Space & Defense: Amentum’s ASCEND JV won NASA’s COSMOS contract for mission operations and training support, reinforcing Virginia’s role in deep-space systems work. Health Tech: Children’s National reported early results from a first-in-human multi-target T-cell therapy trial for deadly pediatric brain tumors, with Nature Medicine publishing promising long-term survival signals. Biotech & Pulmonary Care: Quince Therapeutics formed a Scientific Advisory Board to advance inhaled rapamycin (LAM-001) for multiple lung conditions, including PH-ILD and post-transplant BOS. STEM in the Classroom: A South Korean hologram maker installed hovering hologram teaching tools and kiosks at Columbia College in Vienna, aiming to help students learn complex dental and culinary lab concepts without headsets. AI & Education: UVA researchers are partnering on an AI2S project to coach teachers using multimodal analysis of math instruction videos, with teacher data kept private. Virginia Policy: Spanberger signed a safe-storage gun law requiring locked storage when minors are present, and a new PrEP insurance protection law bars discrimination in life/disability coverage. Energy & Data Centers: Virginia’s new budget adds a per-kilowatt-hour tax on data center electricity use to raise revenue and address power demand concerns. Space Industry Business: Rocket Lab is moving to challenge SpaceX by acquiring Iridium in an $8B deal aimed at satellite services competition. Public Health Logistics: NASA Langley and LifeNet Health tested drone transport of donated kidneys, finding no harmful effects in early results. Housing & Economy: A Rocket Mortgage analysis found Virginia Beach first-time buyers may need about 4.3 years to save a down payment, highlighting big regional gaps.