• 1.28 million
• Source: Chicago Tribune   |   Chicago   |   February 15, 2012
• The current number of registered voters in Chicago -- the lowest since 1942 when the city began keeping such records.

• 55
• Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch   |   St. Louis   |   February 14, 2012
• The minimum retirement age that the firefighters union in St. Louis has proposed under a pension reform plan that would make deep cuts to future employees' benefits but leave current employees' benefits intact. The union announced its plan before the mayor.

• $2 million
• Source: Government Technology   |   Oregon   |   February 13, 2012
• The amount of money that Oregon agencies have saved on travel costs by using web conferencing for just 18 months.

• 549
• Source: The Associated Press   |   Nation   |   February 10, 2012
• The number of major environmental or safety violations that oil and gas companies that drill on public lands received from 1998 to 2011, according to a new report, which also shows that only 6 percent of the more than 2,000 total violations during that period resulted in monetary fines.

• 25%
• Source: Detroit Free Press   |   Nation   |   February 9, 2012
• The portion of public universities that require students to have health insurance. At the end of February, Michigan State will start automatically enrolling uninsured freshmen in the school's health plan.

• 90
• Source: Washington Post   |   District of Columbia   |   February 8, 2012
• The number of District of Columbia government employees that were suspended for receiving unemployment benefits while working for the city. Each may be fired and/or prosecuted for fraud.

• 30,000
• Source: Orlando Sentinel   |   Florida   |   February 7, 2012
• The number of offenders -- about 5,600 of whom are violent -- who are currently off Florida's radar. Most fled work camps or release programs or stopped calling probation officers.

• 7
• Source: New Jersey Star-Ledger   |   Newark, N.J.   |   February 6, 2012
• The number of failing schools that Newark, N.J., Superintendent Cami Anderson plans to close next school year -- a potentially controversial move after talk of school consolidation spurred outrage last year. She also wants to expand access to the city’s exclusive magnet schools.

• $264.5 million
• Source: Politico   |   Alabama   |   February 3, 2012
• The estimated amount of state income and sales taxes that Alabama is losing because of its controversial immigration law that caused illegal immigrants to flee the state, according to a cost-benefit analysis.
• 3 Comments

• 9
• Source: AP/CBS News   |   Nation   |   February 2, 2012
• The number of states without an income tax. Republican lawmakers in seven other states are trying to reduce or eliminate the tax.

• 43
• Source: Denver Post   |   Colorado   |   February 1, 2012
• The number of children who died from abuse or neglect after entering Colorado's child welfare program. Each case was riddled with a possible policy violation on the part of county social workers.

• $18 billion
• Source: Governing.com   |   Nation   |   January 31, 2012
• The estimated savings that states could achieve over five years from proposed regulations on Medicaid prescription drugs, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

• 500
• Source: Hartford Courant   |   East Haven, Conn.   |   January 30, 2012
• The number of tacos that immigration reform advocates sent East Haven, Conn., Mayor Joseph Maturo after he remarked that he "might have tacos" to support the Latino community. The mayor's comment sparked calls for his resignation from media and the city's Democrats.

• $50,000
• Source: Chicago Tribune   |   Illinois   |   January 27, 2012
• The maximum fine that, if an Illinois bill passes, online-dating services like Match.com would face if they failed to post prominently and repeatedly on their websites whether they do background checks on users.

• 39
• Source: The Associated Press   |   Nation   |   January 26, 2012
• The number of states that automatically give teachers tenure. In recent years, eight states have started factoring student performance into the decision to award a teacher tenure.