Axios Re:Cap

This week was the first time Britney Spears ever personally addressed the court — and in doing so, the public — about wanting to terminate the conservatorship, controlled by her father, that she has been under since 2008. But the New York Times recently reported that her lawyer first told a court seven years ago that Britney wanted to explore having her father removed.

Dan is joined by Vox.com’s Constance Grady to discuss how public concern about her conservatorship went mainstream, what we know about her situation, what this says about how our culture thinks about celebrity and mental illness, and what could come next in this case.

Editorial staff of Washingtonian magazine chose to unionize today, the latest in a spate of media unionizations that is just part of a broader trend of post-pandemic tensions between employers and employees.

Dan goes deeper with Jessica Sidman, a food editor at Washingtonian, about the situation at her workplace, at the restaurants she covers and if work will ever be the same.

The White House today acknowledged the U.S. is unlikely to reach President Biden’s goal of vaccinating 70% of Americans by July 4. But meeting this goal is particularly urgent in the face of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is highly contagious and expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S. in a matter of weeks.

Dan is joined by Former CDC director Tom Frieden to discuss who is most vulnerable to this variant, what it means for vaccine makers, and what it tells us about our future living alongside this virus both short- and long-term. 

Iran this past weekend elected a new president, Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-liner whose political rivals weren’t even allowed on the ballot — and who has been sanctioned by the U.S. for human rights abuses.

Dan talks with Axios World editor David Lawler about what Raisi’s election means for Iran’s people, who are facing economic hardship and a raging pandemic, and what it means for the nuclear deal signed by President Obama and scrapped by President Trump.

The latest episode of our Hard Truths series examining systemic racism in America takes a look at the multi-billion dollar marijuana industry.

Today: the obstacles that two Black Latinas had to overcome when they chose to start their own businesses in the overwhelmingly white marijuana industry.

Guest: Chanda Macias, CEO of Ilera Holistic Healthcare, and Women Grow and Gia Morón, CEO of GVM Communications and president of Women Grow.

Credits: "Axios Today" is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. This episode was produced by Nuria Marquez Martinez and edited by Alexandra Botti. Alex Sugiura is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Axios Denver reporter John Frank, Axios Executive Editor Sara Kehaulani Goo, Hard Truths Editor Michele Salcedo, and Executive Producer Dan Bobkoff.

Ahead of Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, we examine how America's economy remains marred by the legacies of slavery and racial discrimination.

Dan is joined by McKinsey & Co.’s Shelley Stewart III and Michael Chui to discuss a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s Institute for Black Economy Mobility, digging into the economic inequities between Black and white Americans, including massive wage and wealth gaps, and what can be done to address them.

Last week, House lawmakers introduced a series of five bipartisan bills designed to curb the power of big tech, which seemed to target Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google in all but name.

Dan speaks with Rep. David Cicilline, chair of the House antitrust committee and a sponsor on most of the bills, to learn how Congress plans to get these bills over the finish line amidst a full slate of Congressional priorities and in the wake of a bipartisan bill meant to bolster the U.S. tech sector’s ability to compete with China.

America didn't have enough affordable housing before the pandemic, and the problem has only gotten worse due to a frenzied housing market and a looming end to foreclosure and eviction moratoriums.

Dan digs into what can be done to increase the country's affordable housing stock, both on a policy level and in the private sector. Our guest is Colleen Briggs of J.P. Morgan Chase, which this morning issued a set of policy recommendations to bolster affordable home buying and renting.

The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on and exacerbated the structural problems in the U.S. mental health care system — which often requires patients to seek out care and pay out of pocket for it. Demand for mental health services has skyrocketed, and therapists have repeatedly reported difficulty meeting demand.  

Axios Re:Cap is joined by Chris Molaro, CEO of NeuroFlow, to discuss gaps in the mental health care system and how mental health technology has evolved in the midst of the pandemic. 

Note: This episode mentions depression and suicide. If you or someone you know needs help today, you can find help at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It’s free and available 24/7: 1-800-273-8255.

Sotheby’s last week auctioned off the first fine art NFT ever created, a landmark moment in the transformation of art from the physical to the digital. The winning bid was nearly $1.5 million.

Axios Re:Cap goes deeper, to understand how the fine art and cryptocurrency worlds are colliding, including a conversation with Kevin McCoy, the artist whose work was just auctioned off.