Planning

Man from North Carolina arrested at Florida hotel with a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammo, authorities saySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxAuthorities say a man suspected of planning a mass shooting at a large New Orleans festival was arrested at a Florida hotel with a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.The event was not named, but the New Orleans jazz and heritage festival, commonly known as JazzFest, runs from Thursday through 3 May. The gathering celebrates Louisiana’s music, food and culture, and attracted about 460,000 people last year, organizers said. Continue reading...

• Wealth.com, an AI platform modernizing estate and tax planning for wealth management firms, closed an oversubscribed $65M Series B funding round. • The funding will accelerate product enhancements and expand adoption among high-net-worth advisors handling complex client portfolios. • This raise highlights surging investor interest in AI tools automating legacy financial planning processes amid rising wealth transfer demands.

• Procure.ai raised $13 million in funding to develop AI-native procurement planning tools for modern businesses, signaling investor focus on vertical AI in 2026. • The investment reflects growing interest in specialized AI solutions over general models, amid recent vertical AI funding surges. • This funding enables expansion of procurement optimization features for enterprises facing supply chain complexities.

• OpenAI acquired Hiro Finance, its second startup purchase in a month, focusing on AI tools for financial planning as first reported by TechCrunch. • The deal expands OpenAI's capabilities into fiscal management amid racing agent development with Anthropic and Nvidia for web-browsing, emailing, and booking tasks. • This move signals intensifying M&A in AI finance, cutting development time for enterprises adopting similar tech like Accenture-Replit code generation.

• Taylor Swift is developing plans for her next studio album while currently in "The Life of a Showgirl" era, with sources indicating she "always has ideas percolating." • According to insiders, Swift is not locked into a new tour and is enjoying her break, though ideas for future projects have been floated among her team. • The singer is realistic about following up The Eras Tour, planning to ensure her next project is special while avoiding the pressure to make everything as "big and ambitious" as her record-breaking tour.

Ballroom is likely to get blessing from the National Capital Planning Commission, which is chaired by ex-Trump lawyerSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxDonald Trump’s White House ballroom project is likely ‌to get a blessing from Washington planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s approval.The National Capital Planning Commission, which ​is chaired by one of Trump’s former lawyers, will deliberate and ​then vote on the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, ⁠according to a meeting agenda. Continue reading...

Exclusive: documents chronicle years-long campaign to make it easier to build intensive livestock unitsMinisters are rewriting planning rules to make it easier to build intensive livestock farms despite concerns about water pollution, air quality and local opposition.Documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act show that proposed changes to the national planning policy framework (NPPF) were discussed by ministers and officials in response to concerns of the country’s leading chicken producers, who have been lobbying on the issue for at least two years. Continue reading...