From (HB) 1 to ($)15.2 billion, we revisit a few of the state’s biggest stories in 2011 by examining the numbers.
29 percent
Rick Perry’s field-leading share of support for the Republican presidential nomination in an August 24 Gallup poll, twelve points ahead of Mitt Romney.
7 percent
Perry’s total national support in a December 19 Gallup poll, seventeen points behind Romney (and nineteen behind Newt Gingrich).
29,450
The number of fires in Texas between November 15, 2010, and November 21, 2011.
500 million
The Texas Forest Service’s high-end estimate of drought-related tree deaths in the state this year.
$8.47
Retail price per pound in Alabama for pecan halves before Christmas—in part because the drought-restricted Texas crop was low.
$15.2 billion
Spending cuts in the two-year state budget passed by the 82nd legislature.
$14.3 billion
Federal stimulus money that has gone directly to the state this year (with an estimated additional $3.7 billion going to other levels of local government within the state).
$70
The amount Texas taxpayers paid for Rick Perry’s two-year subscription to Food and Wine magazine, delivered to the private home the Perry family has been living in while the Governor’s Mansion is being renovated.
$24
Current price for a two-year subscription to Food and Wine.
150
The number of people killed in Juarez this past May—the lowest monthly number since 2009.
300
The death toll in Juarez for all of 2007.
$1.7 billion
The amount of potential profit American Airlines might have made in 2011 if fuel prices were still at their 2009 levels. Instead the airline’s parent company, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, was expected to lose $1.2 billion.
$25 million
Annual payment from the Major Events Trust Fund that may yet flow from the state to the city of Austin to the promoters of the 2012 Formula One U.S. Grand Prix.
118
Football meetings between the University of Texas and Texas A&M . . . so far.
$600,000
Amount paid by Texas ($400,000) and San Antonio ($200,000) to lure the reality show Top Chef to the state.
20
Number of people charged with raping an underage girl in Cleveland.
144
Number of times eighteen-year-old Houstonian Ashley Billasano tweeted in six hours about being abused, molested, and sexually exploited before she took her own life.
$1.4 million
Amount Anthony Graves received from the state as compensation for his 1992 wrongful murder conviction.
16
Pounds (and one ounce) baby born in Longview in July.
115
Age of Jackonsville’s Eunice Sanborn, who had become the “world’s oldest living person” a few months before her death in January.
