PARKER, Ariz., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Arizona’s broadband expansion efforts reached a new milestone in connecting residents, businesses and community institutions with high-speed, reliable internet. Wecom Fiber, alongside the Arizona Commerce Authority, Town of Parker and the Parker Regional Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, today celebrated the ceremonial ribbon cutting marking completion of the Arizona Broadband Development Grant project — a multi-year build spanning Mohave and La Paz counties, with the Town of Parker as its final segment.

The network will deliver high-speed internet to residents, businesses, carriers, and government entities. The project serves 124 Community Anchor Institutions—such as libraries, schools, public safety, and more—connecting 15,000 homes and businesses.

“Completing our fiber build across the Town of Parker reflects the focus and dedication of our construction crews and local team, and we’re proud to bring reliable, high-speed internet to a community that didn’t have real options before,” said Rachel Solomon, CEO, Wecom Fiber. “This is also just the beginning — as Arizona’s largest BEAD award winner, Wecom Fiber is already working to bring that same opportunity to harder-to-reach communities across eight counties in Arizona.”

“This investment in broadband infrastructure will unlock new economic opportunities and strengthen the long‑term competitiveness of communities across Mohave County and La Paz County,” said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “I’m grateful for Governor Hobbs’ leadership and thank Wecom Fiber, the Town of Parker, and all our partners whose collaboration made this milestone possible.” 

“This project means homes and businesses across the Town of Parker now have access to reliable internet that didn’t exist here before,” said Randy Hartless, Mayor of the Town of Parker. “I want to thank Wecom Fiber, the Arizona Commerce Authority, and everyone who partnered with the Town to make this happen.”

“La Paz County has been my home for many years, and I’ve seen firsthand what reliable broadband means for our residents and local businesses,” said Duce Minor, La Paz County District 2 Supervisor. “This project reflects exactly the kind of investment our rural communities need, and I’m grateful to Wecom Fiber and the state for making it happen.”

In November 2023, Governor Hobbs and local leaders broke ground on the $10 million Arizona Broadband Development Grant project spanning Mohave and La Paz counties. Wecom Fiber invested $35 million – making the total project investment $45 million.

Background on the Arizona Broadband Development Program

Arizona’s Broadband Development Grant (ABDG) Program expands high-speed internet access across the state. With $100 million in funding going towards infrastructure projects in Arizona’s unserved and underserved areas, the program encompasses 19 projects across 10 counties.

Media Contacts

Wecom Fiber

Scott Davis, Chief Revenue Officer, scottd@wecomfiber.com

Arizona Commerce Authority

Alyssa Tufts, Vice President, Public Relations, alyssat@azcommerce.com

About Wecom Fiber
Wecom Fiber is an Arizona-based fiber broadband provider focused on delivering reliable, high-speed internet to underserved and rural communities. With roots dating back to 1956, the company combines local expertise with modern infrastructure to expand connectivity and close the digital divide across the state.

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SOURCE Wecom Fiber

Researchers from Across the World Convened in Queens to Discuss Digital Methods and Theories Impacting the World

QUEENS, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Vaughn College hosted the sixth annual International Conference on Digital Technologies and Applications (ICDTA) on Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10. The two-day hybrid conference focused on the intersection of digital technologies, soft computing and intelligent systems, and how it impacts the world. Serving as a bridge between high-level engineering and practical business applications, the conference drew researchers from across the world from more than 30 different countries, both in-person and online.

“Hosting the conference at Vaughn College significantly elevated the institution’s global academic presence while providing students with invaluable professional growth,” said Dr Sanaa Faquir, assistant professor in Vaughn’s engineering and technology department. “By bringing top researchers and industry pioneers directly to campus, the college established indexed publication ties and opened the door for future institutional partnerships and research grants.” Dr. Faquir, who served as a conference moderator, also helped organize the event.

Two plenary sessions made up the in-person section of the conference on October 9. The morning plenary session featured guest speakers Wayne J. Levin, president and chief executive officer of Predictum Inc., Canada, and Dr. Philip Ramsey, vice president of data science and training at Predictum discussing how bad research costs the United States economy several billion dollars every year and steps that can be taken to reverse the trend. The plenary session concluded with guest speaker Dr. Kaoutar El Maghraoui, principle research scientist at IBM, discussing efficient LLM inference—the process of using a trained large language model to generate output text, code or data from an input prompt without changing the model’s learned weights.

The afternoon plenary session began with guest speaker Dr. Lobna A. Said, professor at Nile University, discussing hardware-efficient FPGA accelerators—hardware circuits built on a field-programmable gate array that speeds up scientific computing tasks by executing them directly in parallel custom logic—for a machine learning-based time-series. The session concluded with Dr. Amir Toliyat, assistant professor of information systems and informatics at City University of New York City-College of Staten Island, speaking about responsible AI for marketing decision support.

Online participants heard both panels on October 9 and oral sessions on October 10 covering multiple topics regarding both AI and the digital transformation of the workplace, how AI is impacting healthcare, business, marketing, education, aviation and several other fields, and the digital transformation of supply chains, health, education, energy, power grids, government and power sectors.

VAUGHN COLLEGE: Founded in 1932, Vaughn College is a private, nonprofit four-year college that enrolls more than 1,600 students in master’s, bachelor’s and associate degree programs in engineering, technology, management and aviation on its main campus in New York City and online. The student-faculty ratio of 18 to 1 ensures a highly personalized learning environment. Ninety-five percent of Vaughn College graduates, 71 percent in their field of study, are employed in professional positions or choose to continue their education within one year of graduation. The institution serves many first-generation college students and is recognized by the US Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. In a study conducted by The Equality of Opportunity Project, and reported in The New York Times, Vaughn was ranked number one in upward mobility nationwide. For more information on Vaughn College visit http://www.vaughn.edu.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vaughn-college-hosts-the-sixth-annual-international-conference-on-digital-technologies-and-applications-302907637.html

SOURCE Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology

New offering reflects RBC’s efforts to help drive inclusive economic prosperity, create positive social change and advance reconciliation

TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2026 /CNW/ — Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”) announced today the issuance of its C$500-million four-year callable (4NC3) Fixed-to-Floating Rate Indigenous Bond, with proceeds intended to be allocated to loans supporting Indigenous communities and businesses across Canada.

“This social bond supports economic opportunities that matter to Indigenous communities,” said Sarah Thompson, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, RBC Capital Markets. “Investor demand demonstrates the potential to scale this type of financing structure over time, enabling sustainable finance to help advance economic reconciliation.”

RBC Capital Markets is acting as sole bookrunner and lead agent, and Cedar Leaf Capital, Canada’s first majority Indigenous-owned investment dealer, as co-lead agent. The offering is expected to close on October 16, 2026.

Aligning with global sustainable finance guidelines
The bond is issued pursuant to RBC’s Sustainable Bond Framework (the “Framework”)1, which provides the basis for RBC’s issuance of Green, Social, and Sustainability Bonds. The Framework defines Eligible use-of-proceeds Categories across green and social themes, including Affordable Basic Infrastructure, Access to Essential Services, Affordable Housing, Socioeconomic Advancement and Empowerment and Employment Generation. The Framework is aligned with the International Capital Market Association’s (“ICMA”) Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles, and Sustainability Bond Guidelines, and has received a Second Party Opinion from S&P Global Ratings.

Supporting Indigenous communities through strategic partnerships
“RBC has been working with Indigenous communities for decades to foster long-term relationships rooted in reconciliation,” said Brittanee Laverdure, Director, Truth and Reconciliation Office, RBC Origins. “This issuance demonstrates our commitment to advancing economic inclusion for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and businesses, helping to create lasting economic opportunities.”

In collaboration with RBC Origins and its Truth and Reconciliation Office, RBC’s approach to help create positive social change is grounded in both market opportunity and Indigenous community needs, reflecting the bank’s broader Reconciliation Action Plan.

RBC Capital Markets’ Indigenous Advisory & Finance Practice, established earlier this year, provides specialized advisory, financing and capacity-building support for Indigenous-owned major projects across Canada. This comes at a pivotal moment – with many major projects running through or near Indigenous territories, Indigenous partnership has become increasingly important to the country’s nation-building efforts. Governments, businesses and Indigenous communities are recognizing the value of this partnership, which can strengthen investor confidence across the country2.

For more information on RBC’s reconciliation efforts and Indigenous initiatives, please visit: rbc.com/indigenous/.

Caution regarding forward-looking statements and important notice regarding this press release
The information in this press release is provided for information purposes only. This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws. Information on this press release is or may be based on assumptions, estimates and judgements. For cautionary statements relating to the information on this press release, refer to the “Caution regarding forward-looking statements” and the “Important notice regarding this document” appendices in our latest Sustainability Report, available at www.rbc.com/sustainabilityreporting. Except as required by law, none of RBC nor any of its affiliates undertake to update any information in this webpage. The content of any websites referred to in this press release including via website link, and any other websites they refer to are not incorporated by reference in, and do not form part of, this press release.

About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 105,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank and one of the largest in the world, based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our more than 19 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.‎

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/peopleandplanet.

For more information, please contact:
Maggie Cheung, RBC Capital Markets, maggiepc.cheung@rbccm.com

SOURCE RBC Capital Markets