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• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday.
• The AFL-CIO congratulated the couple, both of whom are union members.
• The couple donated $26 million to charities ahead of the ceremony.

It’s a union love story, baby.

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift officially tied the knot in an exclusive wedding at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday. Fans from across the globe rushed to congratulate the couple on their high-profile nuptials, including the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the country.

Swift is a member of the American Federation of Musicians and SAG-AFTRA, while Kelce is a member of the NFL Players Association.

“It’s better in a union,” the AFL-CIO wrote on X. “Congrats to @The_AFM and @sagaftra member @taylorswift13 and @NFLPA member @tkelce on their marriage!”

In a separate X post, the AFL-CIO said Madison Square Garden “is a completely union venue.”

Swift has shown support for unions in the past, including in 2023 during the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike. While major studios and streamers resisted meeting union demands, Swift worked with SAG-AFTRA to secure an interim agreement for her concert film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”

She’s not exactly a stalwart, however. In July of that same year, Unite Here Local 11, which represents 32,000 hospitality workers, urged Swift to cancel her Los Angeles-based concerts in support of their labor strike. She did not.

The high-profile nuptials drew hundreds of celebrities to New York City amid a sweltering heat wave. Paparazzi spotted Jason Sudeikis, Hugh Grant, Benson Boone, Ethan Hawke, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, and more entering the venue.

Adam Sandler, a friend of the couple, officiated the wedding, the AP reported. Austin Swift served as his sister’s Man of Honor, and Jason Kelce served as his brother’s Best Man. While saying “I do,” the couple donned outfits designed by Christian Dior’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson, and jewelry from Cartier.

While many of the event’s details were kept secret, TMZ reported that more than 1,000 guests were expected to attend, and that the couple paid millions of dollars to rent Madison Square Garden for several days. A City Hall spokesperson told CBS News that a permit was filed to close the streets surrounding the venue from July 2 to July 4.

The couple, who got engaged in August 2025 after two years of dating, donated $26 million to 20 local and national charities ahead of the ceremony. Swift’s publicist said the donations were tied to places that have shaped their lives, including Rhode Island and New York City. One of the recipients, Harvesters — The Community Food Network, said Swift and Kelce donated $1 million to its food bank in an Instagram post.

“We’d like to send a heartfelt thank you to @taylorswift and @killatrav for their very generous donation to our food bank just prior to their big wedding day,” the nonprofit said. “The two of them have incredibly big hearts and have shown up to support not only us but many charities over the years.”

• I planned a World Cup outing for my father after his stroke.
• Navigating accessibility proved harder than I expected.
• The experience changed how I think about caregiving and independence.

The hard part is over, I thought. Our seats were around the corner. We were here to see local history in the making: Seattle, my beloved hometown, becoming an internationally recognized soccer city.

Then I turned the corner — and faced a wall of concrete stairs. I hadn’t realized how steep and narrow the climb would be. Our seats were near the top. How was my dad, with his cane, going to make it?

We’d been talking about the World Cup coming to Seattle since before his stroke. After it, I was even more determined to get him here.

My dad had a stroke 6 months ago

My dad had a stroke last December. Fortunately, he can still speak and walk, but he uses a cane now and can’t go very far. He’s lost some short-term memory, and his reaction time is slower.

He’s been working hard to recover with brain exercises and physical therapy. Still, the stroke compounded his existing mobility challenges, from a knee injury in high school and a physically taxing career as an electrician.

I’m hopeful that he’ll keep making progress. I’m also trying to accept that some changes may be the new normal.

What hasn’t changed, though, is our shared love of sports. Going to games is a celebration of our Pacific Northwest home. The stadiums are embedded in the city, offering skyline views and the best summer weather in the US. (I’m biased, of course.)

Luckily, my dad reached his seat, using the handrail to pull himself along with one hand and using the cane with the other. But it was a stark reminder of my inexperience with accessibility. I thought I’d planned our route well. I hadn’t accounted for that final climb.

My mom needed a break from caretaking

I spent hours in a digital line during the last-minute sales phase and, amazingly, scored four tickets on my credit card. My dream was to take my dad, mom, and boyfriend. But my mom had vacation plans: she’d been my dad’s caretaker for months, and was ready for a break now that he’d recovered some.

Without her, getting my dad to the game would be trickier. He hadn’t attended a big event since his stroke. My parents live a few hours north of the city, and he can’t drive unless he passes a new driving test — doctor’s orders. One of my mom’s friends thoughtfully volunteered to drive him part of the way. My boyfriend and I could pick him up from there.

But the stadium area would be closed to traffic, and accessible parking had sold out. I considered suggesting a wheelchair, but I know how much my dad values walking, even though it’s harder now. I figured we’d use other accessibility support to minimize his walking time.

The accessibility info I found online was confusing and seemed incomplete. So, while the US played Australia, I walked to Seattle Stadium from my nearby apartment. Weaving through revelers, I headed to the place listed as an accessibility drop-off area. I discovered an ADA shuttle parked there, and the operators told me that it actually started from my neighborhood. Finally, we had a travel plan.

In spite of the plan, match day still held surprises

Before 8 a.m., my boyfriend and I were on the road. The bright summer day promised temperatures in the mid-80s. We picked up my dad, then stopped to buy hydrating beverages, since he sometimes forgets to drink enough water. I started shivering in the cold grocery aisles, partly because of the refrigeration, but also because I was nervous about making sure my dad would be OK.

In Seattle, my boyfriend dropped us off at the shuttle pick-up point, then went to park and meet us at the stadium.

The walk from the drop-off to the accessible entrance was far for my dad, but at least it was flat, and he powered through. Even when we reached that final set of shockingly steep stairs, he didn’t complain. I could see that going up was painful for him. I tried to offer an arm for support, but he determinedly made it on his own.

We reached our seats half an hour before kick-off. Only then did I relax. Soon, the three of us were surrounded by the contagious joy of singing and chanting Bosnia fans as Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Qatar 3-1 in a thrilling match.

Even though navigating the stadium wasn’t as smooth as I’d hoped, it let me see how independent my dad still is. What my dad wants most is to enjoy our time together. It’s what I want, too.

• Most of the US military’s drone programs will now be overseen by a new office.
• The goal of the office is to accelerate the development of drone technology, Hegseth said.
• There are some notable exceptions, including the US Air Force’s CCA program.

Nearly all of the Pentagon’s drone programs will now exist under one office, giving its officials major power over the future of uncrewed systems in the US military.

The consolidation will accelerate the procurement and fielding of drones, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a memo, a major priority of the second Trump administration as it seeks to prepare forces for drone warfare.

Per a memo from earlier this week, the new office, called the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems, will be “the single joint integrator for all unmanned and autonomous system programs” across the US Department of Defense. DRPM-UxS’ director hasn’t been named yet, but they’ll report to Stephen Feinberg, US deputy secretary of defense.

Aside from Feinberg and Hegseth, the office will have control over a wide range of uncrewed systems, including small ones, surface vessels or drone boats, underwater vessels in coordination with DoD’s submarine office, ground robots, autonomous and artificial intelligence systems, drone swarming technology, and counter-drone systems. DRPM-UxS will also oversee the drone marketplaces that some DoD offices have recently established.

With its oversight of so many programs, DRPM-UxS can decide what drones move forward, prioritize certain capabilities or contracts over others, and cease work on specific systems.

While the organizational shift gives DRPM-UxS major authority over the future of uncrewed systems in the US military, there are some gaps. Major weapons programs that are already following a separate acquisitions process, like the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, will remain with the services.

DRPM-UxS will also be in charge of the US’ Joint Interagency Task Force 401, a military and federal government effort to counter small drones, as well as Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, DoD’s office for mass-producing autonomous drones across the military.

The new office is the latest milestone in the US’ broader push to integrate drone technologies across its military forces. It includes what Pentagon officials have called an unprecedented $74 billion budget request for drones and counter-drone systems, as well as massive investments in acquiring, testing, and fielding small, cheap one-way attack drones.

“Adversaries collectively produce millions of unmanned systems each year across all domains,” Hegseth said in the memo. “While global military unmanned systems production has skyrocketed over the last three years, the United States has been slow to field these capabilities at scale. Drones and autonomous systems are the most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation.”

• Joshua Nelken-Zitser reported on Jeff Bezos’ Venice wedding. Taylor Swift’s feels oddly familiar.
• Streets nearby Madison Square Garden, reportedly the couple’s venue, closed on Friday.
• It looks like turning public landmarks into private wedding venues is the latest billionaire flex.

Police-cordoned streets. Paparazzi packed into tiny press pens, long lenses trained on A-listers. Locals and tourists changing travel plans in the sweltering heat as the city makes way for the year’s highest-profile wedding.

No, not Manhattan, where New Yorkers are waiting to see if Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will really get married at Madison Square Garden this weekend, but Venice last June, where I reported on Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos’ lavish wedding.

A different summer, a different billionaire couple, but the same flex: transforming a world famous landmark into a private wedding venue.

Taylor Swift’s wedding is reminiscent of Jeff Bezos’ Venice party

Bezos and Sánchez’s wedding was impossible to miss while walking along the canals of Venice, even after they moved their celebration from the iconic Scuola Grande della Misericordia to a venue further from the city’s center. There were fears there would be a big showdown between anti-billionaire activists and the couple, involving inflatable alligators, but the venue move put that particular protest on hold.

In blisteringly hot and uncomfortably humid weather in the peak of Venice’s tourist season, I watched police cordon off cobbled streets normally filled with tourists and locals, while paparazzi blocked narrow walkways opposite luxury hotels in the hope of catching a shot of celebrity guests. I’m pretty sure I saw Sydney Sweeney and Khloe Kardashian leaving a hotel by water taxi.

Over the weekend, protesters sporadically climbed up poles or unfurled anti-Bezos banners at St Mark’s Square, Venice’s main piazza. While I was surprised to find many Venetians who were largely indifferent toward the wedding, others were furious. To them, their city had become a playground for the ultra-wealthy, with some of its most famous cultural landmarks being given up as backdrops for a private celebration.

Now it’s New York City’s turn. The New York Police Department confirmed to Business Insider that, starting at 1 p.m. on Friday, five streets were closed to vehicles, two to pedestrians, four had managed access, and certain entrances to Moynihan Train Hall and Penn Station were also closed for an unnamed event. Big weddings happen in New York City and Venice all the time, very rarely — if ever — do they result in road closures.

The Long Island Rail Road, the busiest commuter line in North America, announced “access restrictions at the request of the NYPD,” and urged those traveling through Penn Station to “consider traveling through Grand Central or Atlantic Terminal.”

The security announcements. The photos of cordons going up. The secrecy surrounding an event in the heart of an iconic city. The inevitable online complaints from frustrated locals. It all took me straight back to Venice.

A private Caribbean island or country estate might offer privacy, but an iconic landmark gives something else: the luxury of celebrating a private occasion at a spot known by millions who could never dream of hiring it themselves.

Both couples sought to give something back to the cities, respectively. Bezos and Sánchez donated €3 million to Venetian institutions, including organizations studying the city’s fragile lagoon system and UNESCO’s Venice office. Swift and Kelce, meanwhile, have made charitable donations to nonprofits in New York City, including a local food bank.

Whether this weekend is remembered for generosity or gridlock will depend on who you ask. For the guests, it’ll be a celebration of the Swift-Kelce Love Story. For those rerouting through Midtown during a heat wave, it may feel more like a Cruel Summer.

• Alex Karp has built an impressive portfolio of residential real estate properties.
• His portfolio includes two mansions next door to each other on Miami’s exclusive San Marino Island.
• Together, the two properties are worth nearly $75 million and could be the start of a Karp compound.

Tech moguls have been snapping up residential real estate like they’re collecting Infinity Stones. Among them is Alex Karp, cofounder and CEO of data-mining giant Palantir Technologies.

Karp, who has said he never learned to drive because he was once “too poor” and is now “too rich,” has quietly built a nine-figure real estate portfolio that reportedly includes as many as 20 properties around the world, many of them in remote or ski-friendly destinations.

The Palantir CEO, whose net worth stood at $14.4 billion as of publication, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, added a former monastery to that collection in late 2025, purchasing a roughly 3,700-acre ranch in Snowmass, Colorado — a ski town about 15 miles north of Aspen — for $120 million.

He bought the property from St. Benedict’s Monastery, whose Trappist monks had stewarded the land for nearly seven decades as their numbers dwindled.

The deal came months after Hibiscus East LLC, a Delaware entity tied to Karp, bought a nearly 10,000-square-foot mansion on Miami’s exclusive San Marino Island for $46 million, according to property records.

From a rural compound in New Hampshire to lavish mansions in Miami, here is a look at some of Karp’s US residential properties.

Karp’s reported primary residence is in a remote New Hampshire town.

Despite making his name in Silicon Valley, where he co-founded Palantir and became one of the tech industry’s most closely watched executives, Karp’s reported primary residence is far from California.

The billionaire is said to own a 500-acre estate in Lyman, New Hampshire, part of which he purchased for $825,000 in 2019. Karp has been known to occasionally work out of the property’s barn.

Lyman is a rural town in Grafton County that got its start as a logging and farming community. The closest major city is Manchester, New Hampshire, nearly a two-hour drive south.

Home to fewer than 600 people, the remote town seems well-suited to Karp, who, despite being at the forefront of surveillance technology, tends to favor a quiet, off-the-grid lifestyle.

Karp joins a wave of billionaires buying homes in Miami.

Palantir moved its headquarters from Denver to Aventura, a Miami-area suburb, in 2026. But Karp’s ties to the area appear to predate the move.

Records show that in June 2025, Hibiscus East LLC, a Delaware entity tied to Karp, purchased a $46 million estate at 55 East San Marino Drive.

Business Insider’s Madeline Berg reported that Hibiscus East is linked to an attorney’s office in Manchester, New Hampshire, and an accounting firm in Bedford, New Hampshire — both of which have appeared on documents tied to Karp’s previous real estate transactions.

The estate is located on San Marino Island, one of the six man-made Venetian Islands in Biscayne Bay. The exclusive enclave has long attracted celebrities, business executives, and professional athletes, including basketball star Dwyane Wade and singer Gloria Estefan.

The enclave is known for its grand, luxurious homes. According to a Zillow listing, Karp’s waterfront property is nearly 10,000 square feet and has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a heated pool.

It’s unclear whether Karp plans to make the property his full-time residence. He is one of several billionaires — including Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg — who have reportedly purchased multimillion-dollar homes in Miami in recent years.

Karp may be building a compound in Miami.

Apparently, one home on San Marino Island was not enough.

The Real Deal reported that Karp also purchased the waterfront house next door to his estate at 55 East San Marino Drive.

The second home, at 29 East San Marino Drive, is a 2,922-square-foot house built in 1935 with two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.

It was listed by Dora Puig of Luxe Living Realty for $30 million, but sold to Karp for $28.5 million. Records show that Hibiscus East LLC was also involved in the deal.

According to The Real Deal, the two properties appear to be part of Karp’s larger plan to build a compound on the island. Together, the lots total more than 0.8 acres and offer 265 feet of waterfront.

Karp owns a one-of-a-kind property in the Colorado mountains.

Karp is an avid skier who trains vigorously. As such, this 3,700-acre ranch about 15 miles north of Aspen at St. Benedict’s Monastery was a fitting buy.

According to its original listing, the property is “situated in a private mountain valley” in Capitol Creek Valley.

The property was originally listed for $150 million in 2024, but ultimately sold to Karp for $120 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited a source familiar with the deal.

Ken Mirr of Mirr Ranch Group, the listing agent who represented the sale, declined to confirm whether Karp was the buyer. But he told the Journal that the deal set a record for Pitkin County.

The land for St. Benedict’s Monastery was purchased in 1956 by the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, a Roman Catholic religious order known as the Trappists, for an undisclosed amount. The monastery was built two years later.

For decades, the monks cared for the land, supporting themselves through farming and candy sales. But their numbers gradually dwindled, and by the time of the sale, reportedly only five monks remained.

Today, the compound still has a chapel, prayer areas, monks’ living quarters, a monastery building, and a retreat center.

Business Insider contacted Patrick Collins, the lawyer connected to Hibiscus East LLC; Ken Mirr, the listing agent for St. Benedict’s Monastery; and Dora Puig, the listing agent for Karp’s 29 East San Marino Drive property, but did not receive a response.

• Healthcare and math jobs topped Monster’s workplace experience rankings.
• Construction support workers also made the job site’s list of the 15 best roles.
• The rankings weighed factors such as pay, culture, job security, and work-life balance.

If you want a job you’ll love, you might consider working in healthcare — or crunching a whole lot of numbers.

A recent Monster review of jobs across eight categories found that healthcare workers, math and data science professionals, and science technicians earned the highest workplace experience scores.

Monster based the rankings on pay, workplace culture, job security, quality of management, work-life balance, career outlook, and factors such as CEO approval ratings and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The highest-ranked jobs came from a range of industries, Monster found. Among the top tier: education, entertainment, law, and finance. Construction support workers made the list, which Monster said shows that skilled, hands-on jobs can also be highly satisfying.

The job site said that the gap between the top-ranked occupations and those further down the list was relatively narrow. That’s an indication that “strong workplace experiences are achievable across a diverse range of professions,” Monster said.

Here are Monster’s top 15 jobs for workplace experience, along with their scores on a five-point scale:

1. Healthcare practitioners (3.86)
2. Mathematics and data science professionals (3.85)
3. Science technicians (3.81)
4. Education and library professionals (3.78)
5. Life science professionals (3.78)
6. Teachers and instructors (3.78)
7. Legal professionals (3.70)
8. Financial professionals (3.69)
9. Engineers (3.68)
10. Entertainment and sports professionals (3.67)
11. Architects and surveying professionals (3.64)
12. Operations managers (3.60)
13. Business operations professionals (3.59)
14. Construction support workers (3.59)
15. Administrative assistants (3.54)

Monster analyzed employee reviews and workplace ratings from major job and employer review sites to identify which roles had the strongest workplace experiences. The company gathered the data from the start of 2026 through April.

While compensation matters, Monster said the findings suggest job seekers should also consider the bigger picture. A range of factors “play a significant role” in fostering a successful and satisfying career, the report said.

“It’s worth looking beyond salary to factors like workplace culture, leadership quality, growth opportunities, and work-life balance,” Monster wrote.

Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.