Welcome back to our weekly roundup of regulatory and compliance news. I'm C. Ryan Barber, just doing my thing amid fears of a nuclear apocalypse. Got tips or suggestions? Reach me at [email protected] or at 202-828-0315. DM me at @cryanbarber.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' letter raising “serious concerns” about legalized marijuana has left states in something of a … haze. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is worried about getting into a drug battle with the “other Washington,” but a cannabis industry group found reason to be encouraged by the letter. [Los Angeles Times]

Beef, it's what a company called Impossible Burger wants to mimic with its plant-based burger patty. But the company's secret sauce—a substance found in the roots of soybeans— is raising eyebrows at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, highlighting the challenges fast-moving food tech startups meet when dealing with the regulatory state. [The New York Times]

Wall Street fretted over the Labor Department's fiduciary rule, but it turns out the requirement to act in the best interest of retirement savers isn't so bad for the financial industry. To comply with the regulation, firms are steering consumers into accounts with annual fees, which have long been more lucrative than those that charge commission. [The Wall Street Journal]

A “shadow process.” That, according to U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, is what's essentially created by President Donald Trump's order directing agencies to eliminate two regulations for every new rule introduced. At a court hearing Thursday, Moss appeared skeptical of the Justice Department's defense of the executive order. [National Law Journal]

Citing staff safety concerns, Google canceled an all-hands meeting to address gender issues at the tech giant and the firing of an employee who argued women are biologically less suited than men to be engineers. The abrupt move comes amid questions about whether the fired engineer's views should be protected under federal law. [Bloomberg LP]

Another week, another conflict for former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Benchmark Capital, one of Uber Technologies Inc.'s earliest investors, sued Kalanick in Delaware Court of Chancery alleging he breached his fiduciary duty and contractual obligations by stacking the company's board with allies. The lawsuit could get Kalanick kicked off Uber's board. [Axios]

Meanwhile, another Uber executive is stepping down amid the ride-hailing platform's seemingly endless controversies. Ryan Graves, Uber's senior vice president of global operations, is leaving the company following reports he was noticeably absent in March. [Fast Company]

After abandoning its defense of the CFPB's constitutionality, Sessions' Justice Department is distancing itself even farther from the Obama-era agency. In Los Angeles and southern Mississippi, assistant U.S. attorneys are pulling out of cases in which they were helping the CFPB as local counsel. [National Law Journal]

Did HBO try to pay off the hacker responsible for its recent data breach? The anonymous hacker leaked a message purportedly from an HBO executive offering to make a $250,000 “bounty payment” as part of a program to compensate IT professionals for bringing cybersecurity shortcomings to the Time Warner-owned company's attention. [Variety]