Quote for today…

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. – Mary Anne Radmacher

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 the Mega Millions lottery, Cooper Kupp, COVID numbers, counting ballots, unemployment, mass shootings, Biden approval numbers, TWW poll results, gas prices, and more!

226,000,000

That’s the jackpot for Friday’s Mega Millions lottery. (Source)

You can’t win if you don’t play…

110,000,000

The Los Angeles Rams signed their defensive superstar to a mega-deal earlier this week. Now it’s Cooper Kupp’s turn. The All-Pro, reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP reportedly agreed to a three-year, $80 million deal with $75 million guaranteed which, when added to his pre-existing contract, will see him paid $110 million total over the next five seasons. (Yahoo Sports)

Kupp deserves this. Great player.

1,010,521

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 85,214,097 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 1,007,682.

600,000

Ballot printing errors have delayed election results for Montana’s new congressional seat, forcing a small northwestern county to count votes by hand in the unexpectedly close Republican primary race between former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and former state Sen. Al “Doc” Olszewski.

Zinke led Olszewski by 1,181 votes, or 1.5 percentage points, out of 80,194 votes counted, as of 3:30 p.m. local time Wednesday. Lincoln County had an estimated 6,000 ballots to hand count. (AP)

What an embarrassment…

229,000

In the week ending June 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 229,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 200,000 to 202,000. The 4-week moving average was 215,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 206,500 to 207,000. (DOL)

Note: On Thursdays, this column is published right after 6:30 a.m. (Montana time), so I can post the latest unemployment numbers.

250

The Gun Violence Archive reports that as of Wednesday (June 8), the United States has now eclipsed 250+ mass shootings [4+ shot and/or killed, not including the shooter] this year. (Source)

The country reached 250 mass shootings on:

• June 6th in 2021
• July 1st in 2020
• August 4th in 2019

79

This week’s poll question asked, “Do you think Congress will pass any gun control legislation this year?”

Here are the results:

NO: 79%
YES: 13%
UNDECIDED: 8%

Thanks for participating!

40.5

According to FiveThirtyEight.com, that is President Joe Biden’s current approval rating. (Source)

Last week, Biden’s approval rating was 41%.

38.44

That is the voter turnout in Montana for the primary. That is with 96% of the precincts reporting. (Source)

The turnout was not that great…

0.084 – 11.21

That is the average price per gallon of gas around the world as of June 6, 2022. (Source)

In the USA, the average price on June 6 was $5.03. The week before (May 30), the average price in the USA was $4.79.

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