News in Numbers
The amount that the 21st Century Job Act would invest into the development and research of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotechnology and STEM education across 10 years. The proposed legislation is predicted to create 3 million new jobs per year.
The amount that billionaire Michael Bloomberg is planning to spend on advertising for the Biden-Harris campaign in Ohio and Texas during the final days before Election Day.
The average weight, in pounds, of food that the Houston Food Bank distributes daily during the coronavirus pandemic, with some days’ distributions reaching 1 million pounds. Before COVID-19, the country’s largest food bank would only collectively distribute 450,000 pounds each day.
The proportion of Americans who had already voted, either by in-person or vote-by-mail, despite there still being more than a week left before the election.
The number of viewers who watched Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s livestream of her playing the online game “Among Us” this week, making it the third-most views for a single Twitch stream. Ocasio-Cortez used the event to urge people to make a voting plan and to discuss the importance of voting.
The proportion of eligible Americans that usually do not vote in the U.S. presidential election. But this year may be different as 7.3 million infrequent and first-time voters have cast their ballots as of this week, which is more than 2.5 times the number of ballots cast at this time in 2016.
The amount that the U.S. Nokia unit will receive to build a 4G communications system for NASA’s Artemis moon landing program. The program is scheduled to land on the moon’s surface in 2022.
The target annual return on investment set by CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) by directing more of the fund’s billions into private equity. The effort has fallen short for the $410 billion retirement fund, the largest in the country.
The amount that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have donated to state and local governments across the nation to help ensure a secure November election. The funds will be used to cover rental costs for polling places and PPE for poll workers.
The increase in the number of Republican women candidates for office in state legislatures this year, while the number of Democratic women candidates is down 4 percent.
The number of videos that YouTube has removed since early February due to misleading information regarding COVID-19.
The cost of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan that will prevent mass evictions after the state’s eviction moratorium expires on Saturday. The plan will provide funding to households in need of assistance with moving, rent, security deposits and legal services. Landlords will also receive financial support among other things.
The estimated number of Californians who have moved to Texas since 2008, enough to possibly make Texas the latest swing state.
The number of men who were charged in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Six men were charged with conspiring to kidnap the governor and seven others were linked to the paramilitary group, Wolverine Watchmen, which planned to storm the state capitol and start a “civil war.”
The size of possible budget cuts under consideration by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to help fill an estimated $1.2 billion budget deficit for 2021.
The amount that Georgia will lose due to an accounting software error that wasn’t sending the correct amount of sales taxes to local governments. The one-time back-payment in September reduced state revenue by 3.6 percent compared to a year ago, dropping it into the red.
The number of Americans who have already voted early for the 2020 general election, approximately 50 times the amount that voted early by this time in 2016. The early surge suggests that as many as 150 million Americans could vote in this year’s election, the highest voter turnout since 1908.
The number of U.S. states that have reported an increase in COVID-19 cases in the last week. On Saturday alone there were 49,000 new infections across four states, the highest number for a Saturday in seven weeks.
The number of Amazon employees who have tested positive for COVID-19. The company did not release the number of COVID-related deaths among its employees.
The amount of Seattle’s minimum wage for ride-share drivers that will take effect starting in January.
The increase in jobs on private company payrolls in September, a nearly 270,000 increase from the month prior.
The number of jobs that were lost by mothers with children 12 years old and younger between February and August, approximately three times the amount of lost jobs for fathers of small children. A different study also found that mothers of young children were likely to have lost four to five times the number of work hours than fathers have during the pandemic.
The positive test rate in North Dakota over the past week, compared to 6 percent for the prior week. South Dakota’s positive test rate has also spiked up to 26 percent, a nine percent increase from the previous week.
The combined settlement amount that Verizon and AT&T Mobile will pay for allegedly overcharging 300 government customers for wireless services over the past decade.
The year by which all new passenger cars and trucks sold within California must be zero-emission vehicles, a first in the nation for this kind of legislation. The executive order signed by Gov. Newsom this week gave extra time to heavy-duty vehicles: they must switch away from internal combustion engines by 2045.
The approximate number of times that the Los Angeles Police Department has used facial recognition technology since 2009, even as the department claims to not use the technology at all.
The proportion of global coronavirus deaths that have occurred within the United States, which contains less than 5 percent of the world’s population. There have been more than 200,000 deaths in the U.S. due to the coronavirus, which amounts to six out of every 10,000 Americans.
The proportion of fraudulent unemployment benefits claims that could have been stopped by Washington state’s Employment Security Department fraud detection software. However, the software had a flaw that caused it to scan for fraud after the claims had already been processed and paid, resulting in the state’s loss of $576 million in fraudulent unemployment claims. The state has recovered $346 million of the loss.
The amount that thousands of people with disabilities earn per hour for doing jobs like bagging newspapers or wrapping silverware in napkins. A 1938 labor law has made it possible for people with disabilities to earn less than minimum wage, but now many are trying to change that.
The number of COVID-19 tests that U.S. manufacturers are hoping to produce each month by the end of this year. However, some worry that increased production of these cheap tests will impact the accuracy of the results.
