You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
4 justices
Back in September, eight of nine Texas Supreme Court justices voted to reject a case related to same-sex marriage rights in the Lone Star State. After a campaign led by the state’s top Republicans, at least four of those justices voted Friday to reinstate the case, with oral arguments set for March 1. Opponents of gay marriage in Texas see a chance to strip government employees of what attorney Jonathan Saenz called “illegal same-sex benefits.” Those against re-litigating same-sex marriage claimed the court may have been encouraged by the election of President Trump. [The Austin American-Statesman]
9 percent
Fall in global production of farmed salmon in 2016 by volume, thanks to a monstrosity called the sea louse. It’s a miserable parasite that ravages farmed salmon populations, and now salmon prices are bound to rise. [Quartz]
25 percent
Awesome news! We’re running out of sports to create interactive models for now that we’ve launched FiveThirtyEight’s club soccer index. As it stands, Chelsea has a 68 percent chance of winning the Premier League, Barcelona has a 52 percent chance to win La Liga, Bayern Munich has a 90 percent shot of winning Bundesliga, Juventus has a 63 percent chance of winning Serie A, and Monaco has a 49 percent chance of winning Ligue 1. Barcelona has a 26 percent shot of winning the Champions League. [FiveThirtyEight]
61 percent
The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl after each team won its conference championship game Sunday. FiveThirtyEight’s Elo analysis says the Patriots have a 61 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl, and according to my analysis there is a 39 percent chance of a positive end to the NFL season. [FiveThirtyEight]
38,000 pounds
A truck lost its trailer transporting some 38,000 pounds of marbles in Indianapolis Saturday morning, causing substantial traffic problems and low-hanging jokes. [Fox 40]
470,000 people
Crowd scientists estimate that at least 470,000 people attended the Women’s March in Washington. D.C. Metro ridership was measured at 1,001,613 entries, the second-biggest daily volume in the history of the D.C. Metro, after only President Obama’s 2009 inauguration day, which saw about 1.1 million entries. [The Washington Post, The New York Times]
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