RedEye’s quick look at some of the biggest talkers of the day, numerically speaking
23
Getting fatter
Obesity rates amoung adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn’t decline anywhere, according to a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. By the way, Mississippi is still the fattest state, with Alabama a close second.
78
Bad driver!
A New Jersey man whose driver’s license has been suspended 78 times in 22 years has pleaded guilty to his 15th drunken-driving offense.
15 cents
Txt 4 less
Europeans are paying nearly two-thirds less for sending text messages when they are traveling as a new price cap took effect Wednesday. Phone users now pay a maximum of 15 cents for sending text messages from another European Union nation.
19-8
All fired up
The Arizona Senate has approved a bill to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry a gun into a business that serves alcohol.
Plane crash miracle
13
A bruised teenage girl clung to the wreckage of a plane for more than 13 hours before rescuers found her floating in the Indian Ocean, a French official said Wednesday.
Welcome to 2009
40
Getting into a bar in Utah is now as simple as showing a bouncer a valid ID. For 40 years, Utah required customers to fill out an application, pay a fee and become a member of a private club before they were allowed to set foot in a bar.
1979
What’s a Walkman?
When the Sony Walkman went on sale 30 years ago, it was shown off by a skateboarder to illustrate how the portable cassette-tape player delivered music on-the-go — a totally innovative idea then. On the gadget’s anniversary, Sony is struggling big time against the iPod.
400,000-plus
Huge gamble
Thousands of casinos, slot-machine parlors and betting halls across Russia shut down Wednesday, complying with sweeping new restrictions that require all gambling business to relocate to acfour remote regions of the country. The new rules likely will put more than 400,000 out of work.
Smoother ride
10.7%
It doesn’t look good on first glance, but Ford said its June U.S. sales fell only 10.7 percent from a year earlier, a far smaller drop than in previous months and a sign auto sales may be recovering. Ford’s sales were down 24 percent in May.
