of Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), has expanded its integration with Claude's Compliance API inside TrendAI Vision One, giving security teams visibility into AI agent prompts, responses and tool calls alongside existing security telemetry.

Integration now covers Claude Code and Cowork session transcripts

The expanded integration pulls in session records for Claude Code and Cowork from Claude Enterprise, each tied to a verified user. It builds on the initial TrendAI-Anthropic integration announced in June 2026, extending coverage to how engineering and knowledge-work teams use AI agents on a daily basis.

Washington – September 29, 2026 -- The National Park Foundation (NPF) has awarded $4.7 million through its Open OutDoors for Kids program to fund 83 education projects across more than 90 national parks during the 2026-27 school year, marking the program's 15th season.

NPF allocates $4.7 million to 83 grantees for park-based learning

The funding supports field trips, classroom engagements, and virtual learning tied to national parks. The program was created in 2011 with the National Park Service to complement the federal Every Kid Outdoors initiative and address barriers such as transportation costs.

Columbia, Md. – September 29, 2026 -- The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission has awarded more than $4.8 million through the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) in the first funding cycle of fiscal year 2027, backing 15 investigators across the state's regenerative medicine sector.

Applications for MSCRF funding continue to exceed available resources

Requested funding significantly outstripped the capital available for this cycle, according to the Commission, reflecting both the depth of Maryland's research base and a rising number of technologies advancing past early discovery into validation, clinical development and manufacturing—stages that require substantially more capital.

Las Vegas – – September 29, 2026 -- Jack Shanahan finished third at Round Seven of the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, marking his third podium of the season racing on Kumho Ecsta V730 tires.

Shanahan advances through four rounds before falling to his brother

Starting from a sixth-place qualifying position, Shanahan defeated Jhonnattan Castro in the Top 32, Ryan Tuerck in the Top 16, and Chris Forsberg in the Great 8 before losing to his brother Conor Shanahan in the Final 4 after dropping two tires off course in Zone 4.

Detroit – September 29, 2026 -- Nagase America's Mobility Solutions division has received Nissan Americas' 2026 Monozukuri Spirit Award for New Model Development and Launch Readiness, following its execution of a takeover project transitioning five Nissan vehicle programs within six weeks.

Nagase America was one of three suppliers honored at Nissan's Nashville event

The award was presented September 25 at Nissan Americas' annual Supplier Appreciation and Awards event at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. Nissan's annual awards recognize supplier partners across quality, operational excellence, innovation, aftersales support and sustainability. Nagase America was specifically singled out for New Model Development and Launch Readiness among the three Monozukuri Spirit Award recipients.

New York – September 29, 2026 -- Brand experience studio DE-YAN has appointed Jonathan Akwue as its first President, hiring the former Translation chief and ex-Publicis Groupe executive as the firm builds on a year of double-digit headcount growth and an industry-first ROI certification.

Akwue arrives from Translation after more than 25 years across network agencies

Akwue previously served as President and Global Media Lead at Publicis Groupe, with earlier stints at Digitas UK and Lost Boys. Based in New York, he will work alongside founder and CEO Dejan Jovanovic to deepen client relationships and expand the studio's scope. He is the second senior network-agency executive to join DE-YAN in under two years, following Chief Creative Officer Jason Kreher, who arrived from Wieden+Kennedy and Maximum Effort in 2025.

Vancouver – September 29, 2026 -- Inturai Ventures Corp. (CSE: URAI) (OTC: URAIF) (FSE: 3QG0) said its recently acquired drone command-and-control platform, DomeCommand, took first and third place in the two-day team integration category at the Singapore Defense Tech Hackathon 2026, held September 25-27 and co-organised by NUS Enterprise, TUM Venture Labs and the European Defense Tech Hub.

DomeCommand pairs with two partner teams to win top category

In the winning entry, Team Echelon connected its acoustic localisation system and Team Aegis integrated its interceptor drone with DomeCommand, producing an end-to-end demonstration of detection, localisation and coordinated interception run at the edge within the two-day window. DomeCommand also placed third alongside Team Phylax, which used the platform's simulation capabilities to build a civilian defence application modelling drone attacks and generating guidance for the public during an incident.

Broomfield, Colo. – September 29, 2026 -- Horizon Family Brands has promoted Scott Wallace to Chief Customer Officer, expanding his mandate to oversee customer strategy and retail partnerships across its organic dairy portfolio, which includes Horizon Organic, Maple Hill Creamery and Wallaby Organic yogurt.

Wallace moves from senior sales leadership to a company-wide customer strategy role

Wallace joined Horizon Family Brands in November 2023 as vice president of sales and was elevated to senior vice president in 2025. In his new CCO role, he will coordinate across sales, marketing, operations and brand teams to deepen customer engagement and identify shared growth opportunities across the company's retail and commercial networks.

Oakland, Calif. – September 29, 2026 -- The PG&E Corporation Foundation is directing $1.32 million in shareholder-funded grants to more than 50 food banks, tribal food banks and senior meal programs across 45 California counties, an amount expected to provide the equivalent of approximately 3.13 million meals.

The funding, timed to Hunger Action Month, is financed entirely by PG&E shareholders and will not be recovered through customer utility rates.

One in five Californians face food insecurity despite the state's agricultural output

The California Association of Food Banks reports that roughly 8.8 million Californians experience food insecurity, even as the state produces nearly half of the nation's fruits and vegetables. Rising housing and grocery costs are pushing communities of color, seniors and working families toward food assistance for the first time, with food banks reporting record demand.

Pittsburgh – September 29, 2026 -- A California-based inventor has developed INTRACE, a security control plane designed to verify identity and generate tamper-evident records for every digital interaction rather than only at login. InventHelp, the Pittsburgh-based invention-services firm, announced the technology is now available for licensing or sale to manufacturers and marketers.

INTRACE targets unverified requests across AI, payments, and connected devices

Billions of digital requests occur every second across apps, payment systems, and AI-driven interactions, with most trusted automatically, according to the inventor. INTRACE is built to authenticate the origin of each request and flag unauthorized or disputed activity as it happens, rather than relying solely on perimeter checks.