In previewing tonight’s national championship game between LSU and Alabama, USA Today reports that a high-scoring contest isn’t expected:  LSU and Alabama combined for just 15 points in their November matchup that saw neither team reach the end zone. The anticipated defensive struggle Monday n... Read more →

The data-driven real estate service Trulia.com has released another cool visualization — this time mapping the company’s growth in web traffic since August 2006.  The map illustrates where house hunters are looking for homes (property views) while the bar chart shows you how many people are vi... Read more →

These maps, created by The New York Times four years ago to visualize the Republican results, might be interesting for reference as the returns come in tonight. Mitt Romney, who lost to Mike Huckabee in 2008, carried the eastern and western portions of the state. Will he tonight? Huckabee carri... Read more →

The Los Angeles Times has released a nifty interactive map and table of the recent arson fires in the City of Angels:  Since the morn­ing of Dec. 30, a wave of in­ten­tion­al blazes has dam­aged prop­erty and left res­id­ents on edge. The fires range from the West­side to Hol­ly­wood and from ... Read more →

Great work by the Houston Chronicle’s graphics director, Jay Carr:  Larger version | Via Eric ‘SciGuy’ Berger Read more →

Better news for the president? Perhaps, according to USA Today:  Obama’s approval ratings are higher than his disapproval ratings for the first time since July, according to the latest Gallup Poll. About 47% of Americans approve of the way he is doing his job, while 45% disapprove of his perfo... Read more →

These maps capture the warm winter we’re experiencing in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. The top map shows the average temperature so far this December. The bottom map shows how that figure differs from the norm over the last three decades:  Source: National Weather Service, Climate Pre... Read more →

Time is winding down on another year of congressional business. How much time have representatives and senators worked this year compared to the past? Senators, on average, were in session about 155 days a year over the last three decades. This year: 169. Representatives worked less: about 138 ... Read more →

The FBI today released its mid-year crime figures from large cities around the county, and the data are positive, NPR reports:  The number of violent crimes reported by 12,500 U.S. law enforcement agencies fell 6.4 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same time in 2010, the F... Read more →

The Washington Post this morning reports on Army Spec. David Hickman, who died last month in Bagdad, the victim of a roadside bomb. The paper notes that Hickman could very well be the last last of the 4,474 Americans to die in Iraq:  With the final U.S. combat troops crossing out of Iraq into ... Read more →