A Data Visualization Newsletter

The New York Times published an extensive report yesterday that claims President Trump paid only $750 in income taxes in 2016 and 2017. That’s largely a result of the performance of his businesses, which have endured significant losses over the last 15 years. The interactive portion of the report provides a visual overview of the NYT’s findings, and identifies the cracks in Trump’s business empire.

Over 200,000 people have tragically died of coronavirus in the United States. And while that number is staggering, it can still feel hard to grasp. This sobering piece from The Washington Post helps put the death toll into perspective by simulating what it would be like if those deaths all happened in your area.

Following George Floyd’s death in May, calls to reduce police funding in America grew louder. But despite months of fervent support, the data show little reduction in the size of local police budgets. Bloomberg’s analysis of 34 of the largest cities in the U.S. found that over half maintained or increased police budgets compared to last year.

Aggregated Google search data can tell us a lot about how people are responding to coronavirus. For instance: have Americans been searching for information about nasal congestion more since March? Or fever? Or skin rash? This visualization illustrates search trends for more than 400 health symptoms, signs, and conditions and shows the areas where particular searches have spiked.

With more than a month left in the West Coast’s typical fire season, 2020 has already eclipsed the worst fire years on record. More than five million acres have burned across California, Oregon, and Washington and thousands of buildings have been destroyed. Outdated forest management practices and climate change are both partially to blame.