Axios

The Academy Awards have gotten tons of press this year for things not going right, but there's reason to believe Sunday's show will be an all-around surprise.

The big picture: Ratings have been on the decline, there's no host and producers have taken grief for the show's 3+ hour runtime.

Serious concerns about Sen. Amy Klobuchar's treatment of staff have clouded the early days of her 2020 presidential campaign, as The New York Times reports her unusually high turnover, willingness to embarrass staff, odd requests and demeaning duties.

Details: "Ms. Klobuchar's exasperation often appeared connected to two factors: an abiding fear of being embarrassed in front of colleagues or in the press and the conviction that she works harder than her staff."

Police announced Thursday that human traffickers lured women to 10 Orlando-area massage parlors, where they were intimidated into prostitution, TCPalm reports. The 6-month investigation culminated in charges against dozens of individuals who solicited the parlors, including New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft.

Details: The spas were closed down on Tuesday as Vero Beach Police began making arrests. Indian River County agencies issued warrants for 173 people on charges that include human trafficking, racketeering and soliciting prostitution. Thus far, nearly 50 of the 165 accused of paying for sex acts have been arrested.

The Department of Justice recently indicted Chinese engineer and battery storage expert Hongjin Tan — a Chinese citizen and U.S. legal permanent resident — for stealing over $1 billion worth of trade secrets from his employer, the U.S. petroleum company Phillips 66.

The big picture: The U.S. energy industry is the latest victim of corporate espionage and intellectual property (IP) theft by China — a growing threat to American energy innovation. Then-President Obama signed a deal with President Xi Jinping in 2015 to combat IP theft, but Chinese cyber espionage picked back up because of trade tensions after President Trump took office.

Actor Jussie Smollett has been cut from the final 2 episodes of the fifth season of "Empire," after he was arrested and charged with filing a false police report about an alleged hate crime.

"While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of 'Jamal' from the final two episodes of the season."

The backdrop: Smollett was released on $100,000 bail on Friday after police determined that he had staged his own attack for publicity. Smollett reportedly apologized to the cast of "Empire," but maintained that he was innocent and plans to fight the charges in court.

The Department of Agriculture has disbursed a total of $7.7 billion in aid to farmers in an effort to counteract the negative effects of retaliatory tariffs stemming from President Trump's trade war, which have driven down prices and decreased profits, Reuters reports.

The big picture: Low commodity prices have been gouging U.S. farmers' bottom lines for years, exacerbated by increasing agricultural competition from Russia and Brazil. But Trump's trade war is adding salt to the wound, with farmer bankruptcies in the Midwest swelling to decade highs as the dispute with China continues to go unresolved.

Go deeper: Grading the impact of Trump's China tariffs

With more than 80% of S&P 500 companies now having reported fourth quarter results, it's becoming clear that sales growth is slowing but profit growth has plunged.

Millions of Americans have been jobless for a year or more: the hard-core unemployed. Among the causes for their stubborn unemployment is a lack of skills, a drug habit, or a felony record.

Between the lines: But there is another, largely overlooked reason. Many of these unemployed people simply can't — or won't — go where the jobs are.