MHI NextDraft

1 BLOOD, DEBT, AND TEARS “Elizabeth’s iron determination and great intellectual ability turned me from a mild skeptic to an enthusiast. We aren’t exactly a group of people who give away our time lightly.” That was Henry Kissinger explaining how Elizabeth Holmes managed to attract a who’s who to the board of her once wildly high-flying startup, Theranos — a company that had a ground-breaking blood analysis technology that led to a $9 billion valuation, even though it didn’t actually work. How did a company that was built on a technology as mock as the Steve Jobsian-black turtlenecks worn by its CEO end up winning over some of the most powerful people in tech, healthcare, and politics? To find out, you can wait for the movie starring Jennifer Lawrence (seriously), or you can start with this brief look behind Theranos’ rise and dramatic fall. + In There Will Be Blood, the Daniel Day-Lewis character famously explained, “I drink your milkshake.” This tale of blood was about people drinking the Kool-Aid. NYT: Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos CEO and Silicon Valley Star, Accused of Fraud. + While you might think that the penalties for wanton fraud would cut deep, so far, the SEC’s punishments amount to little more than a pin prick. + Buzzfeed: What it’s like to work at Theranos after the fall, according to Glassdoor reviews.Theranos Glassdoor reviews written since April 18, 2016 — when it was first reported that the company was under federal investigation — paint a bleak picture of employee morale.”Motivation is close to zero due to many recent developments and negative media coverage,” one October 2016 review says. “Many people just come to work to fill their hours and leave without doing anything…Projects are halted suddenly without any explanation after spending so much time and money.” A different review, from August 2017, described working at Theranos as “not a happy experience,” noting that “the goal is exciting….not sure whether it can be achieved.”Reviews from late 2016 and early 2017 suggest employees were nervous about pending investigations and anxious to leave.

2 TOY VEY “With his technology background, Lazarus set up a computerized inventory system so from his desk he could see every product sold and what needed to be restocked. ‘I think Toys ‘R’ Us is a unique operation — the only proprietary merchandise company that rivals IBM as revolutionary in concept,” a retail analyst told The Post in 1982. ‘Their superb controls and information systems are unrivaled in the industry.'” Time finally caught up with a toy empire once ahead of its time. WaPo: Toys R Us: The birth — and bust — of a retail empire. + At first glance, it might look like Toys ‘R’ Us is the victim of Amazon and online retailing. But that’s only part of the story. Bloomberg: Toys ‘R’ Us Is a How-Not-To Guide for the Retail Business. + Usually, by the time a company like this decides to shut down all its stores, those stores are no longer doing much business. But Toys ‘R’ Us is still major player in toy sales, and thus, these store closings will have a major ripple effect.

3 PUTIN HIS PLACE? “It was the strongest action to date against Russia by the administration, which has long been accused of being too soft on the Kremlin, and the first punishments for election meddling since President Donald Trump took office. The sanctions list included the 13 Russians indicted last month by special counsel Robert Mueller, whose Russia investigation the president has repeatedly sought to discredit.” AP: US says Russia hacked energy grid, punishes 19 for meddling. + “An extraordinary joint statement signed by the leaders of the U.K., the U.S., France, and Germany has blamed Russia for the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal on British soil.” + Who is Sregei Skripal with Yulia Skripal and what’s this all about? Rachel Maddow has a good explainer. + Meanwhile, there’s this from the NYT: Mueller Subpoenas Trump Organization, Demanding Documents About Russia. So, on the same day we learned that the Trump administration has confirmed Mueller’s findings by sanctioning the hackers he named, we also learn that the Mueller investigation is working its way closer to Trump. (And that’s just the first half of the day, things usually pick up in the afternoon.)

4 CHAKRA CON? “Turn on an Indian TV, and there’s Ramdev, a supple yoga megastar in saffron robes, demonstrating poses on one of the two stations he oversees. Flip the channel, and there’s Ramdev in commercials selling shampoo and dish soap. Walk any city on the subcontinent, and there’s his face in stores selling the wares of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., the multibillion-dollar corporation he controls.” Bloomberg’s Ben Crair: This Multibillion-Dollar Corporation Is Controlled by a Penniless Yoga Superstar. (How was this guy not on the Theranos board?)

5 PLASTIC CERTAINTY “It’s not about pointing fingers at particular brands; it’s really showing that this is everywhere, that plastic has become such a pervasive material in our society, and it’s pervading water – all of these products that we consume at a very basic level.” BBC: Plastic particles found in bottled water.

6 WHITE LIES “They threatened me, and I understood immediately that threat put me and my family at risk, and this exposure would put my professional life at risk as well. I foreclosed that possibility by disclosing the details to my family, and then when I discussed it with Bob, he and I agreed that I had placed the company in an untenable position and as a result, I should resign.” The Hollywood Reporter: John Skipper Details His ESPN Exit and a Cocaine Extortion Plot. (So, when backed into a corner, a man in a position of power … tells the truth. What a concept.)

7 KUDLOW, SELL HIGH If you’re a television stock market prognosticator (or really any kind of stock or economic prognosticator), you’re going to be wrong a lot, and occasionally very, very wrong. But WaPo’s Dana Milibank makes the case that newly appointed Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow may have been more wrong about the economy than anyone alive.

8 BRIDGE COLLAPSE “According to an FIU press release, the 174-foot, 950-ton bridge was just installed ‘in a few hours’ using ‘accelerated bridge construction’ methods.” There were reports of deaths and injuries after the collapse of a pedestrian bridge stretching across a street on the Florida International University campus.The collapse occurred at about 1:30 p.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Division Chief Paul Estopinan said in a press conference Thursday afternoon.As of 5 p.m., a minimum of eight vehicles were trapped under the rubble, Estopinan said. Some workers were on the bridge when it collapsed, but officials did not detail whether any of them were among the dead. Ten injured victims, labeled as level-one trauma patients, were transported to nearby Kendall Regional Medical Center, program director Dr. Mark McKenney said in a press conference.One of the patients was in cardiac arrest and another was in a coma with “severe extremity injuries” when they arrived, McKenney said. Those patients were in critical condition.Eight other patients admitted to the hospital suffered from traumatic injuries such as bruises, abrasions and broken bones but were in stable condition, McKenney said. The victims’ ages ranged from 20 to 50 years old, McKenney said. Additional patients are believed to have been admitted to other area hospitals as well.

9 SWORD ATTACK FOILED This is quite a lede: “With her boyfriend finally asleep, Emily Javier reached for the samurai sword she had secretly taped earlier to the side of the bed.” WaPo: She found a dating app on her boyfriend’s phone. Then she bought a samurai sword.In an interview with police after the attack, Javier, 30, admitted she was frustrated with her boyfriend for staying glued to his game. Then, a week before the violent incident, Javier said she had discovered Lovell was unfaithful. According to the affidavit, she told police she discovered Tinder, the dating app, on his phone. She also noticed scratches on his back, possibly from a romantic encounter. She found red hair in the shower drain — her own hair was dyed green. She did not confront her boyfriend. In the past, he had just denied such accusations. This time Javier went to the mall and bought a samurai sword. “I thought, I was gonna stab him while he was sleeping,” she told police. The relationship reached a crisis point on March 2. According to the police affidavit, Lovell came home but ignored his girlfriend. She allegedly decided to go through with the attack, taping the sword and two knives to the bed. Javier also told police she hid Lovell’s phone so he could not call for help. When Lovell finally went to sleep, she reached for the sword.

10 BOTTOM OF THE NEWS “But normal is a relative state that depends on time, place, and circumstance. There’s no one right way to be a human, and that applies to mental as well as physical states.” Yale neuroscientists debunked the idea that anyone is normal. (Social media debunked that a long time ago…) + Ford just recalled over a million cars because the steering wheel can come loose. The recall covers certain Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ cars from the 2014 through 2018 model years.Ford says steering wheel bolts can loosen over time. The company says it knows of two crashes and one injury caused by the problem.Dealers will replace the bolts with longer ones that have more aggressive threads and a nylon patch to stop them from coming loose. Owners will be notified by mail the week of April 30, and parts are expected to be available by then.Just over 1.3 million cars in the U.S. are being recalled, with the rest in Canada and Mexico.The recall comes about five months after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into steering wheels falling off of Fusions from the 2014 through 2016 model years. + There’s a remote Norwegian town where you’re not allowed to die. In addition to dealing with round-the-clock darkness in the winter and the constant threat of polar bears, the 2,000 residents in the remote Norwegian town of Longyearbyen must also follow one very strange law: It’s illegal to die there. Located on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard about halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, Longyearbyen is so cold that dying has been illegal there since 1950 when locals discovered that bodies weren’t decomposing in the cemetery because of the frigid weather. In fact, when scientists exhumed corpses of those who died in the 1918 flu pandemic in 1998, they were able to retrieve live samples of the deadly virus. These aren’t the only reason why you probably don’t want to move here anytime soon. The town is so far north that it stays dark in the winter for four months at a time with zero difference between night and day for nearly three of those months. There are also nearly 1,000 polar bears who call the island home, which pose a dangerous threat to locals. But hey, you’re basically guaranteed to see the Northern Lights there so maybe it’s worth a trip. Just don’t die.     MHI NextDraft