• 5
• Source: Raleigh News & Observer   |   Nation   |   July 26, 2012
• The number of states that require high school students to take a CPR training course in order to graduate. North Carolina is already one of these states, but Gov. Bev Perdue is expected to sign a bill that enforces the requirement.

• 43%
• Source: Denver Post   |   Colorado   |   July 25, 2012
• The jump, from a week earlier, in background checks for people seeking to buy guns in Colorado after Friday's shooting at a movie theater that killed 12 and injured 58 others.

• 200
• Source: New York Times   |   The South   |   July 24, 2012
• The number of municipalities in the South that have enacted smoking bans in bars, restaurants or workplaces in recent years. Last week, Atlanta became the largest city in the South to ban smoking in public parks.

• 2
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   July 23, 2012
• The number of states, which are Maine and Vermont, that give prison inmates the right to vote.

• 71%
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   July 20, 2012
• The portion of U.S. households connected to the Internet in 2010 -- up from 61.7 percent in 2007. View data for each state.

• 17
• Source: Wall Street Journal   |   Lowell, Mass.   |   July 19, 2012
• The age that teenagers in Lowell, Mass., would be able to vote in municipal elections if a bill passes the state Legislature. If signed into law, Lowell would be the nation's first city to allow under-18 residents to vote in local elections.

• 27%
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   July 18, 2012
• The portion of workers in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas that can get to their jobs in 90 minutes or less using public transportation. View detailed data for your region.

• $500 million
• Source: Stateline   |   Nation   |   July 17, 2012
• The amount of money that 43 states will share from the nation's largest health-care fraud settlement. Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will pay the federal and state governments to resolve charges of illegally marketing certain prescription drugs and overcharging publicly funded programs.

• 17%
• Source: New York Times   |   New York City   |   July 16, 2012
• The rise, on average, in taxi fares in New York City that's expected to go into effect in September. It's the first major increase in the rate in eight years.

• $242.6 billion
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   July 13, 2012
• The amount state and local governments spent on construction in May -- the lowest since 2006. Meanwhile, private construction spending has soared to its highest level in more than two years.

• 12
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   July 12, 2012
• The number of states that have considered offering government-run retirement plans for private-sector employees. Massachusetts is the only one to pass such a policy.

• $7.25
• Source: Wall Street Journal   |   Scranton, Pa.   |   July 11, 2012
• The new wage of nearly 400 city workers in Scranton, Pa. where Mayor Chris Doherty temporarily cut police, firefighters and his own pay, among others.

• 30
• Source: NPR   |   Nation   |   July 10, 2012
• The number of times the Republican-dominated U.S. House has tried to repeal, defund or dismantle the health care law that the Supreme Court upheld last month. The next attempt will occur this week.

• $2 billion
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   July 9, 2012
• The amount spent annually to impound, shelter, euthanize and dispose of homeless animals. Pittsburgh has begun to shift funds away from impounding and euthanizing cats and dogs toward a free spaying and neutering program.

• 12
• Source: Autoblog   |   Texas   |   July 6, 2012
• The number of hours a woman spent in a Texas jail after using a sign to warn motorists about a police speed trap. She was arrested for allegedly standing in the street instead of on the sidewalk.