News

Torrance – September 30, 2026 -- Neros Technologies has received an order for 14,000 drones and explosive payloads through the Department of War's Drone Dominance Program, under the Gauntlet II competition, in a deal valued at over $100 million.

Neros drone ranks #1 in Close Quarters Battle and #3 in Deep Strike trials

The award follows Neros' performance in Gauntlet II mission testing, where its Archer platform placed first in Close Quarters Battle scenarios and third in Deep Strike missions. The company says it is the only manufacturer to rank in the top three across both mission categories using a single drone platform.

Versailles, Ohio – September 30, 2026 -- Midmark RTLS has added its CareFlow RTLS Staff Duress solution to the Epic Toolbox in the Staff Duress category for 2026, integrating real-time, location-aware caregiver duress alerts directly into Epic's electronic health record system.

Badge-based alerts feed directly into Epic's push notification framework

CareFlow Staff Duress connects to Epic using HL7 FHIR-based APIs, allowing Midmark RTLS badges already worn by caregivers to trigger duress alerts with a discreet button press. When activated, Epic receives the staff member's identity and real-time location and notifies designated security and informational response groups through its push notification system. Responders can acknowledge or decline alerts within Epic itself, keeping emergency coordination inside existing clinical software.

Seattle – September 30, 2026 -- Washington Permanente Medical Group (WPMG) has named Taejoon Ahn, MD, MPH, as its new CEO and executive medical director, placing him at the head of an organization that oversees more than 1,200 clinicians serving over 550,000 Kaiser Permanente members across Washington state.

Ahn succeeds interim leader Dorian Reid, who held the role since September 2025

Dr. Ahn takes over an independent, physician-owned medical group that works exclusively with Kaiser Permanente to deliver care in the region. The leadership transition closes a one-year interim period under Dorian Reid, MD.

San Francisco – September 30, 2026 -- Kong Inc. has launched Volcano, an AI-native platform that consolidates durable compute, branchable databases, file storage, authentication and real-time services into a single developer environment for building and deploying AI agents and web applications.

Kong unifies fragmented AI infrastructure into one platform

Volcano addresses a core pain point for developers building AI agents: assembling separate providers for compute, databases, authentication, storage and observability, each with distinct configuration, billing and failure modes. Marco Palladino, CTO and co-founder of Kong Inc., said the platform lets teams move from a single prompt to a production-ready agent, removing the need to stitch together infrastructure manually.

New York – September 30, 2026 -- Whop introduced Economic Intelligence, a new intelligence layer that pushed combined sales up 31.8% among more than 14,000 businesses during a one-month beta test.

Beta users saw double-digit gains across key metrics

Businesses using Economic Intelligence for one month, compared with the prior month without it, recorded a 26.3% increase in unique paying customers and a 26.5% rise in transaction count, alongside the 31.8% sales growth, according to Whop.

Boston – September 30, 2026 -- UpperEdge, an independent IT sourcing and vendor negotiation advisory firm, has formed its first-ever Advisory Board, bringing together five executives with decades of combined experience in technology, finance, operations and large-scale transformation.

Five executives join as enterprises reshape cloud and AI contracts

The board includes a former biopharma CIO, two former senior leaders from Accenture and EY, a former consumer products President and CFO, and a procurement and supply chain executive. Their appointment comes as large enterprises confront major platform transformations and shifting pricing and contracting models for enterprise software, cloud and AI services.

San Francisco – September 30, 2026 -- Kong Inc. has unveiled a roadmap of six new capabilities for its Kong Konnect platform, aiming to give enterprises unified governance over AI agents, models and APIs across on-premises, edge and cloud environments.

Kong adds six capabilities spanning agent connectivity, credentials and cost control

Announced at the API + AI Summit, the roadmap includes a Webhook Engine for event-driven integration, a Registry & Catalog for discovering AI agents and MCP assets, and a Token Vault that brokers downstream credentials for AI agents without exposing them directly. It also adds Context Mesh to connect agents to enterprise tools at scale, AI Cost Management within the AI Gateway to track spend origin and drivers, and Advanced AI Observability to monitor and troubleshoot AI conversations.

Boston – September 30, 2026 -- Boston Globe Media and Tufts Health Plan have renewed their branded content partnership for a sixth season of "Turning Points: Navigating Mental Health," a five-episode podcast series debuting new installments every Wednesday starting October 7, 2026.

Studio/B produces the series as branded content separate from newsroom operations

The podcast is created by Boston Globe Media's branded content division, Studio/B, in collaboration with Tufts Health Plan, a Point32Health company. The Boston Globe's news and editorial departments have no role in the production, the companies confirmed.

Season six tackles parenting, loss and news-cycle anxiety

The new season addresses parenting in the age of social media, starting over after loss, and managing mental health amid a constant news cycle. Clinical social worker Frantzes Lys returns as host, interviewing guests about personal mental health turning points.

Charlotte – September 30, 2026 -- Clean Team, a 30-year-old commercial janitorial services provider based in Toledo, Ohio, has received an investment from Austin-based private equity firm Blue Sage Capital to fund continued expansion. BlackArch Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Clean Team on the transaction.

Clean Team operates 18 branches across 13 states in the Midwest and Southwest

The Company provides recurring janitorial services, specialty cleaning and consumable hygiene products to commercial clients in healthcare, manufacturing, distribution/fulfillment, education, government and office sectors. Clean Team has grown through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions since its founding in 1996 by CEO Bob Armbruster.

Virginia Beach, Va. – September 30, 2026 -- Arcadis joined the City of Virginia Beach to break ground on the Windsor Woods Pump Station, a key infrastructure piece in a citywide flood-resilience network covering the Windsor Woods, Princess Anne Plaza and The Lakes neighborhoods.

Pump station anchors a broader drainage improvements program funded by voters

The facility forms a cornerstone of the Windsor Woods, Princess Anne Plaza and The Lakes Drainage Improvements Program, designed to reduce flood risk from heavy rainfall, high tides and storm surge. The project is financed through Virginia Beach's voter-supported Ripple Effect Flood Protection Program and extends earlier investments into a coordinated citywide flood-defense system.