You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. I’m your host Candice Norwood, taking over for Ollie. Send any tips or suggestions to me.
$2.5 trillion housing plan
Bernie Sanders introduced a $2.5 trillion affordable housing policy that seeks to expand public housing, increase affordable housing options and cap annual rent increases nationally. “For too long, this is one of those issues that we just don’t talk about,” Sanders told a group in Las Vegas. The Sanders campaign has not yet provided a proposal with more specific details, but intends to release more over the next month. [The New York Times]
4 styles
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$11 billion settlement
The last two years for Pacific Gas & Electric have gone from bad to worse. Now, slap an $11 billion settlement on top of intense public scrutiny and filing for bankruptcy. The embattled utilities company agreed to the settlement to reimburse insurance companies for claims filed after devastating California wildfires in 2017 and 2018. California officials blamed PG&E for causing most of the wildfires. One of them, the 2018 Camp Fire, is the deadliest in the state’s history and destroyed more than 10,000 homes. The company has already committed to paying an additional $1 billion to local governments and more to uninsured and under-insured fire victims. [The Sacramento Bee]
6 games suspended
The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills rookie linebacker Tyrel Dodson for six games following an off-season arrest in May. Dodson’s girlfriend told police he became violent with her, and he was arrested on domestic violence and disorderly conduct charges. A day before the suspension, Dodson agreed to a deal with prosecutors in Arizona to defer a “domestic violence charge of disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior-fighting.” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said the organization did not find signs of domestic violence, but will decide what to do with Dodson next after the suspension is up. [ESPN, Associated Press]
22 years missing
Turns out Google Earth can do a lot more than help you cyber stalk your crush. The remains of a Florida man missing for 22 years were discovered in a car sunken into a pond — thanks to Google Earth. A resident noticed the submerged vehicle in August while looking at satellite images of his neighborhood. Inside the car were the skeletal remains of a man identified as William Earl Moldt, who went missing in Nov. 1997 at the age of 40. The car had been visible on a Google Earth photo of the area since 2007, according to the Charley Project, a website that posts information about missing people. [New York Post]
76 anti-ICE protesters
Seventy-six anti-ICE demonstrators were arrested Saturday evening for blocking traffic and staging a sit-in at the Fifth Avenue Microsoft store in New York City. They demanded the tech giant stop allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use its technology. Microsoft’s CEO has previously stated the company is not working with ICE on any projects related to family separations; still, protesters accused the company of being complicit. [CNN]
12 former clergy members
A yearlong investigation of Catholic priests could lead to criminal charges. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Friday he will refer 12 former clergy members accused of sexual abuse for possible criminal prosecution. His office discovered abuse cases dating back to 1945 involving 163 Missouri priests and clergy members. The AG’s report is the first examination of Missouri church records by an organization outside the Roman Catholic Church. More than half of the 163 people identified in the report are dead. More than half of those remaining cannot be prosecuted because of statutes of limitations. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]