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New York – September 25, 2026 -- Spring Health has expanded VERA-MH, the first open-source AI safety benchmark for mental health, to add a second clinical safety area covering harm from others, as more users turn to AI systems for emotional support.

New rubric measures AI response to interpersonal violence risk

The VERA-MH Harm-From-Others rubric evaluates how AI systems respond when an adult describes being at risk of physical or sexual violence from another person. It scores responses across five areas: detecting risk, confirming it, guiding the person to human care, supportive conversation, and adherence to AI boundaries. The rubric draws on 100 realistic personas and was developed with clinicians, subject-matter experts in interpersonal violence, and people with lived experience.

San Jose, Calif. – September 25, 2026 -- Overlord Labs, Inc. has closed an oversubscribed Seed round, lifting total funding to $10 million as the fabless semiconductor company moves its GENESIS Battery Intelligence IC from tape-out into product validation.

Seed extension totals $4.35 million led by Band of Angels

The financing comprises $7.25 million in Seed capital and the remainder in non-dilutive strategic development funding. The $4.35 million extension was led by Band of Angels, with participation from Foothill Ventures, Unlock Pacific Ventures, NuFund Venture Group, Sand Hill Angels and Castle Fund, alongside returning angel investors from earlier rounds.

Columbus, Ohio – September 25, 2026 -- The U.S. Senate has passed two aeromedical reform bills -- S. 3257, the John A. Hauser Mental Health in Aviation Act, and S. 3258, the Aviation Medication Transparency Act -- prompting the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) to press the House of Representatives for swift companion action.

NJASAP represents more than 3,800 professional pilots flying for NetJets Aviation, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) subsidiary.

Washington – September 25, 2026 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior has appointed Dr. Robert "Robbie" Kröger, founder and executive director of The Origins Foundation, to the Hunting and Shooting Sports Conservation and Access Council, the agency announced Sept. 21.

Kröger joins the council as a primary member representing wildlife-associated recreation interests

The federal advisory council delivers recommendations through the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture on wildlife and habitat conservation, hunting and shooting sports, conservation partnerships and public land access.

Toronto – September 25, 2026 -- PomeGran Inc. has been named the #1 Telecom Services provider for the second consecutive year in The Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine 2026 ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies, placing #82 out of 375 companies nationwide on verified three-year revenue growth of 348% between 2022 and 2025.

PomeGran repeats as Canada's top-ranked telecom growth company

The Toronto-based fibre infrastructure provider previously ranked #62 overall among 400 companies in 2025, with three-year revenue growth of 557%. The company is listed in the ranking's Technology and Telecom category, based on its expansion of sovereign fibre networks and neocloud services across Ontario and Quebec.

Bridgetown, Barbados – September 25, 2026 -- NCL GT20 Canada, the country's professional T20 franchise tournament, will stage its 2026 edition in St. Vincent and the Grenadines during the October-November window, marking a one-year departure from Canadian soil before the league returns to Canada in 2027.

Cricket West Indies secures direct franchise investment under new governance framework

Under a collaborative structure between Cricket Canada and Cricket West Indies (CWI), CWI will handle governance, compliance and regulatory coordination for the 2026 edition while also holding a direct franchise investment stake. The arrangement is designed to build sustainable sporting and commercial connections across the Americas rather than relocate the tournament permanently.

Piscataway, N.J. – September 25, 2026 -- Parker Health Group has named Mark Lenhard, MS, LNFA, as its next President & CEO, succeeding Roberto Muñiz after nearly 28 years of leadership at the nonprofit aging services provider.

Lenhard joins Parker in December 2026 from United Methodist Communities

Lenhard currently serves as President & CEO of United Methodist Communities (UMC) and the UMC Foundation, a faith-based nonprofit network spanning nine senior living communities, a home- and community-based services platform, a consulting arm, and a philanthropic foundation. He is expected to join Parker in December 2026.

Shanghai – September 25, 2026 -- IASO Biotechnology reported an 88.9% objective response rate for its dual-targeted CAR-T therapy RD140 in a first-in-human Phase 1 trial of nine heavily pretreated multiple myeloma and plasma cell leukemia patients, with the response rate reaching 100% in the higher-dose cohort.

RD140 achieves 88.9% MRD negativity in high-risk relapsed patients

The investigator-initiated trial (NCT06655519), led by Professor Jin Lu of Peking University People's Hospital, enrolled patients who had failed at least three prior lines of therapy, including two who had previously received BCMA-targeted treatment. All nine patients were triple-class exposed, and six were penta-exposed. As of the May 6, 2026 data cutoff, with a median follow-up of 6.05 months, 88.9% of patients achieved MRD negativity at the 10−5 threshold, with six reaching this benchmark as early as day 28. Median progression-free survival has not been reached.

New York – September 25, 2026 -- Meiyume has signed a distribution agreement with Pinard Beauty Pack, a European bottle manufacturer for the beauty industry, granting Meiyume rights to distribute Pinard's packaging solutions across the US market.

Meiyume gains a new route into the US prestige beauty ecosystem

The deal pairs Pinard Beauty Pack's bottle manufacturing expertise for the beauty and dermocosmetics sectors with Meiyume's existing US market presence and global sourcing network. Meiyume said the collaboration extends beyond a standard distribution arrangement, combining complementary manufacturing and market-access capabilities to give US beauty brands a broader packaging portfolio and a faster path from development to launch.

Cary, N.C. – September 25, 2026 -- Small financial institutions rank ahead of similarly sized insurers, government bodies, health care providers and life sciences firms on AI adoption, with 64% of small banks and credit unions using AI in IT operations, according to a new SAS and IDC study.

The report, "AI for SMBs: Closing the Readiness-Reality Gap," surveyed 1,600 small and midsized business leaders across 28 countries in five regions. SMBs were defined as organizations with 100 to 999 employees in the U.S. and 100 to 499 employees elsewhere.

AI adoption in small banks concentrates heavily in IT functions

Among small financial institutions, 64% report AI use in IT, compared with 47% in finance and risk, 44% in marketing, 42% in customer service and 39% in product development.

Colorado Springs – September 25, 2026 -- Aleut Federal has built a dedicated audiovisual and video teleconferencing (AV/VTC) demonstration environment in Colorado Springs, Colorado, giving government and industry customers a simulated secure setting to test next-generation collaboration and video distribution technologies.

Q-SYS VisionSuite architecture automates camera control and speaker framing

The facility centers on a Q-SYS VisionSuite-enabled system that combines 17 points of biometric data with sound-positioning data from beamforming microphones. The system identifies and frames individual speakers, recalls scenes automatically, and adjusts cameras in real time without manual operation, producing a video feed for remote participants that mirrors an in-room experience.

Toronto – September 25, 2026 -- Jobber has launched two new integrations, a Plugin in ChatGPT and a Connector for Claude, that let home and commercial service businesses pull their Jobber account data directly into leading AI chat platforms.

New MCP integrations connect Jobber data to ChatGPT and Claude

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations allow service pros to ask ChatGPT or Claude questions about clients, properties, jobs, quotes, invoices, requests, and visits, with answers grounded in their actual Jobber account. Users can also dictate or paste call and job notes into the AI tools, which then update the corresponding client, property, and request records inside Jobber.

Sacramento, Calif. – September 25, 2026 -- California cut statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 23.3% between 2006 and 2023 while GDP per capita rose 41%, according to a new report from Next 10 marking two decades since Assembly Bill 32 became law.

California's clean-energy sector now employs 552,300 workers, nearly double Texas

The report, "Twenty Years of AB 32: California's Landmark Climate Law and Its Legacy," credits the 2006 law—signed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger—with establishing the nation's first economy-wide emissions cap and laying the groundwork for the state's Cap-and-Invest program. California led all U.S. states with 552,300 clean-energy jobs in 2024, nearly twice the total in second-ranked Texas.

Delray Beach, Fla. – September 25, 2026 -- The Shadow AI Risk & Governance Market is set to expand from USD 1.39 billion in 2026 to USD 8.64 billion by 2032, a compound annual growth rate of 35.6%, according to MarketsandMarkets. The 2025 baseline stood at USD 1.02 billion, underscoring rapid acceleration as enterprises confront AI tools deployed outside centrally managed IT environments.

Unauthorized AI usage forces enterprises toward auditable governance systems

Corporate compliance teams are shifting from written AI policies to platforms that generate traceable evidence of risk assessments, approvals, and monitoring outcomes. This demand is pushing vendors to automate evidence collection and maintain audit trails across AI applications, rather than relying on manual documentation.

Delray Beach, Fla. – September 25, 2026 -- The global liquid handling system market will grow from $5.26 billion in 2026 to $7.79 billion by 2031, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 8.2%, according to a new report from MarketsandMarkets.

Automated systems and pipettes lead segment growth

Automated systems held the largest share of the market in 2025 and are projected to post the highest CAGR of 9.0% through 2031, as pharmaceutical and biotechnology laboratories shift from manual liquid transfer to robotic platforms for pipetting, dispensing, dilution and microplate handling. Within product categories, pipettes accounted for the largest 2025 share and are forecast to grow fastest at 9.5% CAGR, driven by adoption of electronic and multi-channel pipetting systems that integrate with laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and support nanoliter-scale dispensing for genomics and cell and gene therapy workflows.

North Las Vegas, Nev. – – September 25, 2026 -- Wriggle Box LLC has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for Wriggleworm, a full-body sensory regulation play structure aimed at autistic individuals, neurodivergent children and sensory seekers.

Wriggleworm delivers full-body pressure input paired with physical movement

The structure is engineered to mimic the sensation of digging through earth, delivering mild-to-moderate or deep, even pressure across the entire body as users move through it. Unlike single-point sensory tools such as squeeze devices or compression tubes, Wriggleworm combines tactile and proprioceptive feedback with active gross motor exertion.

Shanghai – September 25, 2026 -- A retrospective analysis of 102 multiple myeloma patients treated with IASO Bio's FUCASO CAR-T therapy found that patients maintaining sustained minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity showed a median CAR-T cell persistence of 463 days, compared with 272 days in patients who experienced MRD conversion — a gap of roughly 191 days. The data, drawn from the pivotal FUMANBA-1 registration study, were presented as a poster (Abstract No. PA-469) at the 2026 International Myeloma Society Annual Meeting.

St. Petersburg, Fla. – – September 25, 2026 -- Acron Aviation has extended its Authorized Repair Center agreement with Thales Singapore by five years, establishing in-region repair and overhaul capability for its ACSS surveillance product line across Asia-Pacific.

Thales Singapore becomes sole APAC repair partner for ACSS surveillance systems

Under the renewed agreement, Thales Singapore will continue to perform repair and overhaul work on all ACSS surveillance products, including the T3CAS system. The facility previously served customers who required support from outside the Asia-Pacific region; the extension now anchors that capability locally.

Thomas Mouveaux, General Manager APAC for Aviation Global Services at Thales, said the company is the only Acron Aviation authorized repair partner for surveillance products in Asia-Pacific, citing ACSS's large regional market share in surveillance equipment.

Calgary – September 25, 2026 -- Horizon Petroleum Ltd. (TSXV: HPL; FRA/Tradegate: HPM) said its wholly owned Polish subsidiary, Energia Karpaty Zachodnie sp. z o.o., has completed acid stimulation at the Lachowice 7 well in southern Poland and begun production testing, with preliminary flowback rates reaching 5.5 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.

Well begins flowing naturally after nitrogen-assisted unload

Following the acid stimulation, a coiled tubing unit was installed and nitrogen was circulated into the production tubing to unload the well. At approximately 06:30 CET, L7 began flowing gas and condensate naturally without further coiled tubing or nitrogen assistance and continues to flow.

TORONTO – September 25, 2026 -- i-80 Gold Corp. (NYSE: IAUX, TSX: IAU) directed 64% of its local procurement spending to Nevada-based suppliers in 2025, according to the company's newly released Sustainability Report and Databook.

i-80 Gold logs zero reportable water-related incidents across operations

The Toronto-based miner reported no water-related incidents during the year while advancing its plan to become a mid-tier gold producer in Nevada. The Ruby Hill Mine received a 2025 Nevada Mining Association Operator Safety Award in the Small Surface Operations category.