Axios

Uber's former chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, was charged Thursday for obstructing justice and concealing a felony for his role in attempting to cover up a 2016 hack that compromised the data of millions of Uber customers and drivers.

The big picture: The hack didn't become public until a year after it happened, prompting the company's then-new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, to fire Sullivan and some of his deputies for their handling of the incident.

One of the few policy specifics offered up repeatedly during the Democratic National Convention has been Joe Biden's promise to create millions of renewable energy sector jobs.

Axios Re:Cap digs into his plan with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose state is a major player in both renewable energy and fossil fuels.

An appeals court in California granted Uber and Lyft a stay on an injunction that would have forced the companies to reclassify drivers as employees Friday morning.

Why it matters: The stay came just 12 hours before the companies planned to suspend their ride-hailing services across California rather than comply with the injunction. They're now free to continue with business as usual while the appeal process plays out.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Microsoft President Brad Smith at an Axios event on Thursday called for expanding access to broadband in the United States in order to close the digital divide in education.

What they're saying: "Broadband needs to be a fact of life in the United States and it needs to be free for everyone, and it needs to be regulated in a way that it can be made equitably distributed all throughout America," Weingarten said during a discussion on the Future of Employability.

Electric bikes are seeing a major spike in sales that began even before the coronavirus pandemic but has sharply accelerated since March.

Why it matters: E-bike manufacturers are racing to keep up with the newfound demand as people, wary of crowded public transit and facing less congestion from commuting cars, adopt new ways of getting around.

The Paycheck Protection Program expired earlier this month, but the insidious PPP shame game remains very much alive.

Driving the news: On Tuesday, a left-leaning government watchdog group called Accountable.US emailed reporters about how at least five portfolio companies of Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm led by Joshua Kushner, received PPP loans.

New applications for unemployment bumped higher last week, after jobless claims filings steadily dropped in recent weeks, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Why it matters: Economists are hesitant to draw too many conclusions about the broader economy from this week's higher filings alone, but they're watching for worsening effects on the labor market as Congress' stimulus negotiations stall.

Minutes from the Fed's July policy meeting were released Wednesday and policymakers' dour outlook suggests that more easing and stimulus could be on the way, strategists who closely watch the central bank say.

Why it matters: More liquidity from the Fed could mean more gains for stock and bond prices and further erosion of the dollar.

The value of the dollar has sunk to its weakest level in two years and investors are warning that a prolonged slide could be in store for the U.S. currency, leading to more of the world abandoning the dollar and the U.S. losing its "exorbitant privilege."

Why it matters: The dollar's status as the world's reserve currency has been in place since the end of World War II and provides the backbone for the U.S. economy and fiscal policy.

One result of our sustained stay-at-home situation is a heightened interest in staying close to home even after the pandemic subsides.

Enter the 15-minute city, a "complete neighborhood" that centers around the idea that residents can meet most of their daily needs by walking or bicycling a short distance — i.e., 15 to 20 minutes — from their homes.

Candidates' positions on reopening schools could affect how people vote in November, according to new poll results from a Morning Consult/Murmuration national survey of 2,200 voters.

Details: 34% of adults said they would be much less likely to support a candidate for local office who pushed for schools to open for in-person learning in the fall, and 25% said they'd be much more likely to support a candidate who backed online-only learning.