Factoid Of The Week
Week of November 16, 2009
- 15.5%
The percentage of the 2008 workforce in Massachusetts that were union members
Source:
The Boston Globe
None of our readers correctly identified the answer to this question last week. To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Working with Public Employee Unions". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Robert McKersie , Tom Glosnell, and Scott Lang.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of November 9, 2009
- $600 million
The projected gap in the FY2009 state budget
Source:
The Boston Globe
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Public Finance". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Leslie Kirwan and Michael Widmer .
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of October 30, 2009
- 2,775
The total number of aggravated assualts in Boston between January and October 2009
Source:
Boston Police Department
Only 14% of our readers correctly identified the answer to this question in last week's online quiz.
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Safety and Neighborhood Security". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Ed Davis and Robert Lewis, Jr..
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of October 23, 2009
- 10
The number of public high schools in Boston with four-year graduation rates that exceeded 75% for the Class of 2008
Source:
BostonPublicSchools.org
Only 19% of our readers correctly identified the answer to this question in last week's online quiz.
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Education". The featured speaker for this week's lecture is Michael Goldstein.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of October 16, 2009
- Construction
The employment sector with the greatest change between December 2007 and July 2009 in Massachusetts (-18.9%)
Source:
2009 Greater Boston Housing Report Card
44% of our readers correctly identified the answer to this question in last week's online quiz.
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Economic Development". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Bob Culver, Desh Deshpande, and Tim Ferguson.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of October 9, 2009
- 50%
the percentage of an average renter's income that is spent on rent
Source:
2009 Greater Boston Housing Report Card
Only 15% of our readers correctly identified the answer to this question in last week's online quiz.
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Housing, Markets, Land Use, and Sustainability". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Doug Foy and Bonnie Heudorfer.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of October 6, 2009
- 38,000
the number of daily bicylce trips in Boston
Source:
City of Boston
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Transportatino and Infrastructure". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Stephanie Pollack, David Luberoff, and Fred Salvucci.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of September 29, 2009
- 434,600
the number of Boston residents who attended public meetings in 2008
Source:
Volunteering in America
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "The Meaning of Urban Community". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are James Carroll, author, novelist and columnist for The Boston Globe, and Barry Shrage, President, Combined Jewish Philanthropies.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of September 23, 2009
- 60
the percentage of the population estimated to be living in urban areas in 2030
Source:
World Urbanization Prospects
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Urban Transformation from the 17th to the 21st Century". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Barry Bluestone, Director of the Dukakis Center, and Russell Williams, Professor of Economics at Wheaton College.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of September 15, 2009
- 83
the number of cities with over 1 million inhabitants
Source:
Human Population: Urbanization
To find out more, attend this week's Open Classroom Policy Series, "Concepts of Urban Growth". The featured speakers for this week's lecture are Mary Stevenson, Professor of Economics at UMass Boston, and Russell Williams, Professor of Economics at Wheaton College.
For additional information about the event, please visit www.policyschool.neu.edu/open_classroom
Week of September 9, 2009
- 1 in 3
the numbers of Americans who will at some point go without health care coverage in a two-year period
Source:
Text of Presdient Obama's Health Care Speech
Address to joint sessionof Congress on health care
The Boston Globe,
September 9, 2009
Excerpt from the text: "We are the only democracy -- the only advanced democracy on Earth -- the only wealthy nation -- that allows such hardship for millions of its people. There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two-year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone."
For the entire text of President Obama's speech, click here
Week of August 26th, 2009
- 3 months
... in a row, home prices have increased in the Great Boston area. Many see this as a definitive sign that housing prices in the area have already bottomed out.
Source:
"Home prices, sales on rise in Boston area"
Area prices, sales suggest fears ebbing
By Chris Reidy and Katie Johnston Chase
The Boston Globe,
August 26, 2009
Home prices in Greater Boston have increased for three straight months and the number of houses selling is up sharply, suggesting that the long housing slump is over.
June home prices were a strong 2.6 percent above the previous month, and the number of single-family homes that sold statewide in July was a whopping 12 percent higher than a year ago. While these data come from different sources, and measure different components of the real estate market, they point to a market that is heading upward.
Housing industry specialist Karl E. Case, a professor of economics at Wellesley College, said the Boston market is "bottoming out." He noted that the housing index he cofounded, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indexes, showed several months of prices increasing in Greater Boston.
"That's significant," Case said.
For months, industry representatives and specialists have wistfully pointed to a combination of ideal factors that they argued should have long ago sparked a recovery in housing sales: record low mortgage rates, steep price declines, and a government tax credit for first-time buyers.
But such predictions did not account for the human factor: Buyers were afraid to commit if the slump was going to continue and make the home they bought today worth less tomorrow.
Now though, with federal officials declaring that the economy itself has hit bottom and is showing signs of life, and consumer confidence rising slightly, buyers apparently feel there is less risk in committing to a home purchase.
"People are no longer worried about writing a check because prices are going to plummet," said John Neale, a partner at Sprogis & Neale Real Estate, which markets condos and town houses in Boston's South End, Back Bay, and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.
The strongest indicator on Massachusetts came yesterday from the S&P/Case-Shiller indexes, which many in the real estate market consider to be the best barometer of housing prices because they measures repeat sales. The indexes follow home sales in 20 US metropolitan areas, including Boston, and also create a national measuring stick.
In the Boston area, the 2.6 percent price gain in June follows a 1.6 percent increase in May and a slight rise in April. Together those three months account for the heart of the real estate industry's peak selling period.
"This could be the beginning of the end" of the slump, said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. "It's not quite the ninth inning - it's the eighth inning. We're close but not quite ready to get out the balloons."
The S&P/Case-Shiller index for Greater Boston has previously captured month-to-month surges in home prices during the slump, only to report later that prices again fell. But this time, the price increases are accompanied by other supporting data to suggest a broader-based recovery is underway.
For example, home prices in the rest of the country are also up: All but two of the 20 metro areas in the S&P/Case-Shiller grouping showed higher prices in June compared with May. Moreover, prices nationally increased in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter, the first such rise in three years, according to Standard & Poor's.
Still, even with the recent uptick, home prices in Greater Boston are down 16 percent from their peak of September 2005.
Another key indication is the 12 percent increase in single-family homes sold in Massachusetts during July compared with July 2008, according to Warren Group, which tracks real estate sales statewide. One huge catalyst for the surge in activity, industry specialists said, comes directly from home sellers: After seeing their own home, or other houses, sit on the market unsold for months, they have lowered asking prices to the point where buyers respond.
At the start of 2009, "buyers were sitting on the sidelines," said Bill Wendel, owner of the Real Estate Cafe, an online buyers' service in Cambridge. "Then sellers cut their prices, and buyers came out."
And that may have created a snowball effect, added David Drinkwater, president of Grand Gables Realty Group Inc. in Scituate. When it comes to buying in a tough market, no one wants to be the "first one in the pool," he said; but after seeing increased activity in recent months, more buyers have gotten up their courage and taken the plunge.
To be sure, there are enough other weak spots in the real estate market, and the upward trend itself is so short that some industry representatives said it pays to remain cautious: The condo market in Massachusetts is still soft, with total sales in July below those of July 2008, according to Warren Group. Retsinas cautioned that things could still sour. Continuing job losses, an unexpected downturn in the economy, rising interest rates - all could hurt the local housing market.
Warren Group also reported that the median price for single-family homes sold in July fell 4.7 percent, to $305,000 from $320,000 in July 2008. Still that's a far slower rate of decline than earlier in the year, when prices fell by double-digit percentages in each of the first five months of 2009.
However, median home prices can be influenced by the different mixes of properties that are sold in the periods being compared, and so are considered a less accurate measure of price trends than the S&P/Case-Shiller indexes.
Week of August 17th, 2009
- 2.4%
The decline in energy costs from June 2009 to July 2009. This follows an increase in the cost of energy of over 6.5% the previous month.
Source:
"Frailty Lingers in Producer Price and Housing Reports"
By Jack Healy
The New York Times,
August 19, 2009
New figures showing a decline in wholesale prices and a drop in new-home construction highlighted how weak the economy remains, even as some optimists declare the recession to be over.
Producer prices fell more than expected in July as the costs of food and energy slipped, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The 0.9 percent monthly decline came after three months of increases, and suggested that demand was weak up and down the ladder of production, from consumer goods to intermediate goods like chemicals and rubber to raw materials.
Producer prices declined a record 6.8 percent from last July, when crude oil prices soared above $145 a barrel and pushed the costs of fuels, food and other products sharply higher, before they fell back amid the global financial crisis. The decline in the last 12 months is the largest drop in 60 years, since the government starting keeping such records.
So-called core prices excluding food and energy costs fell 0.1 percent, their second monthly decline of the year.
The figures offered more evidence that inflation remains a distant concern for the American economy, even as some investors speculate that higher oil prices, rising interest rates and a weaker dollar are in the pipeline, a result of the government's enormous recovery programs.
On Friday, the government reported that consumer prices were unchanged in July from a month earlier and were down sharply from a year ago, reflecting the drop in gasoline and transportation costs. Economists say that there is still tremendous slack in the economy, and that wages are likely be flat over the next few months as unemployment ticks up.
"The economy remains weak and even as it begins to recover, the amount of excess capacity is high," said Peter Kretzmer, senior economist at Bank of America.
On Tuesday, the government reported that producer food prices fell 1.5 percent in July. Energy prices were 2.4 percent lower, after surging 6.6 percent a month earlier. To some extent, the overall drop in producer prices was a pullback after a 1.8 percent monthly increase in June.
Despite several glimmers of rising prices and increased activity in the housing market, the Commerce Department�s report on housing starts and building permits showed that the market for new homes remained weak with building loans tight and so many foreclosures on the market.
New-home construction fell a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in July from a month earlier, to an annual rate of 581,000, the government said, and building permits were down 1.8 percent from June. Housing completions also dropped, falling 0.9 percent for the month.
Week of August 10th, 2009
$821Annual savings in fuel costs per consumer after trading in "clunker" for new more fuel efficient car
from the Economic Policy Institute:
Clunkers program drives economic, environmental gains
by Alexander Hertel and John Irons The "Car Allowance Rebate System" (CARS) -- better known as "cash for clunkers" -- offers $3,500 to $4,500 to households that trade in an old car for a newer one with higher fuel economy. CARS has proven to be very popular, and the $1 billion originally slated for credits appears to have been all but exhausted less than a week after the program went into effect. By encouraging Americans to upgrade older, less fuel efficient cars, the CARS program is generating much-needed sales for troubled automobile manufacturers and related industries while decreasing gasoline consumption and improving environmental outcomes.
Reduced gas consumption means less dependence on foreign oil, and more money in the pockets of consumers that could be used for domestic consumption. According to the Department of Transportation, the average fuel efficiency of old cars traded in via the program is 15.8 miles per gallon, while new cars had an average MPG of 25.4. These fuel economy improvements will save an estimated $821 per traded vehicle annually (see chart below).
On average, total gas consumption will drop by 87 million gallons per year, and American consumers will use 22.2 million fewer barrels of foreign crude oil. The environmental impact of reduced gas consumption is considerable as well. We estimate that the program will result in about 850,000 fewer tons of CO2 emissions per year (3.4 tons per vehicle annually). This reduction equals more than two-thirds of the annual CO2 emissions linked to household electricity, heating, and waste.
CARS is a success -- the rare program that boosts U.S. manufacturing while simultaneously improving environmental quality. Congress should increase funding and extend the program.
Methodology
-Research assistance provided by Joanna Dicke and Caitlin O'Neil.
Fuel economy of old and new cars is taken from Department of Transportation statistics on CARS. The average miles driven per year -- 14,450 -- is the per vehicle estimate from the US Department of Transportation for 2006, the latest available data. We assume that the average credit is $4,000 and that all of the $1 billion is spent on credits, thus producing 250,000 trade-ins. We use the forecasted annual gas price of $2.36/gallon from the Department of Energy. We derive CO2 emissions from the EPA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who assume that 1 gallon of automobile gasoline is equivalent to 19.4 pounds of CO2. Finally, we assume that 58% of all crude oil is from foreign sources and that 44% of all crude oil goes to gasoline production (both estimates from the Department of Energy for 2008).
Week of August 3rd, 2009
1.0%The projected estimate for the annual growth rate of Massachusetts in the next six months, the first positive growth in the state in a year.
excerpt from the Boston Globe:
More signs of recovery in Mass.
Growth predicted for Bay State in university report
The state's business climate is poised to grow weakly in the second half of the year after the pace of decline slowed sharply in the second quarter, the University of Massachusetts reported yesterday.
The state economy shrank at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the second quarter, which ended June 30, after contracting at a 4 percent rate in the first quarter, according to UMass. The US economy shrank at a 1 percent annual rate in second quarter, compared with a revised 6.4 percent rate of contraction in the first, the Commerce Department said yesterday.
The Massachusetts economy, which has been shrinking for a year, "appears to be at or near the bottom" and "will begin to expand (or may have already begun to expand) this summer," UMass said in its report. UMass projects the state economy will grow at an annual rate of just below 1 percent in the next six months.
That growth rate won't be strong enough to stop unemployment from rising as employers meet increasing - but weak - demand by improving productivity of existing workers rather than hiring new ones, said Alan Clayton-Matthews, the UMass-Boston professor who prepared the report. The state's unemployment rate hit 8.6 percent in June, the highest rate in nearly 17 years, and several economists expect it to exceed 9 percent when it peaks in 2010.
"The Massachusetts labor market is still suffering, and job losses are expected throughout the second half of the year," Clayton-Matthews said. "However, the pace of job loss should decline significantly."
The rate of job losses has already begun to slow. In the second quarter, the state shed an average of 2,600 jobs a month, compared with more than 11,000 a month in the first quarter, according to state labor statistics. First-time claims for unemployment benefits plunged to fewer than 45,000 in June after peaking above 60,000 in March, said UMass.
The diminishing rate of job losses is among several indicators that suggest the state economy has begun a recovery. Consumer and business confidence are on the rise as are stock prices of Massachusetts companies. Automobile sales taxes were also up in June, a sign that auto sales have picked up, while the technology sector appears to be turning around, Clayton-Matthews noted.
Still, the economy remains weak, and, for the time being, indications of a recovery should be viewed as "tentative," Clayton-Matthews said.
Earlier this week, economists pointed to improvements in June home sales as one of several indicators that the Massachusetts economy may have hit bottom and begun a recovery. And yesterday, the Federal Reserve issued its survey known as the "Beige Book," in which New England retailers reported better sales, with many believing the sector is "past the bottom."
Source: The Boston Globe, August 1, 2009Week of July 27th, 2009
3.6%Increase in purchase of existing homes, up for 3rd consecutive month
excerpt from the Boston Globe:
This was the third consecutive month that existing home sales has increased and a possible sign that the market has bottomed out.
Sales of existing homes in the United States rose in June for a third consecutive month, signaling the four-year slump that precipitated the financial crisis is ending.
Purchases climbed 3.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.89 million, stronger than forecast and the highest level since October, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.
Sales gains buttress Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke's remarks this week that the worst housing downturn in eight decades appears to be moderating. Treasury securities dropped on the improving economic outlook, while stocks climbed as corporate earnings were also better than anticipated. "We have finally bottomed out," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. Improved affordability "is stalemating the drag from higher unemployment," he said. Hoffman forecast sales would rise to a 4.9 million pace. The stabilization in housing is being spurred by tax incentives, lower borrowing costs, and foreclosure-driven declines in prices, economists said. A record drop in household wealth, due in part to the plunge in property values, and mounting joblessness are among the reasons rebounds in housing and the economy may be drawn out. Economists forecast existing-home sales would rise to a 4.84 million rate from a previously reported 4.77 million for May, according to the median of 68 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 4.7 million to 5 million. Home re-sales were down 0.2 percent compared with a year earlier. The median price of an existing home fell 15 percent to $181,800 from $215,000 in June 2008, the realtors' association said. The number of houses on the market fell 0.7 percent to 3.82 million in June, the group said. At the current sales pace, it would take 9.4 months to sell those homes compared with 9.8 months in May. Read Full ArticleSource: The Boston Globe
Week of July 20th, 2009
22.7%Rhode Island's unemployment rate including discouraged and involuntarily part-time workers (U-6)
Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute estimates Rhode Island's June 2009 unemployment rate at 22.7% when adjusted to include discouraged workers and those working part-time because they can't find full-time work. This puts Rhode Island's unemployment rate the highest in the U.S., even above Michigan at 22.5%.
Using the more common unemployment rate (U-3) which excludes discouraged and underemployed workers, Rhode Island stands at 12.4%, second highest in the nation after Michigan at 15.2%. Sources: Associated Press and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Fortunately, Rhode Island is expected to receive the largest share of stimulus dollars per capita of any state in the U.S. The Center for American Progress estimates that Rhode Island will receive $2,276 per capita. Many of the initial funds helped to stave off further job losses, particularly among public employees. However, so far, the job-creation effects of stimulus funds have not yet been realized. As public infrastructure projects get underway however, Rhode Island will begin to reap the benefits and will experience some new job growth.
Week of July 13th, 2009
5,846
- the number of days that Boston Mayor Menino has served in office (as of July 14th)
Excerpt from the Boston Globe.
Today is day number 5,846.
Not that anyone's counting.
But after 4:55 p.m., the exact time he first took office, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will officially become Boston�s longest-serving mayor, surpassing Mayor Kevin H. White, whose tenure lasted 5,845 days.
Week of June 8th, 2009
9,000 - the number of current "mixed-use" development projects in Boston
As one solution to transportation and housing concerns in Boston, communities have increased investment in environmentally-friendly development focused around transit stations.
Learn more about sustainable transportation and development in Massachusetts
Week of June 1st, 2009
-2.0% vs. 11.9% - the percentage of employment growth in Boston vs. Raleigh, North Carolina between 2000 and 2006.
In a recent study by Dukakis Center staff, Boston experienced a two-percent decrease in employment while simultaneously losing six percent of the population to domestic migration due to high costs of living. In comparison, Raleigh, NC saw employment rise by 11.9% and increased its population by 17.8% due to increased domestic migration. Although the two cities have comparable living standards and available services, Boston and Raleigh are divided by a $20,532 difference in the annual cost of living.
What does high housing prices mean for U.S. metropolitan areas?
______________________________________________________________________________Week of May 25th, 2009
58,261 - the new number of names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
As one of Washington's famed veterans memorials, the Vietnam Memorial serves as tribute to the work of American soldiers in Vietnam. Recently, Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Enrique Valdez was added to the new list of soldiers on the memorial.
__________________________________________________________________________Week of May 18th, 2009
87 - the number of reported waste-to-energy centers in operation in the United States.
As part of federal and state efforts to become more "green", cities across the country have looked at other ways to make use of available resources - including trash. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Incinerating a ton of trash emits at least 35% less greenhouse gas and yields 10 times as much electricity as burying it".
______________________________________________________________________Week of May 11th, 2009
82.5 million - the estimated number of mothers in the United States.
In honor of Mother's Day, the U.S. Census Bureau collects a series of population figures and facts on motherhood and children.
___________________________________________________________________________Week of May 4th, 2009
$81.5 million - the amount of money anonymously donated to fourteen colleges and universities.
In a recent string of acts of kindness, schools in nine states have received millions towards student scholarships and school maintenance by an unknown source.
________________________________________________________________________Week of April 27th, 2009
$1.3 - 2.3 trillion - the estimated additional dollars to GDP in comparison to other "better-performing nations" if the education achievement level gap is closed.
In a recent study by McKinsey and Company, the education achievement gap across state and demographic divides is costing Americans economically, globally and socially.
Wall Street Journal Coverage - "Study Tallies Education Gap's Effect on GDP"
McKinsey and Company Report Summary - The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap
The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap - Full Report
________________________________________________________________________Week of April 20th, 2009
9 seconds - the difference between the top three women runners of the 2009 Boston Marathon.
excerpt from the Boston Athletic Association news story
Predicting the winner in a marathon is a perilous task, and even trying to narrow the options to a few favorites can prove to be a fruitless endeavor. For the 113th Boston Marathon, the picture seemed clear: Dire Tune, defending champion, was a clear favorite, battle-tested on this course as she was. The same could be said of 2007 champ Lidiya Grigoryeva. Though Kara Goucher arrived in Boston with just one marathon to her name, she also had the support of a hopeful nation, tabbed as she'd been as America's best chance to break a quarter-century drought on Boylston Street. But no amount of analysis could've predicted the thrilling finish of this year's race.
_______________________________________________________________________Week of April 13th, 2009
1 in 9 homes across America are currently vacant.
excerpt from USA Today articleCHANDLER, Ariz. — The white notice taped to the front window of a luxury home in the Vasaro subdivision is a telltale sign.
"Bank-owned," says real estate agent John Groves, without skipping a beat.
There are other clues. Dirt where a lush lawn should be. Vacant lots on either side. And the sale price: $729,900 for a never-lived-in, 5,500-square-foot, five-bedroom, 3.5-bath custom home that about a year ago was listed for more than $1.2 million.
In a nearby subdivision of this community of 246,000, one of the largest suburbs in metropolitan Phoenix, a foreclosure sign in the front yard of a more modest house signals yet another financially troubled home needing a buyer.
Multiply that scenario hundreds of thousands of times. From Maine to Hawaii, millions of new McMansions, post-World War II bungalows, modern downtown lofts, exurban town homes and inner-city row houses sit empty. This unprecedented glut of vacant homes — one in nine homes across the USA, according to the Census Bureau — will change the real estate landscape for years.
_____________________________________________________________________Week of April 6th, 2009
91% of American small businesses would not see an increase in income taxes
Some critics of the President’s budget charge that his proposals to roll back tax breaks for taxpayers with incomes over $250,000 would harm small businesses. In fact, only 8.9 percent of people with any small business income have incomes of over $250,000 and, thus, would even potentially be affected by these provisions. (See Figure 1.) And that figure substantially overstates the percentage of people with small business income who would actually be affected by these provisions; for example, only 1.9 percent of people with such income currently are in a tax bracket with a rate higher than 28 percent. As a result, the percentage of people with small business income who would be affected by proposals to increase the top two tax rates or limit the value of itemized deductions to 28 percent of deductable expenses would be extremely small.
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities - Examining the President's Budget Proposal (Full Report)
__________________________________________________________________
March 23, 2009
41% of Americans believe reports of global warming are exaggerated
Most believe global warming is happening, but urgency has stalledPRINCETON, NJ -- Although a majority of Americans believe the seriousness of global warming is either correctly portrayed in the news or underestimated, a record-high 41% now say it is exaggerated. This represents the highest level of public skepticism about mainstream reporting on global warming seen in more than a decade of Gallup polling on the subject.