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FAMOUS BRANDS INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING OF NEW CO-BRANDED MRS. FIELDS® AND TCBY® CONCEPT IN CHARLOTTE METRO AREA

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Multi-unit Operator Opens 15th Location and First Dual Store at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, N.C.

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Famous Brands International, the parent company of iconic dessert brands Mrs. Fields® and TCBY® (The Country’s Best Yogurt) announced today the grand opening of a co-branded store in the Greater Charlotte Metro Area. Located at the Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, N.C., this store marks the franchisees’ 15th opening with Famous Brands International.

To celebrate the opening of the space, the community is invited to the Grand Opening event, hosted at Carolina Place Mall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 2. Guests in attendance will receive three complimentary Nibblers® Bite-Sized Cookies.

Samuel Batt opened his first TCBY location in Greater Charlotte in 2010, piloting TCBY’s first self-serve location. Including the new co-branded concept, Batt now oversees 15 TCBY and Mrs. Fields locations across Charlotte, N.C., Charleston, S.C., and his hometown of Philadelphia, Pa.

“TCBY is a brand I have known and loved for decades,” said Batt. “Since opening my first TCBY, I’ve witnessed the joy our products bring to guests. The loyalty that the community continues to show for our brand is a true testament to the high-quality desserts we bring to the market. That’s why we’re so excited to open a co-branded store where guests can enjoy both Mrs. Fields and TCBY from the same counter.”

TCBY offers a wide variety of frozen yogurt flavors and treats catering to all tastes and dietary preferences. Guests can enjoy over 50 soft-serve flavors and 17 hand-scooped yogurt varieties, including dairy-free, vegan, and gluten-free options. With over 35 toppings ranging from candies and desserts to fresh fruits, nuts, and sauces, can fully customize their frozen treats. The store also features an array of frozen desserts, including milkshakes, parfaits, sundaes, cakes, pies, chillers, sorbet fizz, and more.

Mrs. Fields has delighted customers with its signature cookies, cookie cakes, brownies, and gift baskets for over four decades. As the brand continues to evolve, it remains committed to delivering the same high-quality products that have made it a household name for generations.

“Sam has been one of TCBY’s greatest supporters over the years and largest multi-unit operator in our system,” said Joe Lewis, President and CEO of Famous Brands International. “We’re thrilled to see Sam open his first co-branded Mrs. Fields and TCBY store at Carolina Place Mall. Operators like Sam, who possess a genuine passion for our brands and understand the strong opportunities available with TCBY and Mrs. Fields, are integral to our growth across the U.S.”

The Mrs. Fields / TCBY Pineville store will be open seven days a week during regular mall hours. To find the Pineville store or a location near you, please visit TCBY.com or MrsFieldsStores.com. High-resolution images can be found at the link here.

To stay updated on the latest news and promotions, follow Mrs. Fields on Facebook and Instagram and follow TCBY on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram

For more information on franchising opportunities, visit MrsFieldsFranchise.com or TCBYFranchise.com.

About Mrs. Fields®
Mrs. Fields® is one of the original and most iconic cookie retail store brands in the world. It is the epitome of the American Dream. Debbi Fields was a homemaker when she had the idea of bringing her irresistible cookie recipes to the public. Debbi opened her first store in Palo Alto, California in 1977, over 45 years ago. The Mrs. Fields name quickly became associated with warm, freshly baked cookies right out of the oven that were always made with high quality ingredients. Mrs. Fields now operates in 24 states and six countries and plans to continue expanding through franchising in the United States and internationally. Mrs. Fields is part of Famous Brands International, the parent company of Mrs. Fields and TCBY. To find a Mrs. Fields store near you, visit MrsFieldsStores.com or MrsFieldsFranchise.com to learn about Mrs. Fields cookie franchising opportunities. To stay updated on the latest news and promotions, follow Mrs. Fields on Facebook and Instagram.

About TCBY® 
TCBY (The Country’s Best Yogurt) is one of the original and most iconic frozen yogurt retail store brands in the world, founded over 40 years ago in 1981 by Frank Hickingbotham in Little Rock, Arkansas. A former junior high school principal and insurance salesman, Frank was inspired to open the store after his wife, Georgia, discovered frozen yogurt at a Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas. TCBY began franchising in 1982 and quickly grew to become the world leader in frozen yogurt and the beloved iconic brand it is today. TCBY offers an extensive product line, including low-fat, fat-free, or no sugar added options. TCBY operates in 32 states and five countries and plans to continue expanding through franchising in the United States and internationally. TCBY is part of Famous Brands International, the parent company of TCBY and Mrs. Fields. For more information, visit TCBY.com or TCBYFranchise.com to learn about franchising opportunities. To stay updated on the latest news and promotions, follow TCBY on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Famous Brands International
Famous Brands International is the parent company of two category defining, iconic brands: Mrs. Fields® Cookies and TCBY® (The Country’s Best Yogurt). The company markets and distributes its products such as cookies, brownies, cookie cakes, frozen yogurt, and yogurt cakes through its Mrs. Fields and TCBY franchise stores. Serving millions of loyal customers around the world, Famous Brands maintains a presence in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Morocco, Panama, Taiwan and the Bahamas with over 360 franchised locations worldwide. The company is currently leveraging the category leading brand awareness of its iconic brands to pursue further franchise growth in both the United States and international markets. Famous Brands is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Contact:
Callie Chambers | Fish 919
cchambers@fish-consulting.com
954-893-9150

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SOURCE Mrs. Fields/TCBY

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Ultra Clean Announces Retirement of the Chief Financial Officer Sheri Savage

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HAYWARD, Calif., April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: UCTT), today announced that Sheri Savage, CFO, will be retiring from the company.

“On behalf of the Board and the entire UCT team, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Sheri for her remarkable 17 years of leadership and service,” said James Xiao, CEO. “Throughout her tenure, Sheri has played a pivotal role in shaping UCT’s financial strength, operational discipline, and long-term strategic direction. Her steady leadership, deep expertise, and unwavering commitment to excellence have helped guide the company through multiple industry cycles, positioning UCT for the next phase of growth. Sheri has been a trusted partner to me, the Board, and the broader global finance team, and her positive impact on this company will be lasting. We thank her sincerely for her dedication and wish her all the very best in her well-earned retirement.”

“It has been an incredible honor to be part of UCT’s journey over the past 17 years. I am deeply proud of what we have built together – strengthening our financial foundation, supporting our customers, and growing alongside a truly talented and committed global team,” said Sheri. “I am grateful for the trust and support I’ve received from my colleagues, our leadership team, and the Board throughout my tenure. UCT is well positioned for the future, and I look forward to watching the company continue to grow and succeed in the years ahead.”

The Board has initiated a comprehensive search for Sheri’s successor, considering both internal and external candidates, and will provide an update in due course.

About Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. is a leading developer and supplier of critical subsystems, components, parts, and ultra-high purity cleaning and analytical services, primarily for the semiconductor industry. Under its Products division, UCT offers its customers an integrated outsourced solution for major subassemblies, improved design-to-delivery cycle times, design for manufacturability, prototyping, and high-precision manufacturing. Under its Services Division, UCT offers its customers tool chamber parts cleaning and coating, as well as micro-contamination analytical services. Ultra Clean is headquartered in Hayward, California. Additional information is available at www.uct.com.

Contact:

Rhonda Bennetto
SVP Investor Relations
rbennetto@uct.com

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SOURCE Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

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SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary at Davos: GPS Jamming and AI Cyber Threats Now Converge

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CEO tells The National that navigation interference and AI vulnerabilities now form a single threat surface for critical systems.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Apr. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ, warned that GPS jamming, GPS spoofing, and AI-enabled cyberattacks are converging into a single operational threat to critical systems. In remarks to The National, Hidary said the threats are no longer separate concerns but overlapping challenges requiring unified resilience.

SandboxAQ addresses both fronts with two technologies: AQNav, which uses the Earth’s magnetic field — the same signal birds and animals navigate by — to deliver resilient positioning, navigation, and timing in GPS-denied environments, and AQtive Guard, which unifies AI security and cryptographic posture management.

GPS interference is shifting from edge case to operational norm:

In June 2025, residents across multiple Middle Eastern countries reported location-service disruptions affecting consumer devices, ships, and aircraft, according to The National.In September 2025, media outlets reported GPS jamming on a flight carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, attributed to Russian interference.

“Recently, there was a plane flying and because it lost GPS because of jamming, the autopilot would not engage,” Hidary said, citing pilot reports of cascading failures inside aircraft systems. AQNav, tested by the US Air Force and several aviation companies, has drawn interest from Middle Eastern airlines.

Hidary linked GPS disruption to a parallel AI threat: “Large language models are also a vector of cyber attack.” He cited nation-state hackers exploiting generative AI tools, plus the Samsung incident, where engineers entered confidential information into ChatGPT.

The WEF’s 2026 Global Risks Report ranks cyber insecurity #6 among short-term global risks, with adverse outcomes of AI technologies showing the sharpest long-term rise — moving from #30 in the two-year outlook to #5 in the ten-year outlook. The report warns that “technological risks are also anticipated to worsen in severity over the next decade.”

Learn more or request a demo at sandboxaq.com. Read the full Davos coverage in The National.

About SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ is an enterprise company delivering AI solutions at the intersection of machine learning and science. Spun out from Alphabet in 2022, it develops Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) for life sciences, cybersecurity, financial services, navigation, and advanced materials. Visit www.sandboxaq.com to learn more.

 

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SOURCE SandboxAQ

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Tech-Access Canada Welcomes $165M Federal Investment to Accelerate Commercialisation

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OTTAWA, ON, April 28, 2026 /CNW/ – Tech-Access Canada, the national network of Canada’s Technology Access Centres (TACs), welcomes today’s federal Spring Economic Update, which includes an investment of $165 million over five years to extend support for the College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program.

Delivered through Canada’s tri-council research system and administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the CCI Program enables businesses to access applied R&D expertise, specialized facilities, and technical services to advance innovation and bring new technologies to market.

This investment will strengthen Canada’s capacity to support commercialisation and productivity by helping businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerate the development, validation, and adoption of new products, processes, and technologies.

“Continued support for the CCI Program reinforces a proven model that connects businesses with the expertise and infrastructure they need to innovate and compete,” said Melanie Ross, Research Chair, Green Building Technology Access Centre, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and Chair of Tech-Access Canada’s Board of Directors. “Technology Access Centres deliver practical, industry-driven solutions that help companies move ideas forward and translate innovation into real economic outcomes.”

Each year, TACs work with thousands of companies across sectors to advance technologies along the commercialisation pathway from early-stage validation through to deployment and scale-up. By providing objective, non-dilutive support, TACs help companies make informed decisions, avoid costly missteps, and accelerate time-to-market.

“This investment helps ensure that innovation developed in Canada stays in Canada,” said Ken Doyle, Executive Director of Tech-Access Canada. “TACs help companies commercialise here at home reducing risk, accelerating time to market, and driving real outcomes. As Canadian firms scale and export globally, that success returns to the Canadian economy.”

Tech-Access Canada’s network includes more than 70 Technology Access Centres located across the country, providing businesses with access to over 2,100 applied R&D experts, millions of square feet of specialized facilities, and hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment and infrastructure.

About Tech-Access Canada

Tech-Access Canada is the national network of Canada’s Technology Access Centres (TACs), which help businesses access the expertise, facilities, and support they need to advance innovation and bring new products and services to market.

www.MeetTheTACs.ca

SOURCE Tech-Access Canada

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