Endeavor's Neat Numbers

2

Children who smoke in public can breathe easier in St. Marys. A measure to prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from possessing tobacco products on city property mustered only two v o t e s from St. Marys City Council this week. The measure was snuffed out by a 5-2 vote.

1,110

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has its largest enrollment of full-time students in history.

Some 1,110 students are attending classes, the highest number in the 43-year history of the university.

Pitt-Bradford also has 205 part-time students. There are 365 freshman students enrolled this fall, another record.

The majority of students come from six northcentral Pennsylvania counties. Increasing numbers are coming from outside the immediate area, including western New York, northeast Ohio, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

Pitt-Bradford has added new four-year programs in accounting, hospitality management, health and physical education and an associate degree program in engineering science.

2.8

Traditional newspapers continue to lose readers. Average paid circulation of major U.S. newspapers fell by 2.6 percent for the six-month period that ended in September.

Declines were largest at major metropolitan newspapers, while smaller papers fared somewhat better.

40

Seafood lovers (at least younger ones) won't like the findings of a panel of ecologists and economists who studied oceans, lakes and other water resources.

Their report, appearing in the journal Science, warns that if current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, just about all seafood face collapse in 40 years. So far, 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed and the trend is accelerating, the group found.

The report comes at a time when seafood consumption is up from 15.2 pounds per person annually in 2000 to 16.6 pounds in 2004.

1.1M

Proceeds from the Don Raabe Big 30 Charities Football Classic were distributed to dozens of individuals and organizations during the Charities Night giveaway last week. Over the past 30-plus years, the Raabe Charities Classic has donated $1,100,000.

Among recipients were the American Red Cross, McKean County Special Olympics, Camp JJ, and families of two high school football players seriously injured in games this season.

106,000

Trapping season is in full swing now.

A survey from 2005 showed that trappers take more raccoons than any other species. The harvest figure was just over 106,000 last year. Trappers also reported taking 70,995 muskrats, 43,720 opossums, 40,551 red foxes, 20,377 coyotes, 17,616 gray foxes, 9,977 skunks and 9,335 mink.