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National Center for Integrated Emergency Response (NCIER), division of C3 Pathways, Inc.

Oct 21, 2026, 10:38 ET

The National Center for Integrated Emergency Response (NCIER®) trains schools, police, fire, and EMS together so they respond from one cohesive playbook.

OVIEDO, Fla., Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NCIER®, the services division of C3 Pathways, Inc., today announced an updated format for its School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management (SSAVEIM™) Train-the-Trainer course, which puts the right people in the room to learn and practice coordinated response — from the first 911 call through reunification, the process of returning every student to the right parent.

Course page: ncier.org/ssaveim/train-the-trainer

Reviews of past school attacks have pointed repeatedly to the same breakdowns: unclear command, information that does not move between agencies, delays in reaching the wounded, and confusion in the hours after the threat is down. None of them are failures of courage. They are failures of coordination — the failures this course addresses.

The updated SSAVEIM Train-the-Trainer course is designed for up to 30 trainer candidates in a deliberate mix: approximately ten school personnel, ten from law enforcement, and ten from fire and EMS, with emergency management participants encouraged. The course runs 16 hours across two days. Trainer candidates first work the course as students, moving through scenario after scenario with coaching. They then learn to facilitate those same scenarios, so they can deliver the training at home.

The classroom lecture has moved online, into SSAVEIM Foundations – a free course released September 1, 2026. It runs 13 short video modules totaling under an hour and gives everyone the same introduction to how a violent event unfolds and how the response functions across disciplines. Trainer candidates complete it before attending, and it remains open at no cost to anyone in a school or agency who wants that same picture.

Exercises run on Counterstrike® Terrain™, a digital map table from C3 Pathways that turns any map, satellite image, or floor plan into a full-size training surface, loaded with the host community's own campuses. Participants make decisions about the doors, corridors, and parking lots they already know, rather than a generic school.

Certified trainers keep the curriculum, LMS access, and the Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) Checklist™, developed by C3 Pathways and endorsed by the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) as the national standard for managing active shooter events. They hold a three-year trainer certificate and can repeat the training on their own schedule, with no further fee to NCIER. One delivery becomes a standing local capability rather than a single event.

SSAVEIM is designed to work alongside protocols schools and communities already use, including the Standard Response Protocol™ and Standard Reunification Method™ from The "I Love U Guys" Foundation. The course adds the integrated response picture around those protocols, showing how school and public safety operations connect during and after a violent event.

Orange County Public Schools personnel and Central Florida responders participated in the first delivery of the updated format in summer 2026.*

"School safety is not solved by one procedure or one profession working alone. Every discipline trains well inside its own lane. The gaps show up where their work connects. Two days of practicing those connections, on maps of their own campuses, changes what a community can do — and leaves people behind who keep that capability alive."

— Bill Godfrey, CEO of C3 Pathways and its services division, NCIER

Availability

SSAVEIM Train-the-Trainer is open to school districts, public safety agencies, and qualified organizations nationwide. Deliveries take place on site in the host community or at the NCIER Training Center in Oviedo, Florida. Course details and hosting requirements are at ncier.org/ssaveim/train-the-trainer. SSAVEIM Foundations, the free prerequisite, is at ncier.org/ssaveim/foundations.

About NCIER

The National Center for Integrated Emergency Response (NCIER), the services division of C3 Pathways, Inc., delivers integrated response training for active shooter and hostile events. With more than 20 years of experience, NCIER delivers hands-on, scenario-driven training to law enforcement, fire, EMS, school personnel, and other emergency responders nationwide. Its programs include School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management (SSAVEIM), Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM™), and the ASIM Checklist, developed by C3 Pathways and endorsed by the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) as the national standard for managing active shooter events, compliant with the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Learn more at ncier.org.

Media kit: https://marketing.c3pathways.com/ssaveim-train-the-trainer-media-kit

*Reference to Orange County Public Schools describes participation in the first delivery of the updated format and does not constitute an endorsement.

NCIER® is the services division of C3 Pathways, Inc. • ASIM™, SSAVEIM™, Counterstrike®, Counterstrike Terrain™ and Active Shooter Incident Management Checklist™ are trademarks of C3 Pathways, Inc. • The "I Love U Guys" Foundation, Standard Response Protocol™ and Standard Reunification Method™ are trademarks of The "I Love U Guys" Foundation, used with permission under license.

SOURCE National Center for Integrated Emergency Response (NCIER), division of C3 Pathways, Inc.

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Experienced restaurant operators and family enterprises join the 34-year-old brand as existing restaurants offer paths to ownership in greater Philadelphia and South Jersey

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PrimoHoagies has welcomed seven new franchisees in 2026, attracting experienced restaurant operators, diversified family businesses and a new generation of owners to its Italian specialty sandwich brand. With approximately 10–15 existing restaurants available for acquisition, most in greater Philadelphia and South Jersey, the company is highlighting opportunities for qualified operators to enter established markets and build toward multi-unit ownership.

The brand's approximately 80 franchise owners include 20 multi-unit owners. This year's additions span new restaurant development and acquisitions, with partners bringing experience in national restaurant franchises, airport concessions, real estate and other family enterprises.

"For an experienced operator, acquiring an existing PrimoHoagies can be a practical starting point for building a larger portfolio," said Angela Coppler, Senior Vice President of Development at PrimoHoagies. "You can enter a market where the brand is already known, take on an established restaurant and bring your own operating strengths to the business. Select existing restaurants can offer a lower initial investment than new construction, depending on the transaction and required improvements."

Acquisitions Create Opportunities for Experienced Operators

Across the brand's legacy markets, some longtime franchisees are preparing for retirement and ownership transitions after decades with PrimoHoagies. Those transitions create opportunities for incoming owners to carry established neighborhood businesses forward, while investing in their teams, customer relationships, and long-term growth.

Alvin Patel, a recently approved franchisee currently in training, is preparing to acquire an existing restaurant, with closing anticipated in early November. A longtime PrimoHoagies customer in the Philadelphia region, Patel brings extensive multi-unit restaurant experience across Dunkin', Saladworks and Frutta Bowls. Learning that a restaurant in his hometown was approaching an ownership transition prompted him to explore the opportunity. His plans include building an organization capable of supporting a multi-unit PrimoHoagies portfolio over time.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Dev and Falguni Patel entered the brand by acquiring an existing restaurant. Their business background includes Wayback Burgers, convenience stores with deli operations, fuel locations and real estate investments, alongside a record of operational achievement and community recognition. With hands-on restaurant experience and a family management structure, the Patels saw PrimoHoagies as a complementary addition to their portfolio and are already exploring additional locations.

Acquisitions also provide a path for the next generation of existing franchise families. After nearly 20 years of PrimoHoagies ownership, Patrick McCoyd partnered with his son Ian to acquire the Lansdale, Pennsylvania, restaurant. Ian had spent several years managing and overseeing the family's Newtown restaurant. Becoming an owner gives him a new level of responsibility and an opportunity to continue growing with the brand.

New Restaurant Owners Bring Portfolio Experience and Community Ties

Dapyr Enterprises opened its first PrimoHoagies in Middletown, Delaware, on July 21. The multigenerational family enterprise operates a home care company and a Philly Pretzel Factory franchise. For Dante Harrington, Tye Edwards, Desiree Edwards and Derrick Taylor, adding PrimoHoagies connected their Philadelphia roots with a clear opportunity in their adopted community.

The family recognized that customers buying pretzels for celebrations were also purchasing PrimoHoagies catering, making the concepts a natural complement. They have brought family involvement and local relationship building to their Middletown restaurant, which has performed in the system's top quartile since opening.

In Quakertown, Pennsylvania, Mike and Marianne Corrado opened their hometown restaurant on July 1. For Mike, the opening fulfilled a longstanding ambition to own a deli and become a PrimoHoagies franchisee. The couple's connection to the product and their community has helped the restaurant become one of the system's top 10 performers in its first months of operation.

The Grove, Inc., in partnership with M2 Concepts, LLC, opened PrimoHoagies' first airport restaurant in February at Philadelphia International Airport's Terminal A-East. The experienced concessions operator worked with the PrimoHoagies team to adapt the brand to an airport environment, including a breakfast menu. The opening demonstrates how the straightforward menu and flexible operating format can extend into nontraditional spaces.

"Our franchise partners bring different experiences, but their belief in the food and their commitment to running great restaurants connect them," said Nicholas Papanier, Jr., Owner, President and CEO of PrimoHoagies. "It is exciting to welcome operators who see how PrimoHoagies fits into businesses they have spent years building, and families who want to grow with us for generations."

A Smaller Prototype Supports the Next Phase of Development

PrimoHoagies is also advancing a new restaurant prototype, with five locations in development. The approximately 1,100-square-foot standard design is intended to improve labor efficiency and throughput while expanding real estate options. Modern finishes and visible food preparation reinforce the brand's premium ingredients, while separate ordering and payment areas from pickup support a smoother experience for in-store guests, mobile orders and delivery.

The first two projects using the design are planned for Bluffton, South Carolina, where Patrick McCoyd is in permitting, and Huntersville, North Carolina, with franchise partners Kartik Ramakrishnan and Naveen Patlolla. McCoyd's Bluffton project grew from his family's connection to the Hilton Head area and his desire to bring PrimoHoagies to that community.

Ahead of the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference, PrimoHoagies is inviting experienced operators and prospective franchisees to explore existing restaurant acquisitions, new development and nontraditional opportunities. The brand operates more than 120 restaurants.

For more information about PrimoHoagies' franchise opportunities, please visit ownaprimo.com.

This is not an offer to sell you a franchise. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a franchise disclosure document. Certain states require that we register the franchise disclosure document in those states. We will not offer or sell franchises in those states until we have registered the franchise (or obtained an applicable exemption from registration) and delivered the franchise disclosure document to the prospective franchisee in compliance with applicable law. PrimoHoagies Franchising, Inc. does not offer franchises until completion of its candidate approval process and the required Franchise Disclosure Document has been delivered to a prospective franchisee before executing a franchise agreement, in compliance with law.

The information provided in these materials is not an assurance that any franchisee of PrimoHoagies can expect to achieve any specific amount of sales or income. PrimoHoagies does not guarantee or warrant that any level of success or profit can be achieved through the operation of a PrimoHoagies location.

Sales and earnings are affected by many factors, and, if selected as a franchisee, you are likely to experience financial results materially different from those reflected in the data provided in this document. You are urged to consult with appropriate financial and legal advisors in connection with the information provided in this and other documents.

About PrimoHoagies

Founded in 1992, PrimoHoagies is a family-owned Italian specialty deli franchise known for its commitment to authentic hoagies, premium meats, fresh ingredients and their award-winning bread. Founded on traditional family recipes, the brand delivers a high-quality sandwich experience while providing franchise partners with an efficient and scalable restaurant model. The brand has been recognized by USA Today as a "Best Sandwich Shop" for three consecutive years and continues to earn accolades from Franchise Times and Entrepreneur.

Contact: Cole Koretos | Franchise Elevator | [email protected]

SOURCE PrimoHoagies

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- 150x faster grid calculations with the new GPU solver: envelio's GPU-based power flow solver is already in use at Czech distribution system operator EG.D. It significantly improves processing time and usability, cutting processing time by more than 99% in comparison to the original IGP Solver.

- Physics-based and GPU-accelerated: Powered by NVIDIA accelerated computing, the solver combines deterministic grid calculations with significantly higher computing speed.

- Next step: broader energy applications: envelio plans to extend the technology to further use cases within its Intelligent Grid Platform including connection assessments, hosting capacity analysis and flexibility management.

BOSTON, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- envelio, Europe's leading smart grid software provider, is bringing accelerated computing into day-to-day grid planning with its GPU-based power flow solver. Following its launch earlier this year, the solver, powered by NVIDIA accelerated computing, is now proving its value in real-world operations at Czech distribution system operator EG.D.

Worldwide, more than 2,500 gigawatts (GW) of power generation, storage, and large-scale industrial projects are currently awaiting grid connection. Data centers, which are urgently needed for AI applications, as well as charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, heat pumps, and renewable energy generation plants are facing the same bottleneck. envelio's new GPU-based power-flow solver addresses this exact challenge.

The solver performs complex, physics-based grid calculations up to 150 times faster than the previous approach based on the IGP, and this covers the whole process chain. At its core, envelio worked with NVIDIA to implement and optimize GPU kernels, combining power system engineering with accelerated computing. Unlike AI-based approximation methods, the solver continues to calculate the physical behavior of the grid using deterministic real AC power flow models. The increased speed makes complex time-series analyses applicable for regular utility workflows and relevant investment decisions.

"Grid operators need faster calculations they can trust," says Dr. Simon Koopmann, CEO and Co-Founder of envelio. "The implementation at EG.D shows how accelerated computing can bring complex analyses directly into everyday planning processes and enable much faster, well-founded decisions."

"Accelerated computing is enabling system operators to run increasingly complex, physics-based simulations at the speed and scale needed for modern power grids," says Marc Spieler, senior managing director, global energy industry at NVIDIA. "By using NVIDIA GPU technology, envelio is helping grid operators turn advanced grid analysis into faster, more actionable decisions."

Proven in real-world grid operations

For EG.D, the Czech distribution system operator within the E.ON Group, the faster calculations significantly improve both processing time and usability.

"The calculation of these grids is nearly instantaneous. The grid is being calculated and then a few seconds later it's already done. That's maybe the greatest user experience: when you don't notice that something is happening in the background, because it's so fast," says Tomáš Mendl, Development Manager at EG.D.

The technology enables engineers to remain within the same workflow instead of waiting several minutes or hours for results. It also makes repeated scenario calculations and larger time-series analyses increasingly feasible enabling more robust and defensible investment decisions.

"Digitally operated grids are the backbone of the energy transition. Grid operators worldwide are facing a data and complexity challenge, not a lack of ambition. Solutions like envelio's bring together physics‑based grid models and GPU‑accelerated computing so that complexity turns into faster, more reliable, and scalable real‑world solutions for grid operators," says Victoria Ossadnik, Chief Operating Officer Digital and Innovation at E.ON, which holds a majority stake in envelio.

Expanding accelerated computing across grid applications

Based on the successful implementation, envelio plans to expand the technology to further use cases including:

- time-series-based connection assessments

- flexible connection agreements

- hosting capacity analysis

- large-scale grid planning and scenario analysis

envelio will demonstrate its GPU-based power flow technology, among other solutions, at NVIDIA GTC Berlin October 20-22, 2026.

About the Intelligent Grid Platform (IGP): envelio's Intelligent Grid Platform (IGP) is a comprehensive software solution for the efficient planning and operational management of power grids, providing a digital twin that processes, corrects and visualizes existing data. As the need for grid investment and complexity increases amid a high volume of interconnections, the platform's holistic approach ensures that grid data and planning drive effective investments, enhance grid reliability, and enable scalable processes. Thanks to the modular architecture of the award-winning software, it adapts to utilities of all sizes, making it a unique solution to the challenges of decentralized energy supply and distribution grid expansion. envelio's IGP empowers utilities to optimize and automate processes, laying the foundation for a rapid and decentralized global energy transition.

About envelio Inc.: envelio Inc. delivers software that helps electric utilities plan, interconnect, and operate distribution grids more efficiently and with greater transparency. Its Intelligent Grid Platform, used by more than 100 utilities worldwide, provides computable distribution grid models to support hosting capacity analysis, interconnection studies, load flow analysis, and grid upgrade planning. Founded in Boston in May 2024, envelio, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of envelio GmbH, an award-winning energy software company. envelio GmbH, founded in 2017, is based in Cologne, Germany.

SOURCE envelio, Inc.

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New AI agents turn Visier insights and plans into guided action for every manager, fixing the #1 reason HR programs fail: manager follow-through

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Visier today announced Talent Agents at HR Tech 2026. Built on the Visier Workforce Intelligence Platform, these new AI agents guides every manager to the next right action in their organization's HR programs in real time, and give talent leaders evidence of what each program actually changed for the business.

Talent management devotes a great deal of money and effort into HR programs every year, and many still can't show the ROI or outcomes. New Visier research* found:

- 62% of HR leaders name manager follow-through as the single biggest reason programs fail

- 77% of enterprises run HR programs on spreadsheets or a patchwork of tools, and are three times less likely to measure results while a program is underway.

Visier Talent Agents are built to close these gaps, helping talent management tackle its most critical challenges as organizations plan, grow and retain their talent. They leverage the latest in AI developments to pair best-in-class program frameworks with personalized, in-workflow guidance delivered to whoever needs to act next, and a closed-loop system for continuous learning and improvement based on every program's goals.

"Good program design has never been enough. What HR has lacked is a GPS for every manager, so the moment someone drifts off track, they're guided back before the program goes sideways," said Dave Weisbeck, Chief Strategy Officer at Visier. "That's what Talent Agents deliver, along with proof of what the program actually changed for the business."

"The space between HR program design and the actual business result is exactly where most HR investment gets lost," said Madeline Laurano, founder of Aptitude Research. "Guidance that activates the manager at the moment they need to act, with proof of what changed afterward, is the piece of talent management that's been missing and what Visier is solving for."

Unlike HCM suites that teams would spend a year customizing, or point solutions that only see one piece of the picture, or even an internal-built tool that puts employee data at risk, Visier's Talent Agents are built to run programs end-to-end and prove impact, not just track activity.

The agents reach every stakeholder in a program at the moment they need to act, not just when someone remembers to ask. They're built to match how an organization actually operates, and the outcome of every action it recommends feeds back into the AI learning engine, so guidance gets sharper with each cycle. Because guidance runs on Visier's proprietary Workforce AI rather than routing every follow-up through a person, organizations can scale their programs without being constrained by HRBP headcount.

The agents are built on Visier's Workforce Intelligence Platform, so every program comes with the context, governance, and security an enterprise expects, backed by over 16 years of experience solving HR's toughest problems.

Talent Agents are Visier's answer to what the company calls the "activate" layer of Workforce AI, building on the platform's existing strength in helping organizations understand their workforce data and plan around it. The offering pairs Visier's technology with a dedicated implementation team that customizes each program to a customer's specific processes and goals.

Attending HRTech 2026 in Las Vegas this week? Head over to Visier Booth #5209 to explore Talent Agents, or visit visier.com to learn more. The Visier team will also be at UNLEASH World in Paris (booth #106) and Total Talent Asia (booth #3).

About Visier

Visier Workforce AI is the context foundation for talent management. The Visier Workforce Intelligence Platform turns scattered, sensitive people data into one governed understanding of the entire workforce, so organizations can understand, plan, and activate all of their talent priorities in one place. More than 85,000 of the world's most complex organizations, including Ford Motor Company, eBay, Experian, and Domino's Pizza, rely on Visier's over 16 years of workforce domain expertise, ranked #1 in vendor satisfaction and user experience for three consecutive years by the Sapient Insights HR Systems Survey. Learn more at Visier.com.

*Research from fall 2026, conducted by the Visier, Inc. Research Team surveyed verified senior HR and Talent leaders from 80 organizations with more than 10,000 employees across North America.

SOURCE Visier

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Partnership will focus on optimizing revenue cycle operations, improving financial sustainability, and supporting rural healthcare delivery.

OMAHA, Neb., Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Signature Performance, a leading provider of healthcare business, technology, and operational solutions, announced a strategic partnership with Rural Health Enterprise (RHE) to optimize revenue cycle performance and strengthen the financial sustainability of rural hospitals across Washington state.

Through the partnership, Signature Performance will bring its revenue cycle expertise, technology-enabled solutions, and operational capabilities to help RHE member hospitals strengthen revenue capture, streamline workflows, reduce administrative complexity, and improve financial performance. The initial phase is expected to focus on four hospitals, with the potential to expand support across the broader RHE network.

"Few opportunities are more meaningful than helping create lasting change for rural healthcare communities," said Matt Leshy, Provider Practice Leader at Signature Performance. "Our partnership with Rural Health Enterprise creates an opportunity to improve revenue cycle performance, strengthen financial sustainability, and help rural hospitals continue serving the communities that depend on them."

"Strong partnerships begin with trusted relationships and a shared vision," said Chris Vairo, Provider Chief Business Development Officer at Signature Performance. "Our collaboration with Rural Health Enterprise brings together organizations committed to helping rural hospitals navigate financial and operational challenges. We see tremendous opportunity to build on this foundation and create a sustainable model that can benefit rural healthcare organizations well beyond Washington state."

For RHE, the partnership brings additional expertise and resources to support the long-term success of rural hospitals.

"Our member hospitals are committed to serving their communities, and financial sustainability is critical to fulfilling that mission," said Leslie Hiebert, CEO of RHE. "Partnering with Signature Performance gives us access to specialized expertise and resources that can help our hospitals strengthen their operations and build for the future."

About Signature Performance

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Signature Performance is a healthcare solutions company dedicated to optimizing the business of healthcare. Serving providers, payers, and government organizations, Signature combines deep industry expertise, innovative technology, and scalable advisory and managed services to improve financial performance, reduce administrative burdens, and enhance operational efficiency. With experience supporting more than 250 hospitals, Signature delivers measurable results through personalized partnerships backed by national-scale capabilities. Learn more at www.signatureperformance.com.

About Rural Health Enterprise

The Rural Health Enterprise (RHE) is a limited liability partnership owned by rural hospitals and serving rural health providers across Washington State. Its mission is to create Independence through Interdependence by delivering exceptional services at competitive prices. RHE provides administrative, financial, and operational programs that give independent rural health systems the advantages of a large system while preserving local control. RHE aims to be the go-to resource rural providers can depend on.

SOURCE Signature Performance

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Newly released Corsha Folio module gives security, network, and operations teams a clear, focused view into what's running and why in OT

WASHINGTON, October 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Corsha, the leader in Industrial Identity Security, today announced Folio, a new module on the Corsha Industrial Identity Security Platform that automatically creates and updates operational maps and documentation showing how industrial systems are connected and communicating. Built on live network and access data, Folio gives teams a system of record for how their OT systems are running today, not just how they were designed. Security and operations teams can use this as-running view to spot risk and drift, prepare for incidents, and speed up compliance.

Keeping up-to-date as-running documentation of an industrial network is tedious, manual work. More often than not, OT documentation doesn't exist, or the environment has drifted so far it's of little use to OT teams. Manual assessments take weeks of labor across a myriad of tools, and the compliance artifacts they produce are often still incomplete and inaccurate.

Folio uses the power of Corsha Gatekeepers to capture the identities, connections, and data flows on the OT network, answering what is communicating, when, why, and how. Teams can generate derived hardware lists, connection maps true to the moment, and Microsoft Visio data flow diagrams. That documentation is ready to share across OT, security, and network teams and is designed for risk management and compliance frameworks, including IEC 62443, NERC CIP, and Zero Trust.

Unlike previous manual approaches, Folio brings together real-time connections, data flows, machine identity, and access intelligence. Rather than building more data-drowning dashboards, Folio produces actionable artifacts that teams can use to assess risk, make real-time decisions, and modernize with confidence.

"Industrial enterprises can't modernize safely when their operational picture no longer reflects how their operations actually run," said Anusha Iyer, Founder and CEO of Corsha. "Folio builds on the identity intelligence at the heart of our platform to give security and operational leaders an accurate, current understanding of every machine and every connection, and its purpose in their environment. That means faster recovery when incidents happen, compliance that keeps pace with change, and a clear path to adopting new technologies like robotics and physical AI. We are excited about this use of AI and ML in the Corsha platform to automate the tedious but critical work of day-to-day operations."

Folio supports three core use cases:

- Day-to-day operations: For OT operators who assess risk, make daily decisions, and respond to incidents, Folio removes the need to manually maintain system and network documentation.

- Continuous compliance: For OT leaders working to clear compliance roadblocks to innovation, such as Authority to Operate (ATO), Zero Trust, and NERC CIP, Folio delivers updated system, connection, and architecture documentation in minutes.

- Accelerated technology adoption: For OT leaders and architects bringing in advanced robotics, physical AI, predictive analytics, and more, Folio enables teams to assess the impact of new industrial capabilities on brownfield environments to speed production deployment.

Key Folio capabilities include:

- Real-time visibility – Uses the Corsha Industrial Identity Security Platform and its Gatekeepers to deliver the most current, as-running view of what's on the OT network.

- Connection intelligence – Maps connections and data flows, not just inventory, so teams can answer the what, where, when, and why questions needed to secure and modernize their operations.

- Identity core – Builds on the Corsha Platform's identity-based foundation to monitor and track changes that IP addresses alone can't reveal, keeping assessments accurate as operations evolve.

- Architecture design – Lets teams design boundaries, zones, and machine groups on a live Connection Canvas that shows data flows, connections, and the segmentation and policies that are live and enforced.

- IEC 62443 native – Speaks the industry-standard language of IEC 62443, from the Connection Canvas through to exported assessment artifacts.

- Visio export ready – Exports accurate operating diagrams to Microsoft Visio so teams can collaborate in the most common OT design format.

With the new Corsha Folio module, organizations can cut the time spent on compliance activities by orders of magnitude, reduce time to recover from security incidents and errors, prevent misconfigurations and downtime with always up-to-date system specifications, and eliminate the cost of manually maintaining operations documentation.

About Corsha

Corsha securely connects the operational systems that run our world. Corsha is forging a new identity-driven approach to OT security to stop attacks in real time, operate with agility, and modernize with confidence. As the demand to connect operational systems and modern applications surges, industrial enterprises grow more exposed to real-world risk, both physical and financial. The Corsha Industrial Identity Security Platform closes this connection gap by helping enterprises easily level up from monitoring to identity-driven action. The platform transforms OT security by bringing together an identity control plane, inline Gatekeepers, and expert intelligence, enabling operational, security, and compliance teams to safely scale automation and adopt new technologies such as predictive analytics, robotic automation, and physical AI. Trusted across industries including aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, data centers, defense, and facilities management, Corsha is backed by leading venture investors including Ten Eleven Ventures, Razor's Edge Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, and Cybernetix Ventures. Learn more at www.corsha.com.

SOURCE Corsha

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New research from Michaels and Morning Consult finds 80% of parents are seeking screen-free holiday activities, and nearly 8 in 10 consumers who celebrate value a $25 handmade gift as much as or more than a $100 store-bought one

IRVING, Texas, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, people are looking for ways to unplug and make the holidays more personal. According to the 2026 Michaels State of the Holiday Season Report, released today and conducted by Morning Consult, eight in 10 parents (80%) are seeking screen-free, hands-on holiday activities, and nearly 8 in 10 consumers who celebrate (78%) say a $25 handmade gift means as much as or more than a $100 store-bought one.

The national survey of 2,502 U.S. adults also reveals that nearly two-thirds (65%) want a less commercial holiday season, while 66% say hands-on activities make the season more meaningful. More than half (54%) say their household already has more stuff than it needs, and 61% are looking for screen-free holiday activities.

"Families are heading into December feeling stretched, both on time and on budget," said Heather Bennett, President and Chief Customer Officer at Michaels. "This report shows that many are responding by starting earlier and choosing what feels personal over what's pricey. At Michaels, we're making that easier, with inspiration to get started, affordable gifts and projects they can make or personalize, and in-store events where families and friends can unplug, get together, and create."

Four Trends Shaping the Season

- Screen-Free Connection

Parents are feeling screen fatigue most: more than half (56%) say they're worn out by the time they spend on screens, and half (50%) plan to do more screen-free activities than last year. Gen Z, the first generation to grow up with smartphones, isn't far behind. Nearly three-quarters (73%) are looking for screen-free, hands-on activities to do at home, and 46% plan to do more than last year. Many are setting boundaries, too: 69% of Gen Z and 72% of Millennials plan to set screen-free rules or try to unplug informally during the holidays.

- A Holiday Headstart

For many households, December stress is pushing the season earlier. Six in 10 of those who celebrate (60%) expect December to be stressful, and among them, the top concerns are spending more than they can afford (49%) and finding the right gifts (47%). So they're starting sooner: more than one-third (36%) begin buying gifts before November, including 19% who start in October, while 29% begin crafting and nearly a quarter (24%) begin decorating before November.

Among early starters, 53% say they do it to reduce December stress and 49% to spread spending across multiple paychecks.

- Meaning Over Materialism

When it comes to what makes the holidays special, presence matters more than presents. Among those who celebrate, spending time with family and friends is the No. 1 source of holiday joy (48%), while receiving gifts ranks near the bottom (18%). More than half of adults (54%) also say their household has more stuff than it needs.

That mindset carries into gifting. Six in 10 (61%) say they're likely to give a handmade or DIY gift this season, and 60% say personal sentiment matters more than price when choosing a gift.

- The Next Gen Décor Divide

Younger generations are turning holiday décor into a form of self-expression. Among those who celebrate, Millennials (36%) and Gen Z (34%) are nearly six times as likely as Baby Boomers (6%) to embrace playful, eclectic, and maximalist or moody, dramatic and glamorous holiday styles. Classic and natural looks stay popular across generations, with about half of Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X leaning that way.

Millennials and Gen Z are also getting into the spirit sooner. About one-third (34% and 32%, respectively) begin decorating before November, compared with 11% of Boomers.

Fueling Creativity and Celebration All Season Long

Michaels is helping families slow down, start early and make the season their own:

- Unplug and create together: Thousands of holiday DIYs starting at $2.99 give shoppers easy ways to step away from screens, from DIY ornaments to holiday-themed amigurumi crochet kits and seasonal mini framed paint-by-numbers. In-store events offer more chances to gather and make something by hand, from personalized ornaments to holiday junk journals.

- Get a head start: Holiday décor and supplies like artificial trees, party supplies, and decorative accents are available now in-stores and online to help shoppers get ahead of the December rush.

- Give something personal: DIY gifting supplies, personalized same-day ornaments starting at $15, and custom-framed photos like 10-Minute Custom Framing starting at $29 help shoppers give something meaningful without overspending.

- Bring your holiday style to life: Four exclusive décor collections, with pieces starting at $4.99, offer different ways to make the season feel like your own: the playful maximalism of Merry Kitschmas, the rich tones and glamour of Twilight Tidings, the classic styling of Bough & Berry, and the natural textures and neutrals of Wrapped in Joy.

Read the full State of the Holiday Season Report here. For holiday project ideas and to view upcoming in-store events, visit www.michaels.com.

About the Research

The 2026 Michaels State of the Holiday Season Report was fielded by Morning Consult Oct. 8–11, 2026, among a national sample of 2,502 U.S. adults, including 2,322 who plan to celebrate a holiday this season. Interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of U.S. adults based on age, race/ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of ±2 percentage points.

About The Michaels Companies, Inc.

At The Michaels Companies Inc., our purpose is to fuel the joy of creativity and celebration. As the leading destination for creating and celebrating in North America, we operate over 1,300 stores in 49 states and Canada and online at Michaels.com and Michaels.ca. The Michaels Companies, Inc. also owns Artistree, a manufacturer of custom and specialty framing merchandise. Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Irving, Texas, Michaels is the best place for all things creative. For more information, please visit http://www.michaels.com.

Media Contact

Kim Kornfeld

[email protected]

SOURCE The Michaels Companies, Inc.

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NEW FRANKEN, Wis., Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Agra Energy, a renewable fuels technology company, today announced the successful demonstration of renewable fuel production at its new facility in New Franken, Wisconsin, producing Fischer Tropsch Liquid Fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable naphtha from dairy-farm biogas. Agra Energy's technology licensing collaborator is HYCO1 and the facility uses HYCO1's patented CUBE™ reforming syngas production technology (Carbon Utilization, Best Efficiency), including its CORE™ Catalyst (Carbon Optimized Reforming). The demonstration validates Agra Energy's technology at Technology Readiness Level 9 (TRL 9), the highest stage of technology maturity, proven in commercial operation, and opens the door to customer facility licensing and the build-out of additional Agra Energy plants.

At the heart of the result is the HYCO1 CORE™ Catalyst. Conventional biogas-to-liquids processes treat the carbon dioxide in raw biogas as a waste stream to be stripped out and vented. CORE™ Catalyst instead converts that CO₂, together with the renewable natural gas (RNG), into syngas for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. CORE is tunable in real time production allowing the production of targeted 2:1 syngas ratios without the need for gas cleanup, saving additional capital and energy for low carbon fuel production. Capturing the carbon in that CO₂ also adds more than 20 percent carbon monoxide to the syngas yield and therefore to fuel yield, giving technology licensors the highest renewable fuel yield in the industry.

"This demonstration is the moment our technology moves from promising to proven," said Brad Yacullo, Chief Operating Officer, Agra Energy. "We are turning a dairy farm's biogas, including the CO₂ that others throw away, into SAF and renewable naphtha at industry-leading yield. With TRL 9 in hand, we are ready to license this technology to customers and to build additional plants of our own. There are so many opportunities to turn livestock waste into low carbon sustainable fuels that go far beyond just dairy to beef feedlots, food waste, and poultry farms."

"Converting the CO₂ in biogas rather than discarding it is what sets this process apart, adding more than 20 percent to yield from biogas to fuels while reducing emissions and carbon intensity of those fuels," said Kurt Dieker, Chief Development Officer, HYCO1. "Seeing our syngas catalyst perform in another commercial setting at New Franken confirms what it can do for renewable fuel and chemical economics."

Demonstration highlights

- Produced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable naphtha from dairy-farm biogas at the New Franken facility.

- Achieved the industry's highest yield using the HYCO1 CUBE™ technology and CORE™ Catalyst, which converts the CO₂ in biogas along with the RNG, adding more than 20 percent to fuel output.

- Validated the technology at TRL 9, proven in an operational commercial environment.

- Established the basis for customer facility licensing and internal development of additional plants sized at a targeted 150 to 250 barrels per day (BPD), supporting Agra Energy's goal of contracting 1,000 BPD of biogas-derived fuel production capacity in 2027.

Path to commercial scale

With the technology proven, Agra Energy and HYCO1 are advancing on two fronts: licensing their process to customers for their own facilities and developing additional company-owned plants targeting 150 to 250 BPD of renewable fuel production each. Together, these facilities will support Agra Energy's target of adding 1,000 BPD of renewable fuel production capacity from biogas in 2027. The modular plant size is designed to sit close to agricultural and other biogas sources, turning distributed waste streams into drop-in liquid fuels.

Seeking Customers, Offtake, and Capital partners

Agra Energy is now seeking project developers, offtake partners for its SAF and renewable naphtha, and capital partners to accelerate the deployment of this industry-leading technology. Airlines, fuel buyers, chemical producers, and investors interested in partnering with Agra Energy are invited to contact the company's COO, Brad Yacullo, at [email protected].

About Agra Energy

Agra Energy is a renewable fuels company developing scalable solutions that convert biogas and other methane-rich waste streams into renewable liquid fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel and renewable naphtha. FT technology, paired with the HYCO1's CORE™ syngas catalyst, recovers value from agricultural and other underutilized resources while supporting lower-carbon, and reduced-emission fuel production. For more information, visit www.agraenergy.com

Agra Energy Commercial Contact

Brad Yacullo

Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Agra Energy

[email protected]

Agra Energy Media Contact

Nicole Yacullo

HR/Marketing Coordinator, Agra Energy

[email protected]

About HYCO1

HYCO1 is a breakthrough CO₂ utilization technology company whose process and catalysts transform waste CO₂ emissions into sustainable, high-value products without reliance on subsidies or carbon credits. HYCO1 Vantage™ reformers are engineered to convert nearly 100% of CO₂ feedstock into syngas, with options for purified hydrogen and carbon monoxide, at costs lower than traditional gray processes. Syngas, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide industrial gases are used in the production of over $1 trillion of global chemicals and fuels annually.

HYCO1's proprietary CUBE™ Technology, which include Vantage™ reformers and CORE™ catalyst, enables near-complete CO₂ conversion in a single reactor pass, producing low-cost, low-CI, chemical-grade syngas (H₂ and CO) at commercial scale, a feat never previously achieved. HYCO1 empowers industrial emitters to convert CO₂ from a costly liability into a profitable, circular opportunity. HYCO1 is the leading CO₂ utilization process technology, enabling Gigaton impact on the world's CO₂ emissions. For more information, visit www.hyco1.com.

HYCO1 Media Contact

Tim Lozano

Director of Marketing, HYCO1, Inc.

[email protected] 

SOURCE Agra Energy

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The Real Deal Miami Forum to Address South Florida's Shifting Real Estate Landscape Amid Wealth Influx and Housing Affordability Pressures

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, David Martin, Judy Zeder, Florida State Senator Mack Bernard among featured speakers at upcoming summit on South Florida's market evolution following Ken Griffin's historic $1.1B Mana Wynwood acquisition.

MIAMI, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As South Florida's real estate market undergoes one of the most transformative shifts in its history,The Real Deal will host its annual Miami Real Estate Forum on November 4-5 at Mana Wynwood Convention Center, bringing together prominent developers, top-producing brokers, and civic leaders to evaluate the region's evolving landscape.

The gathering arrives at a critical juncture for South Florida real estate. Sustained wealth migration has solidified Miami as a global financial and commercial hub, highlighted by mega-transactions like Ken Griffin's $1.1 billion purchase of the 30-acre Mana Wynwood site. However, this unprecedented influx of capital has exacerbated pressing regional challenges, particularly surrounding workforce housing affordability, infrastructure capacity, and commercial positioning.

To examine these complex dynamics, the Miami Real Estate Forum will feature an elite roster of industry leaders and policymakers, including: Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Genghis Hadi of Nahla Capital, luxury brokers Dora Puig and Dina Goldentayer, Related Group's Nick Pérez, Gil Dezer of Dezer Development, and many more.

"Big money keeps coming into Miami, but the question is what happens beyond the billion-dollar deals," said Amir Korangy, founder and publisher of The Real Deal. "Where will the people who keep this city running afford to live? Can the infrastructure keep up? We're bringing together the people building, financing and governing South Florida to talk about where the opportunities are—and what needs to be fixed."

Key Themes & Agenda Topics:

- Wealth Migration & Institutional Capital: Analyzing how high-net-worth relocations and record-breaking acquisitions, such as the Mana Wynwood transaction, are reshaping regional asset valuations.

- Tackling the Housing Affordability Gap: Innovative public-private partnerships and policy incentives aimed at expanding middle-income and workforce housing across Miami-Dade.

- The Evolution of Luxury & Retail Corridors: How changing demographics are re-shaping high-end residential demand and prime commercial districts.

Event Details:

- Dates: Wednesday, November 4 and Thursday, November, 5

- Time: 9 am - 4 pm both days

- Location: Mana Wynwood Convention Center, 318 NW 23rd Street. Miami, FL 33127

- Registration / Details: Miami Real Estate Forum

About The Real Deal The Real Deal is the leading source of real estate news and information, providing in-depth coverage of the industry's most important trends, deals, and players across sectors including development, brokerage, finance, policy, and technology. With a focus on providing actionable insights and analysis, The Real Deal helps real estate professionals stay informed and make better business decisions.

To request a media pass, please contact:

Michele Langer

Head of Marketing, The Real Deal

[email protected] 

SOURCE The Real Deal

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Two critical memory-corruption remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities, collectively dubbed PHP2Shell, have been disclosed in core PHP, the underlying engine powering a vast portion of the web. The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform provides out-of-the-box visibility and detection coverage for post-exploitation activities of both vulnerabilities.

Tracked as CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, both vulnerabilities carry a CVSS 4.0 score of 9.2 (Critical) and are classified as CWE-824: Access of Uninitialized Pointer. Both allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary system commands on an affected web server over HTTP.

The two issues share a single root cause. When PHP encounters a fatal condition (exhausting its configured memory_limit, exceeding the maximum execution time, or losing the client connection), it does not return an error up the call stack. It raises a fatal error and uses longjmp() to abandon the current execution context outright, aborting the request. Any C function caught midway through building a data structure is simply discarded: no destructors run, no bookkeeping is rolled back, and nothing records that the structure is incomplete. PHP then proceeds into an otherwise ordinary cleanup sequence that assumes every structure is in a consistent state.

The two CVEs describe where that assumption breaks:

- CVE-2026-109618 (RCE via out-of-memory) covers contexts that leave request memory uninitialized. A data structure is marked as containing an entry before the memory backing that entry is allocated; when the allocation is the one that crosses the memory limit, the entry is left holding stale heap data. The failing request's own cleanup routine then reads and branches on those bytes.

- CVE-2026-109619 (RCE via fatal errors) covers contexts that leave global state invalid. A module-level global still points into the per-request heap that shutdown has already freed, and still reports its operation as active. A subsequent request handled by the same worker process reads or branches on that freed memory.

In both cases, the attacker controls the trigger and, critically, the data that PHP ultimately misinterprets. CrowdStrike has verified end-to-end that a single anonymous POST request can cause an Apache mod_php worker to launch a shell process and execute an attacker-specified command, with no authentication, no session, and no vulnerable application code involved.

What elevates these vulnerabilities is their placement in the execution stack. PHP parses incoming request data before extensions are initialized and before a single line of application code is compiled, so exploitation is independent of what the server hosts. A meticulously maintained application is exposed to precisely the same degree as a neglected one. The attack is also remarkably quiet: The worker process does not crash, the server returns a standard HTTP 200 response, and application logs record nothing unusual.

In our testing, we developed an exploit code that operated consistently across x86-64 and ARM architectures, remained reliable across worker restarts, and on ARM-based hosts, which are increasingly common in cloud fleets, defeated Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) using only HTTP requests.

Technical Details

The Shared Root Cause: longjmp() Without Unwinding

Both vulnerabilities live in Zend, the engine at the heart of PHP. Zend is the C implementation that compiles PHP source into bytecode, executes it in a virtual machine, and manages everything the language needs at runtime: variables, arrays, objects, reference counting, and memory allocation. Originally written by Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans (the name is a contraction of their first names) and introduced with PHP 4, it is not an optional component or a third-party add-on; it ships inside every PHP build, which is why its source lives in the Zend/ directory of php-src. In practice, this means a defect in Zend is a defect in the PHP engine itself, affecting every application, framework, and extension running on the interpreter, regardless of how that code is written.

Two pieces of core Zend machinery are central to the issues described here: the HashTable, which backs every PHP array including the $_POST superglobal, and the Zend Memory Manager (Zend MM), PHP's own per-request allocator that sits between PHP and the operating system. PHP's fatal-error path terminates in zend_bailout(), which performs a LONGJMP out of the current C call stack:

// Zend/zend.c

ZEND_API ZEND_COLD ZEND_NORETURN void _zend_bailout(const char *filename, uint32_t lineno)

{

...

CG(unclean_shutdown) = 1;

...

LONGJMP(*EG(bailout), FAILURE);

}

Nothing between the fatal error and the enclosing zend_catch block executes. Any caller that mutated the state and relied on reaching its own cleanup code leaves that state behind. This is safe only if every such caller is written with abrupt termination in mind, and several are not.

CVE-2026-109618: Uninitialized Request Memory, Consumed During the Same Request

The canonical instance is _zend_hash_str_add_or_update_i() in Zend/zend_hash.c, the helper behind every string-keyed insert into a PHP array. On the insert path, it increments both element counters, takes a pointer to the new bucket, and only then allocates a copy of the key:

// Zend/zend_hash.c

add_to_hash:

idx = ht->nNumUsed++;

ht->nNumOfElements++;

p = ht->arData + idx;

p->key = key = zend_string_init(str, len, GC_FLAGS(ht) & IS_ARRAY_PERSISTENT);

If zend_string_init() exceeds memory_limit, Zend MM raises a fatal error that ends in zend_bailout(). Execution never returns to complete the bucket. Now, the table reports one more entry than it actually contains, and that entry's value, hash, and key pointer are whatever bytes the allocator last left in that memory; the bucket array is allocated with an uninitialized emalloc(), with only the hash region explicitly reset.

During teardown, php_request_shutdown() destroys the superglobals, and zend_array_destroy() iterates nNumUsed buckets. The stale entry is passed to i_zval_ptr_dtor(), which treats the leftover bytes as a reference-counted value: It dereferences the pointer they contain, decrements the reference count at that address, and (if it reaches zero) dispatches through a function-pointer table indexed by a type tag that also came from the leftover bytes.

Triggering the condition requires nothing more than a URL-encoded POST body, because PHP populates $_POST inside php_hash_environment(), which php_request_startup() calls before zend_activate_modules() and before any script is compiled. A field with a nested name such as ZZZZ…[x]=1 causes php_register_variable_ex() to insert the outer name as a new array key, so the attacker directly controls the length of the key that must be allocated. Sizing that name to cross memory_limit places the bailout precisely on the key allocation.

Control over the leftover bytes comes from the allocator's determinism. Zend MM serves small allocations from per-size free lists in strict last-in-first-out order and never zeroes reclaimed blocks. An earlier field in the same request, one whose value PHP copies, decodes, and immediately releases, can therefore be sized so that its freed contents occupy exactly the block the corrupted array subsequently claims. The stale entry becomes a fully attacker-defined value, which we used to synthesize a counterfeit array whose destructor pointer resolves to libc's system(), with the command string resident in the same block.

The only server-side artifact of a successful attempt is a generic fatal error in the web server log:

PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 16777216 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 3670048 bytes) in Unknown on line 0

The in Unknown on line 0 is the tell: It confirms that no PHP file was ever executing.

CVE-2026-109619: Invalid Global State, Consumed by a Subsequent Request

The second CVE follows the same mechanism but the damage lands in process-scoped state, which shifts the exploitation window to a later request. Here, the interrupted operation is one that caches state in a global variable and depends on reaching its own cleanup call to clear it. PHP caches the active serializer and unserializer contexts in module globals and reuses the cached pointer whenever the nesting level is non-zero. Only the matching destroy call decrements that level and clears the pointer, and only an extension's request-initialization routine resets it. Session handling behaves comparably, holding the session identifier, handler state, session variables, and upload-progress state in globals cleared by dedicated shutdown routines.

When a fatal error interrupts one of these operations, the matching teardown is skipped. The global retains its pointer, and the nesting counter still asserts that the operation is active. Request shutdown then frees the entire per-request heap, but the global survives because it belongs to the process rather than the request. PHP is left holding a module-level pointer into memory it has already released.

Two factors make this reachable and controllable:

- Worker reuse: In persistent-worker deployments such as Apache mod_php, the same process handles the next request. The stale global is found intact, the operation is believed to be in progress, and the freed pointer is read, written through, or branched on. Whatever occupies that memory by then is attacker-influenced, because the intervening request is also the attacker's: They choose its size and contents, and Zend MM's allocation behavior is deterministic enough to place them reliably. PHP-FPM terminates a worker whose request startup fails, which removes the reuse for interruptions in the startup phase; an interruption inside an already-running script leaves the FPM worker alive and equally exposed.

- Startup ordering: php_request_startup() parses request variables before running extension request-initialization callbacks.