You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
22 months
After 22 months of subpoenas, indictments and relative silence, special counsel Bob Mueller handed in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election to the Department of Justice Friday. On Sunday, Attorney General Bob Barr told Congress that Russia did try to influence the election, but that Mueller’s team “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” On the question of whether President Trump obstructed justice, Barr’s letter said, “While the report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” [FiveThirtyEight]
11 percent
During last week’s live show of FiveThirtyEight’s politics podcast, the mention of Pete Buttigieg’s name got by far the loudest ovation of all the Democratic presidential candidates. And yesterday, Emerson released a poll showing that Buttigieg is on the rise among likely Democratic caucusgoers in Iowa. Could it be a Buttigieg boomlet? Or could it be that it’s easy to see a trend when you combine an anecdote and a 249-person sample? Probably the latter! Only 315 days to go until votes are cast. [Emerson]
2 teams
After a weekend of March Madness in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, 16 teams remain. Only two of them come from outside the sport’s power conferences, and one of those is a No. 1 seed (Gonzaga). Each region’s top three seeds advanced. [Washington Post]
$70 million
Director Jordan Peele has figured out how to make Americans pay to be critiqued. First, his 2017 horror movie “Get Out” made $176 million domestically, in part because of its searing take on race relations. His follow-up, “Us,” made $70 million at the box office this weekend while indicting Americans for their tendency to … well, actually, I’m not sure. I was too scared to add my own $15 to that tally. [BoxOfficeMojo]
9.9 yards per target
Rob Gronkowski, the court jester of the NFL, announced his retirement from football Sunday after a nine-year career. Despite being a tight end, Gronk was one of the best receivers of all time while playing for the New England Patriots. He gained 9.9 yards per every time he was targeted by a quarterback, more than any other player since 1992. [FiveThirtyEight]
2.3 million disaster survivors
A government inspector general found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency inadvertently shared the personal information of 2.3 million disaster survivors with a housing contractor. The survivors gave the information to FEMA as part of its program that finds hotels for people after disaster strikes. [BuzzFeed News]
From ABC News:
News headlines today: Mar. 25, 2019
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