Resolve merge conflicts with publish branch

- Merge latest changes from publish branch
- Fix deploy.yml conflicts by keeping improved version:
  * Remove duplicate checkout steps
  * Use consistent artifact download version (@v4)
  * Keep verification step for build artifacts
  * Maintain proper file exclusion during deployment

This resolves conflicts in PR #537 and brings modernize-2025 up to date with publish branch.

Author: Dale Kunce