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The numbers for September 16, 2014

Tony Wagner Sep 16, 2014

About 45.3 million people were living at or below the poverty line last year, according to new census data released Tuesday. That’s about 14.5 percent of the population, and a slight drop from last year’s 15 percent. Median household income also crept up to $51,939, only about $180 more than last year.

Here’s what we’re reading — and other numbers we’re watching — Tuesday morning.

$105

That’s the base price of Android One, a series of affordable smartphones Google announced in India Monday. It’s a bid to capture the country’s emerging smartphone market, the New York Times reported, which is expected to double by 2018. Google is also testing drones designed to bring Internet to remote areas.

$70 million

The cost for Russian rockets to ferry one American astronaut to the International Space Station has climbed since the space shuttle was retired three years ago, and NASA is looking for a new solution. They’re expected to contract out so-called “space taxis,” the Wall Street Journal reported, and Boeing is the favorite over Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

$340 million

Money was contracted to private companies to clean Chicago’s public schools in February as a cost saving move. Now principals are pushing back, the Washington Post reported, saying their schools are filthy, grappling with waste and bug problems they didn’t have before.

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