Curing Cancer: Conquering Disease or Creating Profit?

Jake Bernstein/Dean Baker ProPublica
How Big Pharma’s focus on blockbuster cancer drugs and the use of patents to maintain monopoly control of drug prices squeezes out research and research models and methods leading to potential treatments that are more affordable.

Private Operators Dominate Public Schools in North Lawndale

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah Chicago Tribune
When school starts next year, nearly 70 percent of the public schools in North Lawndale will be in private hands. Most of those schools were failing or under-enrolled when CPS turned the buildings over to charter operators, or fired staff and put the AUSL in charge. Test scores and other data show the privately run schools aren't doing much better academically and in some cases are performing worse than the schools they took over or the district-run schools that remain.

8 Activists Share Political Wisdom They Got From Their Moms

Julianne Hing ColorLines
As the truism goes, the personal is political. For many activists and organizers, the political began with their moms. For a special Mother’s Day tribute, Colorlines asked eight racial justice activists and organizers about life wisdom and political lessons their moms imparted to them. Whether it was the example they set for their children in the way they moved through the world, or concrete political values they handed down, these moms have been a guiding force for thei

Friday Nite Videos -- May 9, 2014

Portside
Barack Obama, Joel McHale at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The Universe: First 13 Billion Years. Josh White, Jr, House of the Rising Sun. Rhapsody in Blue Set to New York City.

A Virtual Universe

MIT scientists trace 13 billion years of galaxy evolution, from shortly after the Big Bang to the present day. Their simulation, named Illustris, captures both the massive scale of the Universe and the intriguing variety of galaxies -- something previous modelers have struggled to do. It produces a Universe that looks remarkably similar to what we see through our telescopes, giving us greater confidence in our understanding of the Universe, from the laws of physics to our theories about galaxy formation.

Josh White, Jr. House of the Rising Sun

Josh White, Jr. and David Amram at the Clearwater Power of Song Award ceremony and concert premiering the film David Amram: The First 80 Years. Symphony Space, NYC, Nov 9, 2012.

Rhapsody in Blue Set to New York City

Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin, 1924), combines elements of classical music with jazz. Gershwin spoke of the rhapsody as "a musical kaleidoscope of America," but it has often been interpreted as a musical portrait of New York City. This video montage of Manhattan was edited by Gilda Tabarez. Music performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.