Ford must have put out the “Canceled Plans” candles at HQ this week. One week after the company reneged on plans for a new three-row electric SUV, it’s also backtracking on its DEI commitments amid backlash from conservative influencers.

In a memo to employees on Wednesday, the carmaker said it took a “fresh look” at its DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies over the past year and decided to cut them, along with similar programs:

• It will no longer participate in rankings like the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, on which it got a perfect score in previous years.
• Ford also said it would make changes to its corporate sponsorships and take a backseat on polarizing issues.

We’ve heard this before. Ford joins a growing list of companies that are terrified of getting yelled at on X. Tractor Supply denounced all DEI initiatives earlier this summer, the first major company to do so, and since then, John Deere, Harley Davidson, Lowe’s, and Jack Daniel’s owner Brown-Forman have followed.

Behind the pivot

Ford’s decision to turn its back on DEI comes four years after it publicly committed to the practice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. At the time, it said, “We are not interested in superficial actions. This is our moment to lead from the front and fully commit to creating the fair, just and inclusive culture that our employees deserve.”

What changed? Conservative activist Robby Starbuck has led a charge against DEI, emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action in colleges earlier this year. On X, he attacks large companies that are popular with conservatives and have “woke” policies, like those that promote diversity or lower carbon emissions.

Zoom out: Even as Starbuck celebrates his “wins” on social media, he’s inadvertently shined doubt on his argument that DEI is bad for business. Neither Ford nor Lowe’s stock made significant movement in either direction when the companies changed course.—CC

Calling all Uber One members in the US and Canada: Got a question about the latest tech news? Meditation techniques? Or do you just wanna know what can and absolutely can’t go inside an air fryer?

Hit up Perplexity, the new AI search engine. Uber and Perplexity have teamed up to offer all Uber One members (a membership to save on Uber and Uber Eats) based in the US and Canada one free year of Perplexity Pro—offer ends Oct. 31.

Perplexity searches the internet in real time to provide detailed, up-to-date answers with citations for all of your pressing questions (ya know, instead of a handful of blue links from traditional search engines).

Go ahead—get some answers.

The FAA grounded SpaceX after a rocket mishap. Elon Musk’s space company has to put Falcon 9 launches on hold while the Federal Aviation Administration investigates the failed landing of a booster this week, the Associated Press reported. The booster toppled over in flames after landing on an ocean platform, SpaceX’s first landing failure in years. The incidents could further delay the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission, which was set to pull off the first-ever private spacewalk this week before its launch was scrapped twice due to a technical problem and weather. SpaceX is also planning to use the Falcon 9 next month on the Crew-9 mission to deliver two astronauts to the International Space Station and return next year with two others who have been stranded following the Boeing Starliner’s malfunction.

The UK is mulling a ban on outdoor smoking at pubs. Somewhere in London, a pint of Guinness was just chucked at the wall. Newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that the British government is considering banning the popular practice of smoking outdoors at pubs, restaurants, sporting grounds, and other venues to minimize deaths linked to tobacco use. While health experts applauded the news, pubs and pubgoers were less than thrilled, arguing a smoking ban would hurt businesses and ruin an established social custom. Smoking caused 74,600 deaths in England alone in 2019, per the National Health Service.

Apple is reportedly in talks to invest in OpenAI. According to the Wall Street Journal, the iPhone-maker is part of a funding round that includes Microsoft and venture capital firm Thrive Capital, which will value the artificial intelligence startup at more than $100 billion. Apple previously partnered with OpenAI to use ChatGPT to power the more complex tasks in its Apple Intelligence platform, while it uses its own technology for more basic functions. The investment—unusual because Apple rarely invests in startups—would further the company’s commitment to AI and solidify its access to OpenAI tech.

This could put you off turkey sandwiches for a bit: Food safety inspectors found a frat-houseful of health violations at a Boar’s Head processing facility that’s linked to a nationwide listeria outbreak, according to new USDA records revealed this week.

ICYMI: Last month, Boar’s Head recalled every product that came from its Jarratt, Virginia, plant and paused the location’s operations after officials traced some listeria cases to deli meats produced there.

It’s now the worst listeria outbreak since 2011, according to the CDC. At least nine people have died and 57 have been hospitalized in 18 states, mostly along the East Coast.

As details emerge, it’ll be even harder for Boar’s Head to win back sandwich-makers’ trust. At the Virginia plant, the USDA discovered what appeared to be:

• “Ants traveling down the wall,” a beetle, a cockroach, and “small flying gnat-like insects” in a room with walls that had “heavy meat buildup.”
• Mold and mildew on workers’ sinks and along walls, sometimes in spots as large as a quarter.
• A puddle with “green algal growth,” condensation dripping onto exposed products, “ample amounts of blood in puddles,” and a “rancid smell.”

Check your fridge: Some of the 7 million pounds of recalled Boar’s Head cuts are floating around with October sell-by dates—toss anything with “EST. 12612” or “P-12612” inside the packaging’s USDA mark.—ML

8% dividend opportunity: Monogram (Nasdaq: MGRM), known for their autonomous robotic surgical systems, completed a crowdfunded public offering and Nasdaq listing last year. What’s next? They just filed for FDA approval to commercialize their patented tech. Monogram’s currently offering preferred stock with an 8% dividend (in cash or kind) at $2.25/share. Their common shares closed as high as $3.44 in the past week. Monogram currently plans to close the Series D Preferred offering on September 12, 2024.

Stop blaming the natural deodorant: You’re sweating because the corn is sweating. For anyone commuting in the Midwest, this week’s heat wave felt even hotter thanks to evapotranspiration, or “corn sweat.” And it will likely only get worse with climate change.

Evapo-what now? To beat the heat, corn and other crops that blanket the Midwest (like soybeans) pull a bunch of moisture from the soil and then ditch whatever they don’t need as vapor into the air. All plants do evapotranspiration, but when there’s so much of the same plant in an area getting hit with extreme heat, the vapor can supercharge humidity:

• An acre of corn expels up to 4,000 gallons of water each day, according to the US Geological Survey.
• Iowa, the top corn-producing state in the US, planted roughly 13.1 million acres of the crop this year, according to USDA data. Not to mention the state is sandwiched between Illinois and Nebraska—Nos. 2 and 3 on that list.

It’s not the kernel’s fault. The combination of extreme heat caused by climate change and the growing demand for corn is to blame for making summers stickier.—MM

One of the world’s biggest piracy operations has been shut down, and it didn’t even require cannon fire to do it. Fmovies, an illegal streaming platform with dozens of affiliate sites, was disabled by police in Vietnam working with a group of Hollywood anti-piracy advocates this week. The platform was popular: At its peak last year, it was the 11th-most-visited site on the internet in the entertainment category, accumulating nearly 7 billion clicks from people who were probably just there to stream Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey because they didn’t want to be seen at the theater. Studios say that the shuttering of piracy platforms directly increases their digital revenues, like when Megaupload was powered down in 2012. These operations have since grown more sophisticated, appearing like sleek Netflix clones to camouflage their marauding.

Getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to when someone else has already ordered an Uber for the group.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.