NEWS IN NUMBERS

88 to 100
MARCH 6, 2019

Gender ratio among the African-American population. By comparison, there are 97 white men for every 100 white women. The stark difference in gender imbalances can largely be blamed on the mass incarceration of black men.

Source: Governing

40%
MARCH 5, 2019

Decline in homicides in Chicago, comparing this year's January and February to last year's. There was also a 7 percent decline in shootings during the same time period.

Source: CNN

6,227
MARCH 4, 2019

Pedestrians who died in the United States last year, which is the most since 1990. Over the last decade, pedestrian deaths have risen by 35 percent while other traffic fatalities declined by 6 percent.

Source: Governing

$230,000
MARCH 1, 2019

Salary for Ohio's new health department head, which is the highest of any cabinet member in the state. The appointee, Amy Acton, was once homeless herself and will now help to reduce homelessness.

Source: Tribune News Service

18 cents
FEBRUARY 28, 2019

Increase in the state gas tax being proposed by Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. “Anything less than that, and our roads are going to start to go downhill,” he says. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and has remained at that level since 1993.

Source: Governing

9,300
FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Marijuana-related convictions that San Francisco plans to expunge. A 2016 voter-passed law made these charges eligible for expungement, but rather than have the people navigate the complicated process themselves, prosecutors spent a year reviewing decades of drug convictions. California aims to clear or reduce all pot convictions by 2020.

Source: Tribune News Service

21 years old
FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Minimum age for legally buying tobacco in California, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and now Virginia, where Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill last week making it the first state in the South to raise it.

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

1994
FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Year that South Dakota started violating a federal law that requires Medicaid to cover abortions in cases of rape or incest. It's the only state that hasn't been complying, and Republican Gov. Kristi Noem says there are no plans to change that.

Source: Sioux Falls Argus Leader

5
FEBRUARY 22, 2019

States with "trigger" laws that would immediately ban abortion in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Arkansas is the latest to pass one. The others are Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Source: The Hill

$2.6 billion
FEBRUARY 21, 2019

Money that the Trump administration wants California to pay back. It was given to the state for its high-speed rail project and has already been spent. The federal government claims the move is due to changes in California's rail plan; the governor argues it's political payback for the state suing to block the border wall.

Source: Tribune News Service

40
FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Rooms at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., paid for by Maine taxpayers while then-Gov. Paul LePage and his staff were in town to meet with the president and members of Congress. The rooms cost $362 to more than $1,100 a night.

Source: Portland Press Herald

7 to 11%
FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Pay raise that Denver teachers negotiated after they went on strike for three days, according to the union. The district, by contrast, said the average raise will be 11.7 percent.


ource: the Associated Press

More than $13 billion
FEBRUARY 15, 2019

The amount Google said it will spend on data centers and offices in the United States this year. With the new investment Google will now be in 24 U.S. states.

Source: Reuters

47%
FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Local government employees who earn $50,000 or less a year. Among state workers, the number is 42 percent. Among federal workers, it's only 16 percent.

Source: Governing

8.4%
FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Drop in the average tax refund from the first week of the 2018 filing season to the first week of this year's. Refunds are being closely watched as the full effect of the 2017 tax overhaul enacted by Congressional Republicans comes into view.

Source: Politico

58%
FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Black Virginians who think Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam should stay in office despite the photo on his 1984 yearbook page that shows people in blackface and KKK costumes. Among white Virginians polled, only 46 percent think he should stay in office.

Source: The Washington Post