Bitcoin’s warning signs

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency continues to rally as mainstream demand explodes. Coinbase, one of the largest online exchanges, cautioned about outages and slow transactions as bitcoin topped $16,000 for the first time on Thursday. The boom even made an Australian a billionaire for 45 minutes. It’s not all good news for the cryptocurrency, but nobody wants to look at the warning signs.

Senator Al Franken announced he’ll resign “in the coming weeks” after his Democratic colleagues demanded he step down over sexual misconduct allegations. "I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party," he said Thursday.

A city on fire. Authorities closed a major freeway in Southern California as flames from the largest and most destructive wildfire jumped lanes and moved toward coastal and mountain communities northwest of Los Angeles. Four major fires, and unpredictable winds, have put tens of thousands of people under evacuation orders and destroyed nearly 200 homes and buildings, a figure that will almost certainly grow.

The Senate tax bill’s broken promises. President Donald Trump and Republican leaders appear on the brink of achieving their top priority, centerpiece tax legislation, but only after a series of inaccurate claims. Lawmakers have made, and then retracted, pledges that the bill wouldn’t raise taxes on any middle-class families. And Trump and his top aides said it wouldn’t cut taxes for the highest earners, statements that are demonstrably false.

Those newer birth control pills don’t lower the risk of breast cancer. Formulations of birth control drugs with lower doses of estrogen were thought to reduce breast cancer risk for the women who took them. It turns out they didn’t, according to a massive new study.

Superstar lawyer David Boies isn’t panicked. With nonstop investigations into how powerful men got away with abusing women for so long, it looks like the fixers, agents, and attorneys who enabled them will be next in line to fall. Boies — who represented some of the biggest and most controversial names in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein included — says he will be fine. But can his reputation survive his entanglements?

As co-founder of one of the coolest nightlife chains on earth, Igor Hadzismajlovic’s job is to know what’s happening in cocktail culture. Here’s his advice on how to do the same — plus other travel hacks, like getting upgraded to the premium cabin on your next flight.