Wilbur Ross
Credit: AP/Andrew Hamik

On Monday, the Supreme Court issued an emergency stay blocking the deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the ongoing dispute over the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

The order, a victory for the Trump administration, puts any attempt to question Ross about his role in the inclusion of the question on hold, at least until the Court can hear the issue more fully. The Court’s decision overrules, for the time being, the order of U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, who instructed Ross to submit to questioning from lawyers in the ongoing litigation of the Census.

While Ross is now unlikely to testify in the upcoming trial, which is scheduled for November 5, other depositions, including of Justice Department official John Gore, can proceed as planned. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, the far-right flank of the court, partially dissented on the grounds that if Ross’ deposition should be stayed, the entire process should be stayed as well.

The decision to […]

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The American Cancer Society (ACS) report that around 55,440 people will develop pancreatic cancer in 2018 and around 44,330 people will die as a result.

This cancer is particularly difficult to both treat and diagnose.

A lack of specific and accessible screening methods means that specialists often find the disease in its later stages, which can impact the patients’ outlook.

The ACS estimate that 12–14 percent of people with early-stage pancreatic cancer go on to survive for 5 years.

New research offers much-needed hope; scientists have found that a derivative of camptothecin — which is a Chinese tree bark compound whose anticancer properties were discovered over half a century ago — can effectively kill pancreatic cancer tumors.

Fengzhi Li, Ph.D., who […]

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Higher education is supposed to be the great equalizer, the one-way ticket to the security and prosperity of the middle class. But with 44 million Americans struggling with more than $1.4 trillion of student debt, the very thing that’s supposed to level out the playing field, in fact, makes disparities a lot worse.

A new interactive map released today by Generation Progress, the youth-engagement arm of the Center for American Progress, breaks down average student debt burden—the percent of income spent on student loan payments—for each zip code across the nation. As the third installation of the Mapping Student Debt project, the map aims to highlight exactly which neighborhoods feels the most debt pressure in their everyday spending.

Americans pay an average of 6 percent of each paycheck toward student loans, but in large cities that tend to have more young and low-income borrowers, like New York City or Washington, D.C., debt burden can surpass 10 percent. That’s way more than the 5.5 percent of a paycheck that Americans typically spend on groceries, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Researchers found that […]

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