*By Carlo Versano*
Scooter start-up Spin is no stranger to competition. The latest twist ー just a week after failing to make the cut for San Francisco's sought-after pilot mobility program, the company is facing pressure in another city ー Denver.
Lyft [announced on Thursday](https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/6/17824040/lyft-electric-scooter-denver-dockless-public-transportation) it would make its first foray into the scooter market, dropping 350 scooters in the Mile High City.
But Spin's head of public policy is undeterredー Brian Kyuhoon No told Cheddar his company is "used to competition in this space." His company's already got a permit for Denver, and he expects to join Lyft there within a month.
Spin is making strides outside of San Francisco and Denver too ー the start-up made headlines last month when it abruptly said it would replace its eye-catching orange bikes with electric scooters in Washington, D.C., where it arrived as a dockless bike-share provider one year earlier.
It's also currently the only scooter provider in Florida, where it launched a pilot in Coral Gables, a city that serves as the rubric for draft legislation recently submitted to officials in Miami.
Scooter watchers believe Miami [represents a significant opportunity as an urban test case](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/technology/article217841200.html): it's dense, has woeful public transit, and the weather is optimal for riding.
Spin's No said the company is working with Miami officials on a roll-out there.
Still, losing a bid to provide last-mile mobility in San Fran, the company's hometown, was disappointing. But No said he wasn't surprised given the "political expediencies" at play.
"We actually don't think this is detrimental at all," he said.
In fact, Spin is optimistic that the San Francisco decision, in which the SFMTA chose small operators Skip and Scoot over larger names like Bird and Lime, won't harm the company's long-term chances.
"We're starting to see the tide turn against rogue behavior and rogue launches," No said, leaving his competition unnamed.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/scooter-wars-innovation-vs-regulation).
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug