You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
Life in prison plus 30 years
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the notorious Mexican drug lord, was sentenced in a New York courtroom on Wednesday to life in prison plus 30 years, which he’ll serve in Colorado’s Supermax facility. He was also ordered to forfeit $12.6 billion-with-a-B in assets. He was convicted earlier this year of 10 counts including “engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise” along with drug trafficking and gun charges. [CNN]
76 billion pills
A newly public Drug Enforcement Administration database details 380 million pharmaceutical transactions over seven years encompassing more than 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills. A county-level geographical analysis of the data is “a virtual road map to the opioid epidemic.” [The Washington Post]
350 pages of email
Jerry Foxhoven, the director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services, was fired for loving Tupac Shakur just a little bit too much. He hosted weekly “Tupac Fridays.” He ate “Thug life” cookies. And he sent mass emails to the agency’s 4,300 employees singing the rapper’s praises. In response to an Associated Press request, the agency released 350 pages of emails sent to and from Foxhoven over a two-year period that contained the words “Tupac” or “2Pac.” [The Associated Press]
55 years old
Hossein Ensan, armed with pocket kings, won the World Series of Poker Main Event, its bejeweled championship bracelet and its $10 million first prize. Ensan is the third Iranian-born champion in the history of the event; the second German champion after Pius Heinz in 2011; and, at 55 years old, the oldest champion since Noel Furlong won in 1999 at the age of 61. [ESPN]
$34.1 million in contributions
Democrats are outraising Republicans in the race for the Senate. In competitive elections, Democrats raised $34.1 million in the first half of 2019 compared with Republicans’ $29.3 million. “That gap is especially troubling for the GOP,” my colleague Nathaniel Rakich writes, “because there are eight Republican incumbents running in those 14 races, and incumbents usually raise more money than challengers early on.” [FiveThirtyEight]
75 combinations
But, soft! What emoji news through yonder computer screen breaks? Apple has announced fall additions to its keyboard that will include a guide dog, an ear with a hearing aid, a person in a wheelchair, a prosthetic arm and a prosthetic leg. There will also be expanded options for the “hand-holding couple” emoji, which will feature 75 different combinations of the hand-holders’ race and gender. [NBC News]
From ABC News:
SigDigs: July 18, 2019
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