You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
11 hospitals
Reeling from Hurricane Maria’s devastating effects, Puerto Rico is edging toward crisis. Only 11 of the U.S. territory’s 69 hospitals had fuel and power as of Tuesday. The issue prompted the rapper Pitbull to send his plane to fly chemotherapy patients to the mainland U.S. for treatment. [CNN]
12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent
The new GOP tax plan would condense the number of tax brackets for individuals from seven (the current setup) down to three. The marginal tax rates — now 10 percent up to 39.6 percent — would be 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, but Republicans have yet to detail which incomes would be taxed at which rates. [The New York Times]
538 yards
Going into Week 4 of the NFL season, rookie running back Kareem Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs has 401 rushing yards in his first three games. That’s more than 26 of the 32 teams in the league. He also has 538(!) running and receiving yards combined, more than any rookie receiver or running back since 1980. [FiveThirtyEight, NFL]
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1,723 violations
More than three out of every five traffic citations in downtown San Francisco from April 1 through June 30 went to ride sharing company vehicles like Uber and Lyft. Ride share vehicles incurred 1,723 of the 2,656 violations in the period. [San Francisco Examiner]
5,000 Amazon employees
Amazon has rolled out new versions of the Echo, the hardware that carries its Alexa virtual personal assistant. The company now has more than 5,000 people working specifically on Alexa. [Quartz]
$200,000
And in other “musicians spending money” news, B.o.B has begun a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $200,000 towards determining if the Earth is round by launching “multiple weather balloons and satellites into space, for experimental exploration.” As of press time, several thousand dollars had been committed to the project. [CNN]
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