You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
7 days
Sam’s Club and Walmart announced on Monday that their pharmacies would provide only a seven-day supply of opioid medications to some customers in an attempt to stymie the nationwide opioid crisis. The prescription limit applies to “initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain.” [USA Today]
9 songs
Rapper Post Malone has nine songs in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. That breaks a record of six songs simultaneously in the top 20, which was achieved by The Beatles in 1964 and J. Cole last week. [Billboard]
11 investigations
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has managed to hold onto his job despite a series of ethical and legal controversies. But those controversies are mounting — Pruitt is the subject of at least 11 federal investigations. Now, members of the administration are reportedly pushing President Trump to fire Pruitt, and the president is apparently reconsidering his support of the EPA chief. [The New York Times]
20 to 40 percent
New laws requiring many restaurants — namely, establishments with 20 or more locations — to display calorie counts are being implemented by the Food and Drug Administration this week. One goal of the initiative is to remind people that restaurant food is often more calorically dense than they’d anticipate; when eating out, people consume around 20 to 40 percent more calories than from a meal they’d have at home. [Vox]
26 homes
Ongoing eruptions at the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii have resulted in new lava flows. As of Sunday, 26 homes had been destroyed. One flow of lava advanced 0.6 miles north. About 1,800 people live in the area. [The Los Angeles Times]
$285 billion
Goldman Sachs predicts that the now-$5 billion ride hailing and ride sharing business would grow to $285 billion by 2030 provided that self-driving car technology proceeds on pace with their forecast. Several different companies are jockeying for a lead on the robo-car front, but given that we’re talking about incremental change, it can be a bit hard to determine who is truly ahead. As it stands, Alphabet’s Waymo is in the lead, followed by General Motors. [Bloomberg]
Check out Besides the Points, our sports newsletter.
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.