The Broadsheet: February 17th

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Parka maker Canada Goose has an all-male board, Obamacare’s mandated maternity coverage may be on the way out, and the Hollywood’s off-camera women speak out. Have a relaxing weekend.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Meet the 20%. Following the news that just 20% of non-acting Academy Award nominees are women, The Hollywood Reporter has an engrossing package of stories focused on female movie pros working behind the camera. Here's a rundown:

Eight of the nine female producers nominated for Best Picture this year got together to talk about why women make great producers and how to help bring more of them into the business. "We have to hire, hire, hire," says Hidden Figures producer Jenno Topping. "There's always a way you can do it."

Lynda Obst, who produced Interstellar and 16 other features, writes about why she believes the movie industry is the world's best business for women and minorities in the world—despite the fact that, "the situation is utterly rigged for young white dudes." Yes, women get fewer looks and must be better prepared than their male competition. But "never before has a talented, highly motivated woman had a better chance of being mentored, discovered and hired," writes Obst.

Mildred Iatrou Morgan and Ai-Ling Lee, the first female team ever Oscar-nominated for sound, talk about how they broke into sound work and how readers can do the same. Says Morgan: "You have to ask."

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• The mom mandate? Healthcare consultant Seema Verma, President Trump's pick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (the agency that oversees Obamacare) says maternity coverage, which employers are currently required to provide under the law, should be optional. Time

• Winning the genetic lottery. Coins2Day's Cliff Leaf weighs in on the patent fight over CRISPR, the revolutionary gene editing technology. UC Berkeley's Jennifer Doudna, who developed the modern-day version of CRISPR with Emmanuelle Charpentier, lost the battle. Feng Zhang, the scientist who got the patent office to “fast track” his claim, retained the most valuable patents for the invention. Coins2Day

• Bleeding out? According to the Wall Street Journal, Theranos is "on life support." The paper reports that Elizabeth Holmes' blood-testing company had $200 million of cash on hand at the end of 2016—less than a quarter of the funding it raised from investors and partners. WSJ

• Betsy's big regrets. Betsy DeVos, the country's new education secretary, had a brutal confirmation, with VP Mike Pence eventually having to cast a history-making tiebreaker vote in the divided Senate. DeVos says she still hasn't watched the tape of her hearing, but in an interview with Axios admits there are a few things she wishes she had said differently. Axios

• Keeping the peace. Nikki Haley, the new U.S. Ambassador to the UN, assured the world on Thursday that the Trump administration supports Palestinian statehood—24 hours after the President seemed to hint that he may not support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Haley said that he does, but wants a “thinking out of the box” approach. New York Times

• Bird-brained. Quartz looks at the Wednesday IPO filing from retailer Canada Goose, noting that although the brand claims to value "diversity of abilities, experience, perspective, education, gender, background, race, and national origin," it also revealed that, "at closing of this offering, none of the members of our board of directors will be women.” Quartz

• The broadcast. On this week's Broad Strokes, Val and I talk about Ivanka Trump's Oval Office photo op, Tiffany Dufu's new book, and the recent sassification of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton's Twitter feeds. Coins2Day

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: The New York Times has promoted Carolyn Ryan, who led its politics coverage during the presidential campaign, to assistant editor.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• TGIF, Ryan! April Ryan, a journalist who works for American Urban Radio Networks, has had quite a week. On Monday, she accused Omarosa Manigault, the former reality star who is now a Trump communications official, of threatening and “physically intimidating” her (Manigault denies the accusations). Then, in yesterday's press conference, Ryan (who is African-American) had an awkward exchange with the president, who asked her if she's "friends" with the Congressional Black Caucus and requested that she set up a meeting with the group. Washington Post

• Feds look at Fox. The lawyer representing former Fox anchor Andrea Tantaros in her suit against Fox News says that another one of his clients has received a grand jury subpoena related to the network. He says federal investigators are looking at whether Fox News structured sexual harassment settlement claims by paying them out in salaries, “so as not to have to report them.” New York Times

• Producing neuroses. Kesha, who is locked in a seemingly endless contract battle with her former producer Dr. Luke, has released a slew of emails in which Dr. Luke disparages her—including saying that other music professionals were reluctant to work with her "because of her weight." Coins2Day

• Fighting for fashion. Even as the number of women participating in wrestling, MMA, and other combat sports has grown, few athletic companies are producing singlets and other apparel that works for these athletes. This fascinating story looks at a few who are. Racked

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