Data stories

I just read a story of a young man in Egypt who decided to name his first born daughter "Facebook" to commemorate the way the social networking site helped protesters get organized to topple Hosni Mubarak.  Alexia Tsotsis , writing for TechCrunch and citing a story in...

Birth data for 2009 are just coming out from the Michigan Department of Community Health and the story they tell is more of the same - births and birth rates continue to drop.  The 2009 total of 117,309 represents a 23 percent decrease since the most recent post-baby...

I had the honor and pleasure of participating in a press conference on February 8 announcing the release of the latest Kid's Count in Michigan report.  While no press were in attendance (guess it was just a conference then), the time was well worth it because I got to...

I was lying in bed a couple nights ago reading last week's issue of Newsweek.  The cover story was, of course, about the uprising in Egypt and the unrest in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Yemen and Tunisia. While the overall issues being raised in Egypt are...

The Census Bureau has begun the process of releasing the first set of local data files from the 2010 Census.  The PL94-171, or redistricting files, contain the information - race/ethicity and gender of the voting age population for every single "census block" in the...

I boarded a Delta flight in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, January 31 on my way back from a great 6-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. [By the way, my tan looks really good when contrasted with the snow.] It was not until I looked in the seat pocket in front of me that...