Page 6 - Flathead Beacon // 11.23.16

DATA POINTS
1973
THIS WEEK’S POLLS FROM FLATHEADBEACON.COM
The last year when the number of people seeking U.S. unemployment bene ts was this low in November. The low jobless rate is evidence that businesses are con dent enough in the economy to hold onto their workers, economists say. After a slow start to 2016, the economy hit a 2.9 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.
“This sets the right tone for how business should be done in the future.”
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell applauding last week’s cancellation of 15
oil and gas leases in an area bordering Glacier National Park that’s considered sacred to Montana’s Blackfeet Nation and the Blackfoot tribes of Canada.
SHOULD THE US PULL OUT OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT?
TOTAL VOTES
DO YOU AGREE WITH THE DECISION TO CANCEL ENERGY LEASES IN THE BADGER-TWO MEDICINE AREA?
TOTAL VOTES
WILL TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY IMPROVE THE ECONOMY?
TOTAL VOTES
THE GOOD
STATE CHAMPS
Eureka and Hot Springs both won high school football championships last weekend. Congrats to all of our local teams on another memorable season.
THE BAD
NOROVIRUS
The Flathead City-County Health Department has seen an increase of this virus that causes gastrointestinal illness.
0.5
Montana’s score out of ve (the lowest-scoring state) in Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s annual “Report to the Nation,” which ranks all 50 states based on their adoption of laws and their implementation of countermeasures to combat drunk driving.
245
223
378
42% YES
58% NO
73% YES
27% NO
“These improvements do not imply a boom, but simply that Montana, generally, will see better economic conditions than those that have prevailed over the last couple of years.”
Gov. Steve Bullock’s budget o ce and the Legislative Fiscal Division forecast the state’s general fund growing as wages increase, oil prices rebound and interest rates rise. Wage growth is expected to rise between 4 percent and 6 percent a year.
48% YES
52% NO *READER POLLS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
MIL$L1ION
Money a legislative committee is recommending the state spend on suicide prevention e orts over the next two budget years. There were 555 suicides reported in Montana between January 2014 and March 1, 2016, including 121 among military veterans.
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NOVEMBER 23, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM