🗞️ Read All About It

🏥 California Files Nursing Home Suit

California prosecutors filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing the state’s largest nursing home chain of manipulating Medicare’s rating system, as well as illegally discharging patients.

• State officials allege that Brookdale Senior Living won higher ratings from Medicare by submitting false information about its staffing. (How Medicare's rating system works.)
• Prosecutors also accused Brookdale of illegally evicting or transferring residents in order to “fill its beds with residents who will bring in more money.”

They are seeking civil penalties and an injunction to prevent future unlawful conduct.

🏛️ Two Arrested in Capitol Chemical Attack

Federal prosecutors arrested two men on Sunday, charging them with spraying a chemical on Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and two other law enforcement officers during the January 6 Capitol riot, according to court documents unsealed yesterday.

• Officer Sicknick was later transported to a hospital, where he died the day after the riot. The county medical examiner has not released information about his cause of death.

More: The unsealed documents don’t describe whether the alleged chemical assault contributed to the officer’s death.

🇪🇸 Four-Day Work Week?

Per the Guardian, Spain’s government has agreed to a proposal from a small political party called Más País to launch a program for companies to trial a four-day working week (32 hours).

• While the exact details of the program have yet to be hashed out, Más País has proposed a three-year, ~$60M project that would cover a portion of the additional costs incurred by participating companies.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

🇦🇺 Thousands of protesters gathered in at least 40 cities across Australia yesterday to protest sexual violence and discrimination against women.

🏆 The 2021 Oscar nominations were announced yesterday morning (the full list). | Grammy Awards ratings hit a record-low of 8.8M TV viewers, down 53% from last year.

☝️ 1 Last Thing... 

🏛️ The Senate voted 51-40 to confirm Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) as head of the Interior Department. She is the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history. (From the Left | From the Right)

📮 Telegram Sends a Message

Per the WSJ, messaging app Telegram is issuing investors between $1B and $1.5B of company debt, with the promise of discounted equity if the company eventually goes public. 

• The company owes creditors ~$700M by the end of April.

Telegram currently has around 550M monthly active users, and is on track to reach 1B by the end of 2022.

More: To monetize, the company is planning to sell ads in public Telegram channels as soon as later this year, and will offer other premium services to business and users.

🔋 Volkswagen Takes Charge

Volkswagen announced plans to build six EV battery “gigafactories” in Europe by the end of 2030 during the company’s online “Power Day” event yesterday.

• The German automaker said it will build and operate around 18k public fast-charging stations in Europe by 2025.
• Volkswagen also revealed plans to switch 80% of its EV line-up to a single cell battery format by 2023 to reduce overall costs.

In Other Auto News: Cruise, an autonomous driving company backed by GM and Honda, acquired self-driving startup Voyage yesterday in a deal with undisclosed terms.

✅ Tinder Picks Up the Check

Match Group, owner of Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, & other dating apps, announced an unspecified “seven-figure” investment in Garbo – a nonprofit that lets users run a background check with only a full name (or first name + phone number).

• Match Group will begin testing and building out capabilities for Garbo to run background checks on Tinder in the coming months. Once complete, the company said its other U.S. brands could soon follow.

More: In a blog post last month, Garbo said it won’t publicize drug possession charges in order to take an “active stance on equity,” citing research that shows no link between drug possession and gender-based violence.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

🧸 WHP Global, a brand management company, acquired a controlling stake in Tru Kids and announced plans to reopen a number of Toys R Us locations in the U.S. (ideally ahead of this holiday season – their words, not ours).

🏀 The NCAA’s selection committee released its bracket for the 2021 Women’s Tournament yesterday, headlined by #1 seeds Stanford, UConn, NC State, and South Carolina. (Full bracket.)

💰 Stripe raised a $600M investment round valuing the company at $95B.

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

In an SEC filing yesterday, Tesla revealed it has given CEO Elon Musk a new title: “Technoking of Tesla.”

• Similarly, the company’s CFO Zach Kirkhorn was granted the title “Master of Coin.” It’s unclear what prompted the new titles.

🚗 Student of the Year

Jose Villarrue is always nervous when starting up his 1997 Ford Thunderbird LX, cautious not to push the car any further than it can go.

• The long-time substitute teacher has been living out of his car for about eight years, ever since he started working for the school district.

Image: Twitter

Steven Nava, a former student, noticed the 76-year-old sleeping in his car near the building. After learning more about Jose’s struggles to support himself and his family, Steven gave him $300 to stay at a hotel for a few nights.

• Steven then took to Twitter to share Jose’s story and set up a fundraiser hoping to raise $5K for the beloved teacher.

Within three days, he had raised almost six times that amount.

“I just felt the need to do something about it,” Steven told KCAL/KCBS. “We don’t appreciate these teachers enough, and that’s something we should be doing.”

Image: NBC LA

Steven and a crowd of his former students presented Jose with a check for $27,000 on the teacher’s 77th birthday last Thursday while serenading him with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

“I’m still trying to digest the entire experience,” said Jose. “It’s extraordinary, totally unexpected.”