Endeavor's Neat Numbers

7

Congress has voted seven times to raise its own pay since the last increase in the federal minimum wage, which is currently $5.15 per hour.

10

Federal tax cuts pushed by the Bush administration and passed by Congress through 2010 will save those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 an average of 10 dollars. Those making $1 million or more will save an average of $42,700 a year in federal tax obligations.

137

Rolling Rock in Latrobe has fallen victim to the consolidation of the beer industry, but the tap still runs eternal at Straub. Founder Peter Straub brought the family's brewing secrets to the U.S. from Germany 137 years ago, in 1869.

Straub eventually moved to Benzinger (St. Marys) and purchased the Benzinger Spring Brewery from his father-in-law, Francis Xavier Sorg.

Thus, Straub Beer was "born." It's pitched as a smooth, old-world beer brewed to the same standards of quality and freshness as all the family's products. It can now be found in taverns and restaurants throughout much of Pennsylvania and Ohio and is a favorite of visitors who come to the northern counties for outdoor recreation.

38.5

Any doubt that television is replacing interaction between teens and their parents should be erased by this American Family Research Council finding: on average, parents spent 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their teenaged children. The TV is on in the average U.S. home some seven hours and 12 minutes per day.

10

McKean County Prison Warden Tim Woodruff is pleased with the early results of the garden and produce stand being operated by 10 inmates at that Smethport facility. Proceeds are being used for non-required inmate services and supplies. Woodruff also reports that funds raised by inmates in recent months are being used to install basketball hoops for use during recreation breaks.

99.9

Area military veterans are being targeted by scam artists. Several have received telephone calls encouraging them to call a toll-free telephone number to protect themselves against identity theft.

This comes on the heels of disclosure of security breaches with the Defense Department's records division. An operator at the toll-free phone exchange directs the caller to sign up for free security service at a "1900" number.

The victim is then charged $9.99 per minute for that phone call, and the security service itself is a sham.

144,000

Behind the headlines of the Rigas scandal in Coudersport was this interesting development: a man who was paid $144,000 to supervise an audit that led to criminal charges against the Rigases gets to keep the money, but he has also been banned from practicing before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gregory Dearlove was a partner of Deloitte & Touche auditing firm. Administrative Law Judge James Kelly found that Dearlove violated generally accepted audit standards.

Among other things, the judge ruled that Dearlove bowed to pressure from Adelphia, which didn't want to disclose the full amount of money it co-borrowed with businesses owned by the Rigases.

Dearlove testified that he didn't know how far Deloitte could push the co-borrowing issue with Adelphia, because Deloitte had concluded in prior audits that less disclosure was satisfactory.

12,000

The U.S. has 12,000 nuclear weapons, but that dwarfs in comparison to Russia's 16,000. Next is China with 400, then France (350), Israel (200), Great Britain (185), Pakistan (40) and India (40).

80

If a person doesn't begin smoking by age 18, there's a good chance he/she won't develop the habit. Studies show that 80 percent of today's smokers started before they were 18. Ninety percent started before they were 21.

Teen tobacco users are more likely to be engaged in a range of health-compromising behaviors, including fights, carrying weapons, engaging in high-risk sexual behavior and using alcohol and other drugs.

1

Pro football is America's most popular sport, if the measurement is merchandise sales.

In terms of jerseys, ballcaps, pennants and the like, the NFLranks ahead of the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA football/basketball and the National Hockey League, in that order.

Another way to measure a sport's popularity is by polling. In that ranking, the NFLcomes in first, followed by the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA football, NCAA basketball, NASCAR and (believe it or not) "professional wrestling." Then come the NHL, Arena Football League, WNBA, Major League Soccer and the Indy Racing League.

55,000

The average family in the U.S. has an annual (pre-tax) income of $55,000. Annual income in the 10 poorest countries in the world is $211 per family.

16

America is the stingiest of all industrialized nations in terms of foreign aid. We allot 16 cents out of every $100 in federal expenditures for poor nations.

If we add donations from private sources and American foundations, the figure is 22 cents of every $100 in national income.