Rev. William Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign is joining a growing movement to press Walmart for employee representation on the company’s board, Axios reports.
Driving the news: Barber, a leading figure on the Christian left, tells Axios that in remarks to shareholders this week, he'll tie the fate of workers who fell ill or died from COVID-19 to the company's sick leave policies.
Prices are expected to keep rising this summer, pushed up by bottlenecks for materials and labor, and surging consumer demand, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: The"Memorial Day Weekend price index" showed leisure-related prices up about 4.3% since the pandemic began — more than overall consumer prices, which rose 3.1% over that period.
The pandemic and last summer's protests have heightened Americans' appetite for guns, leading to "an unusual, prolonged buying spree," the New York Times reports.
Driving the news: A week this springbroke the record for federal background checks — 1.2 million, the most since the government started tracking in 1998.
Manufacturer Stetson announced Saturday it's pulling its products from a store in Nashville, Tennessee, which advertised the sale of "not vaccinated" Star of David patches for $5.
Driving the news: Protesters rallied outside Hatwrks Saturday, displaying signs with messages including "The Holocaust is not a marketing op."
Houston Methodist Hospital is being sued by 117 employees who allege its policy requiring all staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is unlawful, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
Why it matters: The lawsuit and similar legal challenges "could test whether employers can require employee vaccinations as the country navigates out of a pandemic that has killed nearly 600,000 Americans," WashPost notes.
Southwest and American airlines won't yet resume in-flight alcohol service as planned after a flight attendant was recently assaulted by a passenger and other in-flight incidents.
What they're saying: Southwest had initially planned to resume the service in June, but Sonya Lacore, the airline's head of in-flight operations, said in a memo obtained by CNN that "based on the rise in passenger disruptions in flight, I've made the decision to re-evaluate the restart of alcohol service on board."
Next month will mark 10 years since entrepreneur Angela Benton welcomed the first cohort of Black startup founders into a three-month accelerator program, NewMe, hosted at a rented house in Mountain View, Calif.
The big picture: Since then, much has changed in the tech industry — yet, also not enough, says Benton, who sold the accelerator in late 2018.
America’s small business community is recovering from the pandemic, but large swathes of it haven’t yet recovered. That was the message yesterday from U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabel Guzman, testifying in front of a House Financial Services subcommittee.
Axios Re:Cap speaks with Guzman for the last episode in our six part America's Business Comeback series, about which small businesses still need help and what the SBA plans to do about it. Plus, the recovery view from Reckless Records in Chicago.
AMC Theatres, Regal Theatres and Cinemark Theatres announced this week that masks are now optional for moviegoers vaccinated against the coronavirus, except in theaters where local mandates require them indoors.
Couples are embracing hybrid weddings, which blend a traditional ceremony with tech perfected for remote events during COVID, the Wall Street Journal reports.
By the numbers: Beatrice Volkmar, an accessories buyer, will host around 200 live guests and 50 virtual ones at her June wedding.
Ten venture firms last August announced plans to add “diversity riders” to their startup term sheets. Now, the effort is being supported by more than 50 firms and investors.
Why it matters: Diversity riders, which are intended to include investors from underrepresented backgrounds in VC rounds, are a concrete effort to expand who gets to invest in, and profit from, startup growth.
The Transportation Security Administration on Friday screened nearly 2 million people across the U.S. as the Memorial Day weekend kicked off, setting a new air travel record since the start of the pandemic.
The big picture: TSA spokesperson Mark Howell told Axios in April that the agency had been preparing for a surge in summer travel since the beginning of the year. The agency said in February it was looking to hire 6,000 new officers by Memorial Day.
Many corporate boards made mid-pandemic changes to the intricate formulas that determine CEO pay, with directors declaring that COVID was an extraordinary event beyond executives' control, AP reports.
Why it matters: As a result, pay packages rose last year for CEOs of the biggest companies, even though the pandemic sent the economy to its worst quarter on record.
Costco said on a recent earnings call that it's bringing back free food samples in its aisles — a beloved quirk of the warehouse stores that an aggressive shopper can turn into a meal.
Why it matters: Costco said safety protocols will be added, "including all samples prepared behind plexiglass, prepared in smaller batches for better safety control, and [distributed] to members one at a time."
Black Americans have significantly shaped how we socialize online and the media we consume and generate there — yet no major social app today was founded by Black entrepreneurs.
Why it matters: Like in the rest of the startup world, it comes down to the gap in funding Black entrepreneurs have been able to raise.
