You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
1 percentage point
The shareholder vote over control of a board seat of Procter & Gamble came down to the wire, with the current board declaring victory over Nelson Peltz, an activist investor who wants to shake up the home goods company. The vote total is reportedly plus or minus one percentage point, and Peltz wants a recount. [The New York Times]
2-1, Trinidad and Tobago
With a loss to Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, the U.S. Men’s national team has been eliminated from qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. The staggering failure is the first time since 1986 the U.S. will be absent from world soccer’s biggest event. [ESPN FC]
31 percent
More and more Americans are identifying as religiously unaffiliated, but it’s not college that’s causing that. A PRRI study found 38 percent of young adults and 24 percent of Americans in general are religiously unaffiliated, but many of those young people are already religiously unaffiliated before showing up to their first college class: The UCLA Freshman Survey found 31 percent of incoming students were unaffiliated. [FiveThirtyEight]
89 percent cut
Michigan Consumers for Health Care, which helps enroll people in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, have seen the Trump administration slash funding for the work by 89 percent, from $1.2 million to $129,000. The cuts are affecting other organizations across the country: The Ohio Association of Foodbanks was hit with a 71 percent cut, Wyoming’s Cheyenne Regional Medical Center saw a 61 percent cut, the Utah Health Policy Project got a 61 percent cut, and the Palmetto Project in South Carolina saw a 46 percent cut. [The New York Times]
20,000 acres
Fires in California north of San Francisco consumed 20,000 acres Monday in 12 hours. The fires have claimed 15 lives and more than 119,000 acres burned so far. The flames are being fueled by powerful winds, and no rain is forecasted in the next seven days. [CNN]
$133 million
Kobe Steel, the third-largest steel company in Japan, is engulfed in scandal after it said staff falsified data about the durability and strength of the aluminum and copper it sold. The metals have gone on to be used by Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Subaru Corp and used in trains, planes, and possibly spacecraft. One estimate for the cost of replacing the metals is $133 million, but shares for the company already dropped 22 percent and investors are worried the about the risk of the company defaulting on its debts. [Bloomberg]
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