Posts tagged “Target

The Week by the Numbers: January 5-11, 2014

By Matt Phifer

3 – Players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

On Wednesday afternoon the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2014 class of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas.  Maddux and Glavine both gained fame pitching (Maddux for the Braves and Glavine for the Braves and the Mets.).  Thomas, who played with the A’s, Blue Jays and White Sox is the first player to spend most of his career as a designated hitter to be elected to the Hall of Fame.  A player must receive 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in order to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

4 – Year extension of U.S. funding to the International Space Station

The White House and NASA announced on Wednesday that they would extend funding for the International Space Station four more years to 2024.  This will allow the space station to continue conducting research, solidify the market for commercial space systems and lay the groundwork for deep space exploration.  The extension will add four years to the working life of the station, but will require the budget approval of the president and Congress each year from 2021 to 2024.

74,000 – Jobs added in December

The December jobs report revealed that 74,000 jobs were added in the month of December, the weakest job growth since January 2011.  The low growth was disappointing to economists who were expecting 193,000 additional jobs.  The unemployment rate did fall in December to 6.7 percent, but that was mostly associated with people leaving the labor force.

At least 70 million – People affected by the Target security breach

On Friday, Target announced that more people than previously thought may have been affected by the security breach in which personal information was taken from customers’ credit and debit cards.  The original number of 40 million was increased to at least 70 million with the possibility of as many as 110 million people being affected.  The 70 million number represents around one-third of all American adults.  Target discovered while investigating the security breach that data collected over time on 70 million people and stored separately from in-store data was also stolen.  The stolen information could be used to set up counterfeit cards, withdrawal money from accounts or to make purchases.


The Week by the Numbers: December 15-21, 2013

By Matt Phifer

2 – Winning tickets sold for the $636 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot

There were two winning tickets in Tuesday December 17th, Mega Millions lottery worth $636 million.  One ticket was sold in a small newsstand in Atlanta, while the second was sold in California.  The $636 million prize is the second largest lottery jackpot in American history.  The largest jackpot was worth $656 million.  The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7.  The winners can receive their money in two ways, either getting $318 million over time or $170 million in cash one time.

 64 – Senators voted to pass a budget deal

In a 64-36 vote, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan budget deal that would fund the government through 2015.  What the deal does not address is the debt limit, meaning a debt ceiling fight could still be on the horizon in late February or early March.  President Obama signed the bill into law on Thursday December 26th.

40 Million – Credit and debit card accounts may have been affected by a security breach at Target

On December 19th, Target confirmed that information from up to 40 million credit and debit cards may have been stolen in a period between the day before Thanksgiving and December 15th.  The cards affected include Target cards as well as cards issued by other companies.   The Secret Service is investigating the incident.  The breach means the thieves could in theory make counterfeit cards, withdrawal money from accounts or make purchases using the stolen accounts.