Sep 7, 2018 - Technology

Uber diversity chief: Press leaks show lack of employee trust

Uber Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Bo Young Lee speaks onstage during Day 3 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018. Photo: Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch

After news broke out in July that Uber's new chief operating officer had made insensitive comments at work, Bo Young Lee, the company's new chief diversity officer, was most disappointed that employees felt compelled to leak to the press, Lee said on Friday at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference.

What it told me was that we still have a culture where people don’t trust things will get solved and they have to go outside.

Why it matters: Since a former engineer published an explosive account of harassment and discrimination at the company in early 2017, Uber has been under pressure to reform its workplace culture.

Go deeper

Orion Rummler
33 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Obama: Trump is "jealous of COVID's media coverage"

Former President Barack Obama launched a blistering attack on President Trump while campaigning for Joe Biden in Orlando on Tuesday, criticizing Trump for complaining about the pandemic as cases soar and joking that he's "jealous of COVID's media coverage."

Driving the news: Trump has baselessly accused the news media of only focusing on covering the coronavirus pandemic — which has killed over 226,000 Americans so far and is surging across the country once again — as a way to deter people from voting on Election Day and distract from other issues.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Shawna Chen
54 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Wisconsin Democrats: Don't return absentee ballots by mail

Signs for Joe Biden are seen outside a home in Coon Valle, Wisconsin, on Oct. 3. Photo by KEREM YUCEL via Getty

Wisconsin Democrats are urging voters to return absentee ballots to election clerks’ offices or drop boxes after a Supreme Court decision on Monday prevented the state from extending its deadline for counting absentee ballots, The New York Times reports.

Why it matters: 1,344,535 of the 1,706,771 Wisconsin voters who requested absentee ballots have returned them, according to the Times. The remaining 366,236 could prove critical in the battleground state, where President Trump won by a thin margin in 2016.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow
Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata
Updated 2 hours ago - Economy & Business

Winter coronavirus threat spurs new surge of startup activity

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

U.S. coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging, with cold weather arriving before even the best-case scenario for a widely distributed vaccine. Now we're also beginning to see an increase in coronavirus-related startup funding, focused on both testing and pharma.

Driving the news: Gauss, a Silicon Valley computer vision startup focused on health care, tells Axios that it's raised $10 million to accelerate development and commercialization of an at-home rapid antigen test for COVID-19.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow