Quote for today…

The fears we don’t face become our limits. – Robin Sharma

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.

Topics include – the lottery jackpot, COVID numbers, unemployment, same-sex/interracial marriage vote, TWW poll results, Biden approval numbers, raising taxes in Great Falls, Secret Service, gas prices, and more!

630,000,000

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

You can’t win if you don’t play…

7,510,000

Major League Baseball’s Midsummer Classic remains the most-watched all-star game in the major professional sports, even though it drew record lows in viewership for the fifth time since 2015. Tuesday night’s game from Los Angeles — which the American League won 3-2 — averaged 7.51 million viewers on Fox, according to Nielsen, a decline of 9.7% from last year’s contest in Colorado. (AP)

1,025,741

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 90,046,834 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 1,023,620.

251,000

In the week ending July 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 251,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 244,000. The 4-week moving average was 240,500, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 235,750 to 236,000. (DOL)

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

267-157

The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday to protect same-sex and interracial marriages amid concerns that the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access could jeopardize other rights criticized by many conservatives. Tuesday’s election-year roll call, 267-157, was partly political strategy, forcing all House members, Republicans and Democrats, to go on the record. (AP)

Representative Matt Rosendale (R-MT/AL) voted NAY. (Source)

60

A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide, according to a new poll that finds over half say they feel at least somewhat “sad” or “angry” about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Sixty percent think Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide. (AP)

55

This week’s poll question asked, “What should happen to the law enforcement officials who failed to properly respond to the mass shooting at Uvalde elementary school?”

Here are the results:

• TERMINATE EMPLOYMENT: 55%
• SUSPENSION/RETRAINING: 36%
• UNDECIDED: 9%
• NOTHING: 0%

Thanks for participating!

38

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

Last week, Biden’s approval rating was 38.6%.

11.59

The Great Falls city commission voted unanimously to raise the taxes on residents. The Electric reported that the total impact to a property owner with a residential home with a taxable value of $100,000 would be $11.59 for the year. (The Electric)

More about this in Friday’s column.

1

The Secret Service has provided a single text exchange to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigating the agency’s record-keeping, according to an agency letter to the House Jan. 6 committee obtained by ABC News. (ABC News)

This really smells…

0.084 – 11.37

That is the range of the price per gallon of gas around the world as of July 18, 2022. (Source)

In the USA, the average price per gallon of gas on July 18 was $4.77. The week before (July 11), the average price in the USA was $4.91.

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