Hillary Clinton appears to have moved closer to declaring her Presidential candidacy after someone representing  her not-yet-official campaign signed a lease on a campaign headquarters in Brooklyn Heights.

According to FEC rules, there must be a legal campaign entity within 15 days of any campaign activity. Signing the lease would likely count as such activity, hence the former Secretary of State’s formal announcement is expected within the next couple of weeks.

The Washington Post writes:

More than two dozen mostly unpaid staffers are already working in New York, some squeezed into a small midtown Manhattan office that Clinton has used as a personal office since leaving the State Department in early 2013. Campaign staffers have begun hunting for elusive short-term, affordable apartment leases in the hot Brooklyn real estate market, and doing so mostly without a first paycheck.

The reveal on this cycle’s worst-kept secret likely won’t come on Monday 13th, though – that’s already earmarked for an expected Marco Rubio announcement in Miami. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is expected to be the next to declare, likely next Tuesday, April 7.

While Amy Chozick at the New York Times profiles the woman whose job it is to “recast Hillary’s image,” Business Insider‘s Hunter Walker couldn’t get her putative campaign to comment on whether the prospective candidate was amused by the cross-streets near her new HQ.

(image: Business Insider)

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* WORLD * Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address that his country would abide by its promises in yesterday’s framework agreement that could see a concrete nuclear deal this summer. “Some think that we must either fight the world or surrender to world powers. We say it is neither of those, there is a third way. We can have co-operation with the world,” Rouhani said.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, restated his opposition to the agreement, but said that any eventual deal that emerges must include Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

Interestingly, as President Obama tries to bolster domestic support for the agreement, The Hill reports that the “great skepticism” being shown by some in his own party could prove an unexpected obstacle. Rep Nita Lowey, for example, said in a statement: “The administration will have a high bar to convince Congress and the American people that this deal is good for our long-term national security and that of our allies, and that it will verifiably prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon.”

Former first lady Nancy Reagan issued this statement:

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my dear friend, Sarah Brady. Just over 34 years ago, we shared an experience that bonded us for life, as we comforted each other in a tiny, windowless office at the George Washington University Hospital Emergency Room, while awaiting word about whether our husbands would survive the horrific gunshots that had brought them there. Sarah and Jim’s path from that day on was, of course, much more difficult than Ronnie’s and mine, but Sarah never complained. Over the years, I found her to be a woman of immense courage, strength and optimism. I will miss Sarah very much, but take comfort in knowing that she joined Jim on Good Friday and is now at peace.”

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* MEDIA * As the political fallout continues from Indiana’s so-called “religious freedom” legislation – Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote that he was “furious” about the law – a newspaper in North Dakota used its front page on Friday to splash the pictures of state lawmakers who voted against a measure Thursday which would have protected LGBT people from discrimination in that state.

(image: Newseum/Talking Points Memo)

At the New York Times, Frank Bruni writes that,

The drama in Indiana last week and the larger debate over so-called religious freedom laws in other states portray homosexuality and devout Christianity as forces in fierce collision. They’re not — at least not in several prominent denominations, which have come to a new understanding of what the Bible does and doesn’t decree, of what people can and cannot divine in regard to God’s will.

Here are some timely notes on the thorny issue of verification of content on social media, via journalistsresource.org 

The Guardian has a likely case study on the rise and fall of a creation of the social media age, as Esther Addley writes “Has Katie Hopkins gone too far this time?”

“There have always been outspoken columnists whose career thrived on provocation, but rarely quite to this extent. Hopkins calls herself a “columnist, broadcaster and businesswoman”, but she might equally be described as a professional troll, a self-styled pantomime villain for the online petition generation.”

 

Australian satire site The Sauce offers to help out the subs at News Corp’s Daily Telegraph in Sydney, with a rather cool random front page generator. (h/t @TheMurdochTimes)

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* CULTURE * France is banning ultra-skinny fashion models, with agents who promote “excessively thin” models liable to fines and six months in prison. The law has to be passed by the national Senate. Quartz writes:

Other countries and organizations have attempted similar regulations. Both Italy and Israel have issued BMI [Body Mass Index] requirements. In New York, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has formed a committee and hosted events for discussing and promoting healthier lifestyles for models—and healthier body images for those who admire them—but the “guidelines” are fairly nebulous, beyond age requirements for runway modeling and curfews for minors.

Talking of models…

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* SPORTS * Saturday sees the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis. Here’s ten things you need to know and a preview via CBS News.

Bleacher Report‘s Kerry Miller goes Inside The Numbers.

This is also the opening weekend of the Major League Baseball season. Here’s 30 things you need to know.  

New Commissioner Rob Manfred has been doing the rounds of interviews, telling AdWeek about plans to grow the game through digital media and hispanic marketing. He appears on Meet The Press on Sunday.