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When you’re too cool for school

Here are the numbers we're reading and watching for Thursday.

2 percent

That’s how much college enrollment in the U.S. has fallen in the last year, according to a new study published Thursday. As the WSJ writes, improvements in the job market have likely affected enrollment at four-year for-profit colleges and two-year public colleges, where students tend to skew older.

$262 million

That’s how much Congress cut Amtrak’s budget Wednesday, a day after a deadly derailment in Philadelphia. Amtrak says it has a $52 billion maintenance backlog in its Northeastern corridor, from Washington to New York.

$1 billion

This week, Christie’s auction house not only set the record for most expensive painting ever sold, but also became the first auction house to have a $1 billion art week. Yesterday’s $658.5 million sale of art, combined with the $705.9 million taken in on Monday, made for record breaking sales figures. 

100

That’s how many times some Wegmans stores turn over their produce, compared to up to 20 times per year at most grocery stores, the Washington Post reported. That’s especially interesting considering Wegmans locations are enormous; their smallest, opening in Brooklyn in 2017, is 74,000 square feet. The New York-based grocer has quickly become one of the most-lauded chains in the country, somehow combining Whole Foods’ quality, Trader Joe’s prices and Wal-Mart’s vast options.

1977

That’s the year that “Redlining”—when banks refuse to make loans or provide services in often low-income neighborhoods—was put to an end by the Community Reinvestment Act. But some cities say it’s not enough, and are now pushing for more investment in poorer neighborhoods and less predatory lending. Dayton, OH, for example, where a socially responsible banking ordinance forces banks to show they are putting money into low-income communities before the city will store funds within their institutions.

100 percent

That’s how much more Tom Brady-branded merchandise has been sold since the NFL slapped the New England Patriots quarterback with a four-game suspension for his role in “deflategate,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

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