You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
$413 million
President Trump, a self-described self-made billionaire, received a $413 million windfall, in current dollars, from his dad’s real estate empire — “much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s,” according to a lengthy New York Times investigation. The Times calls the tax schemes “dubious” and says they include “instances of outright fraud.” A lawyer for Trump said that the “allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false.” [The New York Times]
4 men
Four men were arrested yesterday for their role in the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Benjamin Daley, Michael Miselis, Thomas Gillen and Cole White were each charged with conspiracy to violate the federal riots statute and violating the federal riots statute. [Reuters]
188 national federations
There is a major election in which Russia and Vladimir Putin have been accused of meddling — and it’s happening today. It’s the election for the presidency of FIDE, the international governing body of chess, which oversees 188 national chess federations around the world. Its outgoing president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, claims to have been abducted by aliens and has been implicated in the brutal murder of a journalist. Three challengers — another Kremlin-backed Russian, a Greek FIDE deputy, and an English grandmaster and would-be reformer — are vying for the seat. [FiveThirtyEight]
1,016 new laws
California legislators wrote more than 1,000 new laws this year, but these days even local legislation is national. The new state laws in California, to name just a few, concern net neutrality, immigration, energy, organized labor, criminal justice, gun control and #MeToo. [Los Angeles Times]
2 envelopes
The Pentagon detected a suspicious substance, believed to be ricin, on two envelopes at a Pentagon mail facility in Virginia. Authorities are investigating “suspicious envelopes” sent to senior government officials including President Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. [The Washington Post]
$15 an hour
Amazon announced yesterday that it would begin paying all of its employees — including seasonal workers — at least $15 an hour. The announcement, wrote Wired, demonstrated “the effectiveness of the Fight for $15 movement,” which has fought for increased pay and unions in the retail and fast food industries. [Wired]
Love digits? Find even more in FiveThirtyEight’s new book of math and logic puzzles, “The Riddler.” It’s out on Oct. 9 and available for pre-order now — I hope you dig it.
If you see a significant digit in the wild, please send it to @ollie.