General News

Camden, N.J. – September 24, 2026 -- American Water (NYSE: AWK), the largest regulated water and wastewater utility in the United States, sent two senior executives to the Financial Research Institute's 35th Annual Public Utility Symposium in Columbia, Missouri, on September 24, 2026, to address surging data center water-energy demand and customer affordability pressures.

Illinois American Water President Warns of AI-Driven Load Growth

Rebecca Losli, President of Illinois American Water, joined the "Intercepting the New Reality" panel, focusing on AI-related load requests, global supply chain constraints, and the water-energy requirements tied to data center expansion. The session placed utility infrastructure planning directly against the accelerating power and water needs of hyperscale computing facilities.

Columbus, Ohio – September 24, 2026 -- Bay Crane Companies will offer its entire surplus fleet at a no-reserve absolute auction on Tuesday, September 24, 2026, starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, after selecting Jeff Martin Auctioneers to run the sale.

Bay Crane liquidates excess iron following recent acquisitions

The Bay Crane Companies – Absolute Strategic Fleet Update Auction stems from a series of recent acquisitions that left the company with surplus equipment. Bay Crane, ranked the third-largest crane rental company in North America, is marketing the excess inventory to keep its fleet aligned with growth plans rather than carrying idle assets.

Washington – September 24, 2026 -- George Guszcza, President and CEO of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), has been appointed to the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee (NCSTAC), a federal panel that guides the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on building failure investigations.

Committee advises NIST on probes into building failures causing mass casualties

NCSTAC operates under the National Construction Safety Team Act, which authorizes NIST to investigate building failures that result in substantial loss of life or pose significant public safety threats. Findings from these investigations feed into recommendations affecting national building codes, construction standards, and safety practices.

Los Angeles – – September 24, 2026 -- LaserAway has opened its 232nd U.S. clinic in Lubbock, Texas, extending a 20-year run without a single location closure since its 2006 founding.

Lubbock clinic expands LaserAway's footprint to 36 states

The new site at 4210 82nd St, #206, Lubbock, TX 79423, will offer laser hair removal, Botox, dermal fillers, skin rejuvenation, and body contouring treatments including CoolSculpting and Thermage. It will also add LaserAway Wellness Injections administered by licensed medical staff.

Company scales from one West Hollywood clinic to 232 locations

LaserAway was founded in 2006 by Dr. Roy Winston and brothers Scott, Brock, and Todd Heckmann, starting with a single clinic on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, CA. The company remains privately owned and operated, with no franchised locations, and now operates across 36 states.

Grand Rapids, Mich. – September 24, 2026 -- Mercantile Bank is deploying $150,000 in matching grants to eight Michigan nonprofit organizations through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis Community Multiplier Member Match Program, targeting affordable housing gaps statewide.

Mercantile Bank channels $150,000 through FHLBank Indianapolis matching program

The Community Multiplier program allows member financial institutions to support affordable housing nonprofits via matching grants. Mercantile's funding will back initiatives spanning housing stability, housing counseling and education, organizational capacity building, and affordable housing development and preservation.

Knoxville, Tenn. – September 24, 2026 -- ResultStack has completed a national benchmark evaluating hundreds of convenience-store brands to rank the 100 strongest digital ecosystems in the industry, with results to be shared privately at NACS 2026 in Las Vegas.

Benchmark evaluates connectivity, not just app features

The Top 100 C-Store Digital Ranking assesses mobile, loyalty, payments, ordering, personalization, rewards, partnerships and connectivity as an integrated system rather than isolated tools. ResultStack, whose team combines more than 50 years of operator-side convenience retail experience, built the framework to measure how effectively these capabilities work together across the customer journey.

Aurora, Colo. – September 24, 2026 -- Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz report a 100% 24-hour survival rate among 26 Ukrainian military personnel who received drone-delivered freeze-dried plasma at the point of injury, a preliminary finding from an ongoing study testing whether unmanned aircraft can bring blood products to critically injured patients before conventional evacuation reaches them.

Drones carry Octapharma-donated plasma to front-line medics in Ukraine

The freeze-dried plasma, donated by global pharmaceutical company Octapharma, is packaged for transport and flown by drone to medical teams operating near the point of injury. Unlike fresh frozen plasma, which requires freezing and thawing, the freeze-dried version can be stored at room temperature and prepared rapidly for administration, addressing a logistical barrier the FDA has identified for battlefield, remote and disaster settings.

Hilton Head Island, S.C. – September 24, 2026 -- FirstService Residential has secured a full-service property management contract for Sea Crest Oceanfront Resort in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, expanding its footprint in the coastal luxury community sector.

Board Awards Contract After Lagoon Repair Project

FirstService Residential initially partnered with the Sea Crest board to manage a large lagoon reparation project. Based on that performance, the board decided to hire the firm for ongoing full-service management of the community.

Sea Crest Offers Oceanfront Amenities in Forest Beach District

Located in the Forest Beach area of Hilton Head, Sea Crest features two outdoor pools with ocean views, a fitness center with a therapy pool, a poolside restaurant and beach bar, and garden areas.

Portland, Ore. – September 24, 2026 -- Nearly half of all calls to US businesses -- 47% -- occur outside traditional Monday-to-Friday working hours, according to new call data from AnswerConnect covering 5,906,476 minutes of call logs between April and June 2026.

The finding indicates a widening gap between when companies operate and when customers actually try to reach them, with businesses that limit availability to standard hours risking missed leads, sales, and referrals to competitors who answer around the clock.

One customer converted four after-hours calls into roughly $200,000 in business

AnswerConnect reported that a single client generated approximately $200,000 in return from just four calls, illustrating how a small number of captured after-hours conversations can carry outsized commercial value.

Los Angeles – September 24, 2026 -- Fashion Trust U.S. has appointed Dr. Omar Mir to its Board of Directors and named him the lead figure behind its 2027 Sustainability Award, the nonprofit fashion platform announced.

Mir takes charge of the nonprofit's sustainability honor for emerging U.S. designers

The Sustainability Award recognizes American designers advancing responsible luxury and ethical production. Tania Fares, Founder of Fashion Trust U.S., said Mir brings "a rare combination of global perspective, intellectual curiosity, and a genuine commitment to the next generation" to the role.

Prior award recipients include Batsheva Hay, Nana Kwame Adusei and AnOnlyChild designers

Laura Brown presented the inaugural 2024 award to Batsheva Hay of Batsheva. Kate Hudson handed the 2025 honor to Nana Kwame Adusei of Kwame Adusei, and Jodie Turner-Smith presented the 2026 award to Maxwell Osborne and Kristy Chen of AnOnlyChild.