City deaths caused by fires hits record low in 2016
The number of people who died in fires decreased last year in New York City to 48 — the lowest since the Fire Department started keeping records 100 years ago. Mayor de Blasio and FDNY Commissioner...
View ArticleHomicides, shootings hit historic lows in NYC last month
Homicides and shootings in the city last month dropped to an historic low for any January, authorities said Monday. Murders were down 9.1 percent, from 22 to 20, and shootings dropped 1.7 percent, from...
View ArticleQuestions loom over who picked America’s chief statistician
President Trump has been filling a lot of jobs lately, some not too easily and others a bit clumsily. I want to talk about one clumsy job appointment in particular. Just days before his inauguration,...
View ArticleReason to doubt the city’s claims of rising school safety
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office on Monday trotted out happy news about lower school crime rates, along with drops in student arrests and summonses. But do the statistics reflect reality? Start with the...
View ArticleThe NYPD delivers yet another record low in crime
Congrats to New York’s men and women in blue, and to the NYPD brass as well: Together, you delivered the city’s safest February on modern record. The overall major-crime index fell 9.7 percent over...
View Article‘Split’ happens: Absurd stats, live and without context!
I’m positive, perhaps, that some of our best friends are like-minded, consenting adults, those into “splits.” Hey, as long as they keep it to themselves. Don’t ask, don’t tell. “Splits” are the...
View ArticleRolling Stone’s ‘rape culture’
The now-discredited Rolling Stone article alleging a fraternity gang rape at the University of Virginia would never have been written if not for a highly politicized orthodoxy that holds our campuses...
View ArticleLAPD cooked the books to conceal crime under Bratton
The Los Angeles Police Department fudged violent crime stats under the watch of Bill Bratton — cooking the books to keep down the number of serious assaults, a report said Thursday. An estimated 14,000...
View ArticleNYPD stats show overall crime down, serious offenses up in ’15
Serious crimes in the city — including murders, rapes and robberies — increased last year while the number of arrests plunged to their lowest level since 2003, according to NYPD statistics released...
View ArticleFDNY’s misleading response times make them seem faster, union charges
The city keeps two sets of books when it comes to FDNY emergency response times — and the data that is most accessible to the public shows skewed figures that are up to 92 percent more favorable than...
View ArticleThe number of middle-aged whites killing themselves has soared
Suicide rates in the United States have soared to a 30-year high, with the most striking surge among middle-aged women and white people, according to federal data released Friday. The total number of...
View ArticleAmericans haven’t gotten a raise in 16 years
Mark Twain is credited with saying “figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” If he were around today Twain’s quote might go something like this: “Figures do lie, and liars figure out how to make people...
View ArticleFBI stats back up Trump’s warning on crime
The FBI confirmed Monday that Donald Trump’s right: America’s murder rate is spiking. New data show homicides rose 11 percent in 2015, with overall violent crime up 4 percent. Trump rightly warned that...
View ArticleThe death penalty may soon be sentenced … to death
The death penalty is one of the most controversial parts of our justice system, for understandable reasons. Based on how most Americans feel about it, and other factors, sentencing someone to death may...
View ArticleTwo-thirds of people do this while kissing
Next time you walk into a room and completely forget why you’re there, take it as an evolutionary compliment. It’s a sign your survival instincts are finely attuned to the dangers of your new...
View ArticleCity sees historic lows in major crimes: NYPD report
The NYPD on Monday reported a historic new low in major crimes for any first three months of a year — although bias incidents continue to rise. The city experienced seven fewer murders — or a 10.2...
View ArticleIt pays to know which fantasy baseball numbers really matter
We may be just 11 days into the 2017 MLB season, but you probably have spent countless hours staring at your fantasy baseball roster. Those of you at the top of your standings do it with pride,...
View ArticleDon’t let advanced stats take the fun out of fantasy baseball
In real baseball, the debate between the old guard relying on the eye test and the sabermetric folks who crunch the numbers may persist forever. But for fantasy baseball, it is — and always has been —...
View ArticleSubway system sees spike in felonies and hate crimes
Felony crime in the subway system rose 6.6 percent from January through March, NYPD officials said Monday. The figures are part of a trend that authorities have been warning about since the beginning...
View ArticleProfessor catches students who crawled through air duct to swipe exam
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Call it a statistical error: Police say two University of Kentucky students crawled through an air duct to steal a statistics exam from their professor’s office but were caught because...
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