1. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will launch his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with an event in Louisville. He’ll need to appeal to voters beyond the libertarian base that rallied behind his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), for years to have a chance.
Its a great day to be in Kentucky! Following our special event, I will join @seanhannity for an entire hour on @FoxNews at 10:00pm EST.
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 7, 2015
2. FedEx plans to buy Dutch parcel-shipper TNT for about $4.8 billion, it said Tuesday morning, greatly expanding its footprint in Europe. PRWeek looked at how FedEx comms leader Patrick Fitzgerald is helping to redefine the company in a January profile.
3. A lengthy piece in May’s Vanity Fair describes the infighting among NBC executives after revelations that star anchor Brian Williams lied about his war-reporting experience went public earlier this year. One crisis communications anecdote: executives at the network were infuriated after Williams failed to help himself with numerous on-air and on-the-record apologies issued in the first days of the crisis.
4. Twitter has added a feature that makes it easier to retweet with comments, eliminating a bunch of copying and pasting for users, in its latest update.
Say more with revamped quote Tweet! Rolling out on iPhone and web, coming soon to Android. https://t.co/Bcl3E859ne pic.twitter.com/fioAPPi0nW
— Twitter (@twitter) April 6, 2015
5. A coalition of consumer advocacy groups is expected to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday about YouTube Kids, saying it trickily mixes in advertising targeting children with content.
6. Duke University beat the University of Wisconsin Monday night to win the men’s national basketball championship in what was also a match-up of opposite recruiting strategies. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) angered some after the game when she said she was rooting for the Badgers because their players are more likely to stay in school for four yeas. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan also said post-game that his program doesn’t "rent" players and delicately expressed frustration with the officials.
Congrats to Duke,but I was rooting for team who had stars that are actually going to college & not just doing semester tryout for NBA.
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) April 7, 2015
7. Starbucks is planning to double its college tuition aid plan for employees from two years to four and to reimburse more quickly. Last month, its Race Together initiative faced intense blowback in the press.
8. Pharrell Williams is doing his part to make the Apple Watch a hit. He picked the very-high-end $10,000 gold edition of the wearable, at least according to photos shared on social media.
