News

Atlanta – September 15, 2026 -- The Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade returns Sept. 19 for its 16th year with a route nearly half a mile longer than prior editions, extending the procession to almost two miles along the Beltline's Southwest Trail.

Parade route grows as Beltline corridor expansion continues

The event, launched in 2010 by resident artist Chantelle Rytter and her volunteer Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, now stretches from Beulah Colbert Park through neighborhood streets to Lee + White, where it closes with the All-Band Puppet Jam. Organizers report attendance has grown from a few hundred participants at the trail's first completed segment to thousands today, tracking the phased buildout of the Beltline's 22-mile rail-to-trail corridor.

New York – September 15, 2026 -- ProphetX, America's first federally regulated sports-native prediction market, has partnered with Agg Market to move its full contract catalog onto the Solana blockchain, delivering 100% market coverage through the integration from launch.

ProphetX opens CFTC-regulated contracts to onchain traders via Agg's Solana infrastructure

Every contract listed on ProphetX is now accessible through Agg Market's Solana-based integration, giving onchain traders and builders a direct channel into a federally supervised sports prediction venue. The arrangement does not alter the terms, execution, or settlement framework of ProphetX-listed contracts.

Boston – September 15, 2026 -- Ultra-endurance cyclist Jack Thompson departed Boston today on a 10,000-mile, 60-day ride across all 48 contiguous U.S. states, partnering with national sobriety and mental health platform NewForm to document how American communities are building recovery and connection networks.

Thompson's 60-day route spans the continental U.S. before ending in Santa Cruz

The journey, dubbed "Ride the Nation," is scheduled to conclude around November 13 in Santa Cruz, California. Thompson will stop in communities nationwide to meet recovery groups, schools, local leaders and individuals navigating addiction, sobriety and mental health challenges.

Valley Forge, Pa. – September 15, 2026 -- Vanguard ranked third among 17 retirement plan providers for website experience and fourth for mobile app experience in the JD Power 2026 U.S. Retirement Plan Digital Experience Study, with both channels scoring above industry averages.

Vanguard outperforms industry average across all four measured categories

The firm scored above the industry benchmark in design, system performance, information and content, and tools and capabilities, according to the study, which surveyed more than 6,500 retirement plan participants between May and July 2026. JD Power evaluated the 17 providers on a 1,000-point scale and, for the first time, ranked mobile applications and websites separately.

Grand Rapids – September 15, 2026 -- Headlands Research has established a new clinical trial site in Grand Rapids, Michigan, led by board-certified rheumatologist Eric Slavin, MD, FACP, FACR, expanding the network's capacity for rheumatology, autoimmune disease, and cardiometabolic trials in the Midwest.

New de novo site targets high-demand therapeutic areas

Headlands Research - Grand Rapids is currently under development and expected to open later in 2026. The site will focus on rheumatology, bone and joint conditions, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, while also conducting studies in general medicine, chronic kidney disease, obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and vaccines.

Kyle Burtnett, CEO of Headlands Research, said sponsor demand for rheumatology and autoimmune disease trials continues to climb, positioning the new site to address that gap in the Midwest market.

San Francisco – September 15, 2026 -- cfo.ai, formerly known as Runway, has launched Ari, an AI CFO designed to give founders a continuous finance partner that builds and maintains a live financial model of their business.

Ari connects directly to core financial systems to build live models

Ari integrates with NetSuite, QuickBooks, Rippling, ADP, Mercury, Brex, Stripe, Salesforce, Snowflake, Google Sheets and Excel to construct a financial model that updates automatically as underlying data changes. Founders can use it to forecast cash, analyze hiring plans, explain variances, prepare board updates or model the financial impact of a decision before it is made.

Los Angeles – September 15, 2026 -- Youth financial independence in the United States dropped to 34.9% in 2026 from 41.3% a year earlier, according to the second annual Youth Report released by specialty retailer Pacsun and data and analytics firm GlobalData. The share of young people who say they fully rely on their parents rose to 29.1% from 23.8% over the same period.

The report, based on a June 2026 survey of 6,126 people ages 11 to 24 across the U.S., identifies what Pacsun terms the "Drawbridge Generation" -- Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers who are pulling back from public digital noise toward smaller circles of trusted family and friends.

Influencer trust never exceeds 11% share across any category measured

Family and friends dominate every trust metric tracked, from financial advice to purchase decisions, while influencers top out at an 11% trust share. Only 2% of respondents said they trust AI for fashion advice.

Washington – September 15, 2026 -- National Real Estate Advisors will replace founder and CEO Jeffrey Kanne with Kevin Verdi, its Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, effective January 2027, the institutional investment manager announced.

Kanne exits after more than 25 years building the firm into an institutional real estate platform

Kanne, who founded National in 2000, will retire from the CEO role after more than a quarter-century at the helm, during which the firm grew into an investment manager serving U.S. and international institutional investors. He will remain with National as a Special Advisor following the leadership change.

Research Triangle Park, N.C. – September 15, 2026 -- RTI International has opened a $14 million expansion of its Pilot Xcelerator platform, doubling the independent research institute's commercialization infrastructure for energy and industrial technology startups.

Expansion doubles pilot-scale capacity in North Carolina

The 25,000-square-foot facility on RTI's Research Triangle Park campus gives innovators access to pilot infrastructure, engineering expertise and independent scientific validation to bridge the gap between lab research and commercial deployment. RTI describes the Pilot Xcelerator as the only privately owned industrial pilot laboratory in North Carolina.

Billerica – September 15, 2026 -- E Ink Corporation has made an early-stage investment in NewCopper, a privately held U.S. startup developing conductive copper ink, to accelerate a lower-cost alternative to silver ink used in printed electronics and display materials.

E Ink structures investment through a post-money SAFE agreement

The deal gives E Ink's R&D team the opportunity to evaluate NewCopper's copper ink as a conductive material for future displays and electrode applications, given its compatibility with E Ink's existing roll-to-roll coating capabilities. E Ink will also apply its display manufacturing expertise to support NewCopper's production scale-up and commercialization.