newsnation

An Oklahoma state senator is refusing to back down over a “misogynistic” sexual joke he made about Vice President Kamala Harris that has sparked a bipartisan backlash and some calls for his resignation.

R.T. Watson / Wall Street Journal : As the US market saturates, Netflix, Disney, and Amazon are slowing Hollywood exports and spending billions of dollars to make international content   —  With U.S. market saturated, companies are slowing Hollywood exports and spending billions of dollars to make international content

Nancy Crotti / Medical Design and Outsourcing : Proximie raises $38M Series B for its AI-based AR tech that enables physicians and surgeons to interact virtually during surgical and diagnostic procedures   —  Digital surgery company Proximie this week announced it has raised $38 million in a Series B equity financing round.

Rick Whiting / CRN : Kyligence, a big data analytics startup founded by the creators of Apache Kylin at eBay in Shanghai, raises $70M Series D, bringing its total raised to $118M   —  Kyligence develops an advanced data analytics platform, based on the open-source Apache Kylin analytics engine …

Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE : Cherre, which uses AI to index and analyze real estate data from disparate public and private sources, raises $50M Series B, bringing total raised to $75M   —  Real estate data management and analytics startup Cherre Inc. has raised $50 million in new funding to enable it to expand its platform offering …

Jeannette E. Garcia / San Antonio Business Journal : Battery Ventures leads a combined $150M+ investment in SaaSOptics and Chargify, two companies that help SaaS companies manage billing and subscriptions   —  The San Francisco office of Battery Ventures, a Boston investment firm, led a growth-equity investment worth a combined $150 million …

The number of migrants being fast-tracked for release without formal immigration court notices at the U.S.-Mexico border has reportedly increased by thousands since March to more than 15,300.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz joined New Hampshire Republicans in slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for visiting the Granite State before traveling to the southern border.

Louisiana state Sen. Troy Carter will represent the state's 2nd Congressional District on Capitol Hill following a victory over state Senate colleague Karen Carter Peterson in a special runoff election Saturday.

New York Times : A deep look at the slander industry, and the symbiotic relationship between the sites that host slander and the “reputation management” companies who remove it   —  I wanted to slander someone.  —  My colleague Kashmir Hill and I were trying to learn who is responsible for …

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called Friday for the city’s residents to assist authorities in their efforts to “unmask” members of the “self-described anarchist mob” who have engaged in acts of violence and vandalism in recent months.

Yuma, Ariz. Mayor Douglas Nicholls discussed conditions at the southern border on "Fox News Live" Saturday, saying the cartels act like businesses, and make trillions off illegal immigration.

Caitlyn Jenner Friday became the latest California celebrity to use their notoriety to try to leverage political office, using her fame as a launching point to seek to oust Gavin Newsom governor of the Golden State. 

CyberNews : A researcher tricked ransomware operators into revealing their ransom payout structure, cash out schemes, and target acquisition strategies   —  During an undercover interview, a CyberNews researcher tricked ransomware operators affiliated with Ragnar Locker into revealing their ransom payout structure …

U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat, is reportedly mulling a statewide bid in Florida in 2022, which has lately been a bastion for conservatives.

Washington Post : How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have used extensive acquisitions to expand into new areas, creating new revenue streams and outflanking competitors   —  You're probably reading this on a browser built by Apple or Google.  If you're on a smartphone, it's almost certain those two companies built the operating system.

"Real Time" host Bill Maher clashed with CNN political analyst April Ryan over the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and the Ohio police-involved shooting death of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant. 

Brian Contreras / Los Angeles Times : Trump's last post on Facebook, which now has 700K+ comments, has become a weird internet memorial where his fans and critics still converge to argue and troll   —  At first glance, Donald Trump's Facebook page seems like it's been dead for months.  —  The former president's last post …

"Real Time" host Bill Maher had some fun Friday night at the expense of Caitlyn Jenner, who announced earlier in the day that she is running for governor in California amid the recall effort aimed at Democrat Gavin Newsom. 

In an exclusive interview with "Hannity," former President Donald J. Trump said that social media and Big Tech firms like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Google should face the scrutiny of antitrust investigatory bodies, given their monopolistic actions toward American political discourse.

Heather Landi / FierceHealthcare : Current Health, whose tech helps healthcare organizations provide and manage patient care remotely, raises $43M Series B following a 3,000% YoY rise in revenue   —  At-home healthcare was a growing trend before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the current health crisis has only accelerated the shift …

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill Friday that would protect gun owners in the state from any new federal regulations or bans on firearms.

Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World : As COVID surges in India, online crowdsourcing and social media have become essential for sharing critical public health information, like vaccine availability   —  With little state resources, citizen-led online initiatives are helping people find everything from oxygen to ICU beds.

Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell called out Democrats and far-left activists for overt racism and a continued discrimination against White Americans and White policemen.

"Nine Nasty Words" author John McWhorter joined "Fox News Primetime" Friday to discuss how those he refers to as "the elect" are trying to ruin America.

Michael Hytha / Bloomberg : SEC filing: online jobs marketplace ZipRecruiter plans to go public via a direct listing; in 2020, ZipRecruiter had a net income of $86M on revenue of $418.1M   —  - Job search and recruiting company turned profitable in 2020  — Squarespace filed last week for direct listing instead of IPO

The company, Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc., will reportedly operate in the same way a music publisher does where it will broker licensing deals and protect IP.

The lawsuit was announced on Friday, with the group calling the president’s executive order on tackling climate change “an act of executive overreach that will kill thousands of jobs throughout the country and threatens to impose more burdens and harms on the American people.”

Will Sattelberg / Android Police : Latest Google app beta on Android suggests that Google is working on Assistant features like answering calls and stopping alarms without a “Hey Google” prompt   —  Unlike most other developers, unfinished features constantly appear in Google's updates, hinting at plenty of new content in the works.

Bloomberg : China's move to rein in its tech behemoths is part of its national refocusing on data as an economic driver, as evidenced partly by new data usage laws   —  - China forecast to hold about a third of world's data by 2025  — ‘A complete national refocusing on data as an economic driver’

Those attending the 93rd Academy Awards will not be required to don face coverings during the telecast on April 25 as the ceremony is being treated as a television or film production and masks will not be required for folks who appear on camera during Sunday’s show.

Country music star Brad Paisley joined "Special Report" to discuss his "Take the Shot" campaign, an effort to get more Americans vaccinated for COVID-19.

Biden expressed “his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements,” the White House said in a statement.

Illinois left-wing activist James Hodgkinson, who tried to kill more than two dozen congressional Republicans, volunteers and police at a Virginia baseball field in 2017 before being gunned down by responding officers, was known to frequently make anti-Trump and anti-GOP posts on social media.

California will no longer be issuing hydraulic fracturing permits beginning in 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday. 

Survivors of the 2017 Republican baseball practice shooting are appealing to FBI Director Christopher Wray to publicly declare the attack a case of domestic terrorism and say they never accepted that it was "suicide by cop."