Google's Sexual Misconduct Drama Swells as Exec Departs, Walkout Planned
*By Carlo Versano*
An executive named in a damning report about sexual harassment at Google has resigned, Axios [reported](https://www.axios.com/executive-accused-of-harassment-at-alphabet-x-unit-is-out-6f583d1e-91e3-4a8b-ae2b-51fd4517ec74.html), as Google employees prepare to stage a walkout to protest the company's leadership ー or lack thereof ー on issues of alleged misconduct at the company.
On Tuesday, Rich DeVaul abruptly left the company, according to reports. The New York Times had [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/technology/google-sexual-harassment-andy-rubin.html) that DeVaul had propositioned an interviewee and remained with the company even after the incident was communicated to management. DeVaul was a director at Project Loon, now a part of parent company Alphabet ($GOOGL), one of the "moonshot" projects under Alphabet's X division, a research-lab effort to deliver internet access via balloons.
Meanwhile, CEO Sundar Pichai admitted in an email to employees [obtained](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/10/google-ceo-we-need-to-take-a-much-harder-line-on-inappropriate-behavior/) by Ars Technica that Google's apology ー for reportedly paying millions in severance to high-ranking employees who had been credibly accused of misconduct ー "was not enough."
"If even one person experiences Google the way The New York Times article described, we are not the company we aspire to be," Pichai wrote.
Hundreds of Google employees are planning to walk out on Thursday to draw attention to the issues highlighted in the Times piece. Google employees confirmed the plans on Twitter. Meredith Whittaker, the founder of Google Open Research, [wrote](https://twitter.com/mer__edith/status/1057388398317572096): "the Google Walkout is real and deeply inspiring. Hundreds of people are demanding structural change, not just inclusive sounding PR ."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
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.
