The numbers for October 23, 2014

Tony Wagner Oct 23, 2014

More than 3,000 University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill students, about half of them athletes – took classes that didn’t require attendance and only had one assignment, which was graded generously by a staff member. That’s according to an eight-month investigation from Kenneth L. Wainstein and commissioned by the university. The report, released Wednesday, alleges 18 years of academic fraud encouraged by the athletic officials to keep students eligible to play.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has the full story, along with a breakdown of key findings and the main players.

Many, many companies including Amazon, Microsoft, GM, Comcast and United are reporting earnings today. In the meantime, here are the stories we’re reading – and numbers we’re watching – Thursday.

50.7

The euro-zone’s factory Purchasing Mangagers’ Index, up from 50.3 least month and beating out Bloomberg’s projected 49.9 contraction. Good news for the still struggling European economy.

1994

That’s when the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act was passed, requiring telephone companies to make phone lines tap-able for law enforcement. FBI Director James Comey is pushing to broaden CALEA to get around new smartphone encryption measures from Apple and Google, the Hill reported.

20

That’s how many days a month modern global CEOs are on the road, according to the associate dean of Yale’s business school. Following the death of French energy CEO Christophe de Margerie on a Moscow runway, Bloomberg explored the grueling, “essentially homeless” lifestyle of traveling executives.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.