Daily Digit
About 44,000 Number of applications for permits to carry concealed handguns submitted in Virginia in 2007, an increase of about 61 percent from the previous year Source: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
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30% Approximate decrease in electricity usage in Juneau, Alaska, since avalanches knocked down transmission lines and cut off the city's source of low-cost hydroelectric power, threatening a fivefold increase in utility bills that sparked residents to install energy-efficient light bulbs, turn off neon signs and TVs and string clotheslines in backyards Source: Associated Press About $2.5 million Amount a controversial initiative that houses 75 formerly homeless alcoholics and allows them to continue drinking in their apartments is saving Seattle a year Source: University of Washington 2,190% Interest rate charged to an Illinois consumer last year for a short-term lender's payday loan, resulting in a fine by the state, which caps short-term loan interest rates at 400 percent Source: Chicago Tribune 633 Number of illegal trips though E-ZPass tollbooths Delaware officials say a Maryland man, Frank Maier, made over a nearly three-year period without having an electronic-tolling account, making him the state's top E-ZPass violator, owing $4,748 in tolls and $30,000 in fees and penalties and facing the possibility of up to two years in prison Source: Philadelphia Inquirer More than $34,000 Amount in coins a former St. Paul city employee who was sentenced to 90 days in jail admitted stealing from parking meters, taking coffee cans full of coins to local banks to deposit Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune $288 million Current value, according to Forbes magazine, of the Minnesota Twins, a figure that has risen 33 percent in the past year due to increased team revenues expected from the publicly financed $522 million ballpark being built in Minneapolis Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune 1,020 Number of hybrid taxis now in use in New York City, about 7.8 percent of the fleet of some 13,000, all of which will be required to get at least 30 miles per gallon by 2012 Source: New York Times 107 Number of years a single lightbulb has been burning continuously in a fire station in Livermore, Calif., earning recognition by both Guinness World Records and Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the planet's longest continuously burning bulb Source: Los Angeles Times $35 billion Amount in pension bonds, a record, that may be sold this year by state and local governments looking to close deficits in their retirement funds and generate higher returns than what they pay in interest Source: Bloomberg News