• 5%
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   June 6, 2012
• The increase, on average, in Americans' public transportation use from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. During that time, many transit agencies cut service and increased fares.

• 3,300
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   June 5, 2012
• The number of local government job losses nationwide last month as a result of education cuts.

• 73%
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   June 4, 2012
• The percent, on average, of state aid that's given to college students based on need rather than merit. The issue of financial aid garnered national attention last week when UCLA awarded the son of Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs a full athletic scholarship.

• 49%
• Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   |   Wisconsin   |   June 1, 2012
• The percentage of Wisconsin residents who plan to vote for Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday's historic recall election. The same percentage of people are also planning to vote for his challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, according to a poll conducted by the liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee, which supports Barrett.

• 23
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Holyoke, Mass.   |   May 31, 2012
• The age of Mayor Alex Morse who has been leading Holyoke, Mass., which has one of the nation's worst unemployment rates, since January. He is a Brown University graduate with a degree in urban studies.

• 48
• Source: AP/Idaho Statesman   |   Idaho   |   May 30, 2012
• The number of tax collectors and auditors that Idaho hired in fiscal year 2011 to narrow the "tax gap" between the amount of taxes due and the amount that go unpaid. The added staff brought in more than $26.3 million and helped the state have its first budget surplus since 2008.

• 56%
• Source: Miami Herald   |   Florida   |   May 29, 2012
• The portion of registered Florida voters who support the state's controversial Stand Your Ground law, according to a recent poll.
• 1 Comments

• 8 out of 10
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   May 25, 2012
• The portion of the nation's top 10 most congested corridors that are in New York City and Los Angeles. See what they are here.

• 18
• Source: AP/The Daily Times   |   Maryland   |   May 24, 2012
• The age -- up from 16 -- that Maryland high school students will be allowed to dropout as of 2017. President Barack Obama urged states to raise the dropout age to 18 earlier this year.

• 10th
• Source: Los Angeles Times   |   Nation   |   May 23, 2012
• The grade level, equivalent to a sophomore in high school, that conversations in Congress are had at, according to a new study from the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.

• 24
• Source: GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   May 22, 2012
• The number of states with some kind of pension forfeiture provision related to public employees who commit crimes. View our map to see which states have them and what they say.

• $5 million
• Source: AP/Tennessean   |   Nation   |   May 21, 2012
• The amount of money that footwear company Skechers USA Inc. has to pay the states for wrongfully claiming that its Shape-ups shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen their butt, leg and stomach muscles.

• $85
• Source: USA Today   |   Fort Lee, N.J.   |   May 18, 2012
• The fine for careless walking in Fort Lee, N.J. A growing number of communities are trying various ways to stop people from texting and walking.

• 6
• Source: Detroit News   |   Detroit   |   May 17, 2012
• The number of houses that Detroit has sold to its police and firefighters more than a year after the start of a program to offer cheap, refurbished homes to first responders to convince them to live in the city they're protecting. About half of Detroit's 2,700 officers now live outside the city.

• $100,000
• Source: Bangor Daily News   |   Maine   |   May 16, 2012
• The amount of money that the co-founder of Facebook and editor-in-chief of the liberal magazine The New Republic offered to match the campaign to pass same-sex marriage in Maine. The issue will be on the state's November ballot.