Weekly percentages

I'm constantly looking for interesting example for my students that use percentages. I'm going to try to post a round-up of instances I've run in to at the end of each week.

• Tom Daschle is in political hot water right now for failing to pay about $128,000 in back taxes for unreported income in 2005, 2006, and 2007, mostly in the form of a car and driver that he was provided for free. (The amount does not include the interest he owes on the back taxes, which bring the total up to about $140,000.) Given that he's in the top 35% tax bracket, we can calculate the amount that the car and driver cost almost $366,000 dollars over those three years, or about $333 a day.
• A study (nicely described by the New York Times) had 10 and 11 year olds in a "virtual reality environment" decide when it would be safe to cross the street. They did it six times while talking on a cell phone, and six times not talking on the phone. (Half the kids used the phone first, the other half used it after the control crossings.) "[In] the simulation, talking on the phone increased the odds of being hit or almost hit by a virtual car from 8.5 to 12 percent, a 43 percent increase in risk."