Axios Re:Cap

Americans seem resigned to the idea that life won't return to normal until we have an approved and widely-distributed vaccine for COVID-19, but vaccine optimism could be undermining other efforts to control the spread of the virus. Dan is joined by Tom Frieden, who led the Centers for Disease Control from 2009 to 2017, to discuss how realistic it is to hope for a vaccine by year-end — and what will still need to happen even when we have it.

This week, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced legislation aimed at stemming the use of forced labor by American corporations — particularly those that run much of their supply chain through China. Hawley joins Dan to discuss what his bill covers, what’s happening to China's persecuted Uighurs, why his bill doesn't address U.S. prison labor, and what he sees as corporate America's hypocrisy. Plus, his thoughts on the new federal stimulus negotiations.

Hedge fund titan Bill Ackman today raised $4 billion in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange — but it wasn’t for a company, or even for the firm that controls his hedge funds. It was for something called a SPAC, a special purpose acquisition company, and it was the largest SPAC IPO of all time. Dan is joined by Ackman to discuss why SPACs have become so popular and what Ackman has learned since 2012, when he used a SPAC to bring Burger King public.

Unlike in many other parts of America, Los Angeles isn’t debating whether or not to send students back into physical classrooms. In the time since it was announced that the L.A. Unified School District would be fully-remote through at least the end of 2020, it’s become a stand-bearer on the remote-learning front. L.A. Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner joins Dan to discuss why he made the remote decision, how he distributed devices to students, his vision for contact tracing, and what he thinks about President Trump's funding cut threat.

There are around half a million independent restaurants in America, and a recent report found that upwards of 85% of them could go out of business without some sort of direct aid from Congress. Dan discusses the precarious state of the restaurant industry with Ivy Mix, a renowned bartender, co-owner of Leyenda in Brooklyn, and author of Spirits of Latin America, and Steven Soderbergh, the Oscar-winning film director who owns spirit brand Singani 63.

Tom Houck counted the late Congressman John Lewis among his closest friends, speaking to him almost daily for the past 45 years. Dan spoke with Tom Houck, who once was Martin Luther King Jr.'s driver, about Lewis' life, legacy and the next generation of civil rights activists.

Public health officials almost all agree that wearing masks in public could help flatten the coronavirus curve, but not all elected officials are willing to require mask use. In Georgia, where coronavirus cases are surging, Governor Brian Kemp moved to overrule the mask mandates of 15 cities. Dan digs in with Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, whose city was the first in the state to issue a mandate.

The National Basketball Association is scheduled to resume the season that it abruptly suspended in March in just two weeks. Until then and through the season, players, coaches, support staff, and even NBA reporters are sequestered in Disney World. The NBA’s Disney bubble is being watched closely — not just for the sport, but by all kinds of businesses because if the NBA can't control infections inside the bubble, it increases concerns for everyone else. Dan is joined by the Washington Post's Ben Golliver, one of 10 NBA beat reporters currently inside the bubble.

Stocks rose today on promising new COVID-19 vaccine data from Moderna Therapeutics — the latest news cycle in which vaccine optimism outpaces the science. Dan is joined by Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC and current CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to dig into what Moderna’s report can tell us, what it can’t tell us, what comes next in the vaccine race, and where the CDC fits into the picture.

Gun sales in America have surged since the pandemic began, with 7.8 million background checks run for firearms purchases between March and June. Dan is joined by Wall Street Journal reporter Zusha Elinson who has been reporting on the spike in sales, around 40% of which are by first-time buyers, and what is motivating this trend.