Weekly News Quiz for Students

Technically, the brief unsigned order only pauses the population count. The Trump administration is still fighting in a federal appeals court over whether the count can officially be stopped early.

As a practical matter, however, it almost certainly ensures an early end because the census—one of the largest government activities, involving hundreds of thousands of workers—can’t be easily restarted and little time remains before its current deadline at the end of this month. 

Occurring every 10 years, the census count is the most thorough tabulation of U.S. residents, collecting information about their demographics and where they live. That information is important because it determines how government funds and political power are allocated over the next decade. It also serves as the basis for how congressional and local voting districts are drawn.

Most experts said a shortened census would worsen existing undercounts of the people who have always been hardest for census workers to reach—minorities who may be intimidated by the questions, and the poor and young people, who move frequently and are more difficult to track down. The effect of undercounting them would be to dilute the power of some of the country’s most populous states, such as California and New York.

As coronavirus cases across the United States climb toward a third peak, the country surpassed a total of eight million total known cases on Oct. 15, according to a New York Times database.

Epidemiologists warned of a new, worrisome phase as 17 states are seeing surges unlike anything they experienced earlier in the pandemic. States including Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin reported more new cases during the seven-day stretch that ended on Oct. 14 than in any other week since the virus arrived in the country.

Reports of new cases are trending upward in 41 states over the last two weeks, while nine states are holding case numbers roughly steady. No state in the country is seeing a sustained decline.

Election Day is always the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but that’s no longer the singular time when American elections happen. That day, Nov. 3 this year, instead represents the end of a six-week sprint during which a record number of Americans cast their ballots in advance.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated a trend toward more early voting. In an effort to make polling places less crowded on Election Day, many states have encouraged absentee voting, opened more in-person early-voting sites, and, in a few cases, mailed ballots to all registered voters.

As of Oct. 19, more than 30 million ballots have already been cast in the 2020 election. 22.3 million absentee ballots have been returned to election officials, and 7.8 million people have voted early in person.

Before viewers watch some of these films that have entertained generations of children, they will be warned about scenes that include “negative depictions” and “mistreatment of people or cultures.”

The 12-second disclaimer, which cannot be skipped, tells viewers, in part: “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it, and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

In addition to “Peter Pan” (1953) and “Dumbo” (1941), the warning plays on films including “The Aristocats” (1970) and “Aladdin” (1992), and directs viewers to a website that explains some of the problematic scenes.

The decline would continue unless drastic action is taken to mitigate the effects of climate change, researchers in Australia said, and could diminish critical habitats for fish and other marine life.

Researchers studied coral colonies along the length of the reef between 1995 and 2017 and found that almost every coral species had declined.

“Our results show the ability of the Great Barrier Reef to recover—its resilience—is compromised compared to the past, because there are fewer babies, and fewer large breeding adults,” Andy Dietzel, the lead author of the study, said in a statement.

After an ambitious expansion of the safety net in the spring saved millions of people from poverty, the aid is now largely exhausted and poverty has returned to levels higher than before the coronavirus crisis, two new studies have found.

“These numbers are very concerning,” said Bruce D. Meyer, an economist at the University of Chicago and an author of the study. “They tell us people are having a lot more trouble paying their bills, paying their rent, putting food on the table.”

The Democratic-controlled House has twice passed multitrillion-dollar packages to provide more help and to stimulate the economy, but Republican leaders in the Senate, which Republicans control, have questioned the cost and necessity and have proposed smaller plans.

Jesse Katayama had planned to end a journey around the world 8,000 feet above sea level at Machu Picchu, the sprawling 15th-century Inca citadel high in the Andes Mountains.

Then the coronavirus happened, stranding Katayama, a 26-year-old Japanese citizen, in Peru, which shut down tourism sites as a lockdown was imposed across the country.

On Oct. 11, after a wait of seven months, Mr. Katayama finally got to visit the UNESCO world heritage site. And aside from a few guides, he got it all to himself.

“After the lockdown, the first man to visit Machu Picchu is meeeeeee,” he wrote in a post on Instagram that included photos of him with a park representative.

In many ways, Carlo Acutis was a typical teenager. But in one significant respect, Carlo—who was just 15 when he died of leukemia in 2006—stands out from his peers: He is on his way to becoming the first millennial to be recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

Carlo, who lived in Milan, was beatified, or declared “blessed” by the pope, on Saturday after a miracle was attributed to him earlier this year. The ceremony, in Assisi, Italy, was the second-to-last step before Carlo can be canonized as a saint.