New business listings on Yelp have exceeded 2019 levels every month this year, thanks to a surge in travel, events and get-togethers.

• Why it matters: Consumer demand remains a dominant driver of the economy, Axios senior business reporter Hope King writes.

🧮 By the numbers: 484,000 new businesses popped up on Yelp in the first seven months of this year — compared to 389,000 over the same period last year. That's a roughly 25% increase year-over-year, and a 46% increase from 2019.

• Openings increased across every category, driven by hotels and travel (+39%), home services (+37%), auto (+27%), event services (+27%), and local services businesses (+23%).
• Within travel, top growth came from RV rentals (+84%), travel agents (+76%), vacation rentals (+54%), airport shuttles (+30%) and walking tours (+15%).

🗺️ Geographically, California, Florida, Texas, New York and Georgia saw the most openings.

• Florida overtook Texas, moving to second after placing third last year.

🔬 Zoom in: Each month of 2023 has seen more business openings from underrepresented communities, compared to last year.

• LGBTQ-owned businesses (+33%), Black-owned (+28%) and Latin-owned (+28%) business openings grew above the national average (+25%).
• Women-owned businesses are up 19%. Asian-owned businesses gained 13%.

Share this story.

Hurricane Idalia strengthened to a rare Category 4 as it moved toward a Florida landfall later this morning, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.

• "SHELTER IN PLACE!" the National Weather Service's Tampa Bay office said online early today.

Landfall is expected in Florida's lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Panhandle curves into the peninsula — followed by a "life-threatening" surge southward to Tampa Bay.

🔮 What's next: Idalia is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula, then drench southern Georgia and the Carolinas tomorrow.

• Go deeper.

Most of the nation's 10 largest cities had significant jumps in hate crimes last year, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from a new report.

• Why it matters: It was the second straight year of increases in big cities' overall average number of hate crimes — typically defined as violence stemming from victims' race, color, sexuality, religion or national origin.

The unpublished report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, reflects a 22-year trend of increasing hate crimes nationwide — amid a rise in white nationalism and soaring numbers of attacks on Asian Americans during the pandemic.

• L.A., the nation's second-largest city, had the most reported hate crimes — a record 609, with 195 of those classified as anti-Black, 98 as anti-gay (male), 91 as anti-Jewish and 88 anti-Latino.
• Chicago, the third-largest city, had the biggest increase — 84.6%, followed by Austin, Texas, at 58.6%.

Some big cities got good news: Phoenix, San Diego and San Antonio had significant declines in hate crimes last year.

• Keep reading.

Google's DeepMind unit unveiled a way to invisibly and permanently label images generated by AI, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried reports.

• Why it matters: It's increasingly hard to distinguish between online images made by humans and AI programs. Google and other tech giants promised the White House they'd develop technical means to do so.

Google says the watermark, SynthID, is designed to remain detectable even after adding filters, changing colors or adjusting brightness. Unlike visible watermarks, SynthID can't be removed just by cropping.

• Video: How SynthID works ... Share this story.

Warner Bros. Discovery plans to announce that Mark Thompson, 66 — a London native who led the BBC and helped modernize the New York Times Co. — will be CNN's new CEO, sources tell Axios' Sara Fischer.

• Why it matters: Bringing in an experienced outsider will help WBD leaders distance themselves from CNN's day-to-day drama.

👂 What we're hearing: Sources familiar with WBD's plans say Thompson will be encouraged to manage the network independently, which could include hiring his own team.

Catch up quick: Thompson began his career at the BBC in 1979 as a production trainee, and worked his way up to director-general in 2004.

• He remained with the BBC until 2012, when he was named president and CEO of The New York Times Co.

Thompson is credited with transforming the Times from a print-first advertising business to a digital-first subscription business.

• Go deeper: Mark Thompson's NYT years ... Share this story ... Disclosure: Sara is a paid CNN contributor.

Frank Foer of The Atlantic tells me he worked 2½ years and spoke to nearly 300 people for his opus on President Biden's first term, "The Last Politician," which will be out Tuesday.

• Why it matters: Foer concludes that Biden provides "an instructive example of the tedious nobility of the political vocation. Unheroic but honorably human, he will be remembered as the old hack who could."

Foer describes the aftermath of Biden's ad-lib in Warsaw about Vladimir Putin last year: "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power."

• "After delivering the speech that might have earned him the credit he deserved and craved, his improvisation became the headline," Foer writes. "It sounded as if he were calling for regime change in Russia."
• "Biden instantly knew that the White House would have to clarify his mistake. By the time Biden piled into the motorcade ... his aides had released a statement walking back his sentence. Suddenly, the press wasn't marveling at his rhetoric or his diplomatic triumphs; it was back to describing him as a blowhard lacking in self-control."

"Biden left for home, ending his triumphalist tour, feeling sorry for himself," Foer adds.

• "He knew that he had erred, but then resented his aides for creating the impression that they had cleaned up his mess."
• "Rather than owning his failure, he fumed to his friends about how he was treated like a toddler. Was John Kennedy ever babied like that?"

More on Foer's book ... Excerpt in The Atlantic: "Biden was determined to get out of Afghanistan — no matter the cost."

Private-equity firm Roark Capital is about to become one of the world's largest restaurant owners — adding Subway to a portfolio that includes Arby's, Dunkin and Buffalo Wild Wings, writes Richard Collings of Axios Pro: Retail Deals.

• Why it matters: With Atlanta-based Roark in control of a broad swath of an industry, the Subway acquisition is certain to get at least a cursory glance from antitrust regulators.

Roark — named after the protagonist in Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" — was founded in 2001 by Neal Aronson, after he sold a hotel franchisor to the Pritzker family for $100 million.

• Roark's first acquisition was a majority stake in troubled ice cream chain Carvel in 2001 for $30 million.

Among the firm's holdings: Jimmy John's, Sonic, Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba Juice, McAlister's Deli, Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky's, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Miller's Ale House, Culver's and Jim 'N Nick's BBQ.

• It controls CKE Restaurants, which owns Hardee's and Carl's Jr., and has a small stake in The Cheesecake Factory.

Learn about Axios Pro: Retail Deals.

It's a stink at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, Queens:

• A pungent marijuana smell wafted over an outer court, clouded the concentration of one of the world's top players — and showed there's no escaping the unofficial scent of the city, AP's James Martinez writes.

Court 17, where eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari complained about an overwhelming whiff of pot during her first-round loss, has become notorious among players in recent years for its unmistakable odor.

• "Court 17 definitely smells like Snoop Dogg's living room," said Alexander Zverev, who won his opening match on the court yesterday. "Oh my God, it's everywhere. The whole court smells like weed."

Stung by stories in the wake of Sakkari's match Monday that made it appear the U.S. Open stands are the sporting equivalent of a Phish concert, the U.S. Tennis Association investigated.

• The USTA found "no evidence" anyone was smoking pot in the stands of Court 17 — leading to speculation it may have come from Corona Park, just outside the gates.

Share this story.