You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
250 miles of protected bike lanes
Cyclists in New York City have been dying at a record rate, with 25 deaths this year alone, the highest in 20 years. A new $1.7 billion plan would expand the number of protected bike lanes by 250 miles as part of a bill expected to be approved by City Council on Wednesday. The plan also calls for greater implementation of a system that allows buses to turn traffic lights green to help speed up routes. [New York Times]
4 styles
(Sponsored by Mott & Bow) Finding the perfect pair of jeans can be tricky. Sometimes the color is right, but the style is off. Or the fit is right, but the material just isn’t comfortable. Fortunately, one brand found a solution. They offer comfortable, fairly priced jeans in four styles of fabric weights and stretch factors, and they come in a shade of dark blue that is versatile enough to be worn at a variety of occasions.
$14.5 billion takeover offer
American jewelry company Tiffany & Co. has received an all-cash takeover offer from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton of approximately $120 per share, valuing the business famous for its blue boxes at nearly $14.5 billion. The acquisition would help the French company further expand its portfolio of upscale brands and increase its exposure to luxury jewelry through more than 300 stores worldwide and Tiffany’s $4 billion in annual revenue. [The Wall Street Journal]
77 percent of undergraduates
Just like in the United States, most university students in Iceland are now women, but the gender difference in the northern European country is especially pronounced at schools like the University of Akureyri, where 77 percent of the undergraduates are women. Icelandic women are also earning more graduate degrees, and the ratio of college completion outside of the capital city of Reykjavik is 40 percent women to 19 percent men. [Washington Post]
39.7 percent of news clips
In late September, FiveThirtyEight’s Dhrumil Mehta looked at data from the TV News Archive finding that former Vice President Joe Biden dominated the coverage in cable news clips (74 percent) and online news stories more than every other 2020 Democratic candidate combined. However, after the initial flood of coverage on President Trump’s call to Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden subsided, the attention on Biden fell, especially in cable news clips, to only 39.7 percent of clips. Meanwhile, mentions of Hawaiian Rep. Tulsi Gabbard significantly rose after former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggested Gabbard “was being groomed by the Russians for a third-party run to undermine Democrats’ chances in 2020.” [FiveThirtyEight]
10,000 structures under evacuation order
On Monday, more than 600 acres and approximately 10,000 structures have been placed under mandatory evacuation orders due to a brush fire that quickly travelled through communities and burned homes on the west side of Los Angeles. The Getty fire has already destroyed at least eight homes and travelled so quickly Mayor Eric Garcetti said some residents only had 15 minutes to flee from the flames. “Get out when we say get out,” he said. [Los Angeles Times]
January 31, 2020
The very thing Prime Minister Boris Johnson didn’t want has occurred — the United Kingdom has once again delayed, until Jan. 31, 2020, its departure from the European Union. Lawmakers rejected Johnson’s call to hold an early election on Dec. 12 after failing to get the two-thirds majority of votes in the House of Commons. Johnson said he would try a different tactic during the “flextension” later this week through a bill, which only requires a simple majority to pass. [Associated Press]