Quote for today…
Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical. – Yogi Berra
Welcome to “Thursday Numbers!” If you are a first-time visitor, this is the weekly column where I look at the numbers in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary sometimes sprinkled with sarcasm and humor.
This week’s topics include libraries, Montana cannabis sales, Kansas and North Carolina, nation, state, and local COVID numbers, wind farms, unemployment claims, TWW poll results, Biden approval numbers, Senate confirmation, blocked election laws, worldwide gas prices, and much more!
174,000,000
Researchers from data and analytics group WordsRated looked at nearly 17,500 libraries over the last three decades and found that these institutions aren’t dying in the digital age — they may actually be thriving. Although visits to U.S. libraries have dropped by 21 percent since 2009, there are actually more people borrowing books than ever before. Specifically, over 174 million people in the country are registered at a local library. That’s nearly 54 percent of the population. (Source)
I am one of the 174 million…
72,900,000
Montana providers have sold $72.9 million in cannabis products, including both medical and recreational, since the start of 2022, according to figures released Wednesday by the Montana Department of Revenue. Recreational cannabis had its biggest month yet in March with nearly $15.9 million in sales. Medical sales came in at $9.8 million. (Lee Newspapers)
Party on, Montana…
18,100,000
Kansas’ comeback victory over North Carolina to win the NCAA basketball championship was the most-viewed men’s title game on cable television. The Jayhawks’ 72-69 win averaged 18.1 million viewers on TBS, TNT, and truTV. It is also a 4% increase over last year’s title game between Baylor and Gonzaga on CBS. (AP)
That was a great game…
983,817
That is how many people have died in the United States from coronavirus, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There have been 80,249,038 cases across the country so far. The first death in the USA was reported on February 29, 2020. (Johns Hopkins)
Last week, the death total was 979,872.
166,000
In the week ending April 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 166,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 31,000 from 202,000 to 171,000. The 4-week moving average was 170,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 30,500 from 208,500 to 178,000. (DOL)
Note: On Thursdays, this column is published right after 6:30 a.m. (Montana time), so I can post the latest unemployment numbers.
150
A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S. providers of renewable energy pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy was also sentenced to five years probation after being charged with three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The charges arose from the deaths of nine eagles at three wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico. (AP)
Shame on them…
72
This week’s poll question asked, “Should political parties endorse candidates in nonpartisan elections?”
Here are the results:
NO: 72%
YES: 20%
UNDECIDED: 8%
Thanks for taking part.
41.6
According to FiveThirtyEight.com, that is President Joe Biden’s current approval rating. (Source)
Last week, Biden’s approval rating was 41.3%.
4
A Yellowstone County district court judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked four new Republican-backed election laws that a coalition of Native American tribes, voting-rights groups and Democrats believe unconstitutionally restrict Montanans’ voting rights. (Lee Newspapers)
Click on the link above to see which laws were blocked.
This is a long way from over, but I like what I am seeing so far…
3
By announcing they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, three Republican senators are marking the historical moment by building legacies of their own. Every senator has a voice, and some choose to use theirs. The three Republican senators — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney — have broken with their party at critical junctures, despite the political risks of standing alone. (AP)
I remember when these confirmations were mostly nonpartisan. I also remember when we only had black and white televisions…
0.095 – 10.890
That is the average price per gallon of gas around the world as of April 4, 2022. (Source)
In the USA, the average price on April 4 was $4.57. The week before (March 28), the price in the USA was $4.63.
The Western Word 
Good for Judge Moses.
“He also noted that Jacobsen had presented no evidence of voter fraud in Montana related to student IDs or ballot collection efforts.” (Not to mention just maybe two alleged cases overall in the entire state.)
The Republicans in the Legislature also had no evidence of such voter fraud when they passed the laws. What they passed didn’t address any actual proven specific problem(s) like almost every other laws does. They simply passed measure they guessed might possibly address .. something. And it was evident to one and all that the something they were trying to address was “intentionally disenfranchising groups that might not vote Republican”. Singling out the student population for extra burdensome ID requirements that nobody else has to provide is a particularly transparent attempt at voter suppression.
Why are they so scared of making it as easy as possible for as many Montanans as possible to cast their vote? After all, if Republican ideas and policies are as popular as they seem to believe, wouldn’t that just mean more votes for them?
Terry – it seems these laws singled out groups who were less likely to vote for them. Sad deal. Thanks, JmB