Category Archives: History

Los Angeles had oil wells pumping in its neighborhoods when Hollywood was in its infancy, and thousands of active wells still dot the city.

These wells can emit toxic chemicals such as benzene and other irritants into the air, often just feet from homes, schools and parks. But now, after nearly a decade of community organizing and studies demonstrating the adverse health impacts on people living nearby, Los Angeles long history with urban drilling is nearing an end.

In a unanimous vote on Jan. 26, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council took the first step toward phasing out all oil and gas extraction in the city by declaring oil extraction a nonconforming land use. That came on the heels of a unanimous vote by Los Angeles County supervisors to phase out oil extraction in unincorporated county areas.

As environmental health researchers, we study the impacts of oil drilling on surrounding communities. Our research shows that people living near these urban oil operations suffer higher rates of asthma than average, as well as wheezing, eye irritation and sore throats. In some cases, the impact on residents lungs is worse than living beside a highway or being exposed to secondhand smoke every day.

Over a century ago, the first industry to boom in Los Angeles was oil.

Oil was abundant and flowed close to the surface. In early 20th-century California, sparse laws governed mineral extraction, and rights to oil accrued to those who could pull it out of the ground first. This ushered in a period of rampant drilling, with wells and associated machinery crisscrossing the landscape. By the mid-1920s, Los Angeles was one of the largest oil-exporting regions in the world.

Oil rigs were so pervasive across the region that the Los Angeles Times described them in 1930 as trees in a forest. Working-class communities were initially supportive of the industry because it promised jobs but later pushed back as their neighborhoods witnessed explosions and oil spills, along with longer-term damage to land, water and human health.

Tensions over land use, extraction rights and subsequent drops in oil prices due to overproduction eventually resulted in curbs on drilling and a long-standing practice of oil companies voluntary self-regulation, such as noise-reduction technologies. The industry began touting these voluntary approaches to deflect governmental regulation.

Increasingly, oil companies disguised their activities with approaches such as operating inside buildings, building tall walls and designing islands off Long Beach and other sites to blend in with the landscape. Oil drilling was hidden in plain sight.

Today there are over 20,000 active, idle or abandoned wells spread across a county of 10 million people. About one-third of residents live less than a mile from an active well site, some right next door.

Since the 2000s, the advance of extractive technologies to access harder-to-reach deposits has led to a resurgence of oil extraction activities. As extraction in some neighborhoods has ramped up, people living in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods in oil fields have noticed frequent odors, nosebleeds and headaches.

The city of Los Angeles has no buffers or setbacks between oil extraction and homes, and approximately 75% of active oil or gas wells are located within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of sensitive land uses, such as homes, schools, child care facilities, parks or senior residential facilities.

Despite over a century of oil drilling in Los Angeles, until recently there was limited research into the health impacts. Working with community health workers and community-based organizations helped us gauge the impact oil wells are having on residents, particularly on its historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

The first step was a door-to-door survey of 813 neighbors from 203 households near wells in Las Cienegas oil field, just south and west of downtown. We found that asthma was significantly more common among people living near South Los Angeles oil wells than among residents of Los Angeles County as a whole. Nearly half the people we spoke with, 45%, didnt know oil wells were operating nearby, and 63% didnt know how to contact local regulatory authorities to report odors or environmental hazards.

Next, we measured lung function of 747 long-term residents, ages 10 to 85, living near two drilling sites. Poor lung capacity, measured as the amount of air a person can exhale after taking a deep breath, and lung strength, how strongly the person can exhale, and are both predictors of health problems including respiratory disease, death from cardiovascular problems and early death in general.

We found that the closer someone lived to an active or recently idle well site, the poorer that persons lung function, even after adjusting for such other risk factors as smoking, asthma and living near a freeway. This research demonstrates a significant relationship between living near oil wells and worsened lung health.

People living up to 1,000 meters (0.6 miles) downwind of a well site showed lower lung function on average than those living farther away and upwind. The effect on their lungs capacity and strength was similar to impacts of living near a freeway or, for women, being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Using a community monitoring network in South Los Angeles, we were able to distinguish oil-related pollution in neighborhoods near wells. We found short-term spikes of air pollutants and methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at monitors less than 500 meters, about one-third of a mile, from oil sites.

When oil production at a site stopped, we observed significant reductions in such toxins as benzene, toluene and n-hexane in the air in adjacent neighborhoods. These chemicals are known irritants, carcinogens and reproductive toxins. They are also associated with dizziness, headaches, fatigue, tremors and respiratory system irritation, including difficulty breathing and, at higher levels, impaired lung function.

Many of the dozens of active oil wells in South Los Angeles are in historically Black and Hispanic communities that have been marginalized for decades. These neighborhoods are already considered among the most highly polluted, with the most vulnerable residents in the state.

In its landmark vote in January, the City Council moved to draft an ordinance that would ban all new oil wells, and it ordered a study to determine how to phase out and decommission existing wells over the next five years.

The state, meanwhile, has proposed a 3,200-foot setback rule for new wells, but this has not yet gone into effect and does little to address health concerns for residents who live near existing wells. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also proposed to phase out oil extraction, but the proposal would allow oil wells to continue operating until 2045.

Our research shows why a variety of policies, including buffers, phaseouts and emissions controls in existing wells will need to be considered to protect public health and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy sources.

This updates an article originally published June 2, 2021.

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Los Angeles' long, troubled history with urban oil drilling is nearing an end after years of health concerns - The Conversation AU

To celebrate Black History Month and beyond, every week in February 303 Magazine will be sitting down with Black Denver musicians to highlight the incredible art they consistently turn out, as well as sharing a curated playlist from each musician to expose the ears of our readership to music that matters. To quote from the late-great Ossie Davis, Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change. It can not only move us, it makes us move.

This week,303 chatted with soulful savants The Reminders. The married duo consists of Brussels-born emcee Big Samir and Queens-born emcee and vocalist Aja Black. Their chemistry is palpable, as showcased by their 2019 work Unstoppable, where classic hip-hop verses flow with steady, hopeful R&B licks. Theres even some French intermingling in their lyrics. Their 2021 single, Keep It Together, with Crl Crrll was an emotive ode to the devastation felt over the past few years. Despite the heavy subject matter, the track manages a healthy balance of lofi beats and cascading vocal mastery that at once, calms the nerves and piques the brains interest.

Listen to The Reminders curated playlist below and check out their music here.

303 Magazine:When did you start making music? What drew you to music as an art form?

The Reminders: Music has always been a part of our households it was a natural thing to sing along, dance and be active in the arts. As we became adults, we were immersed in musical environments, cyphers, studios and parties. After high school is when we began recording, developing our talents and slowly building a career.

303: What works by musicians of color inspire you in your own work?

The Reminders: All of it! There are so many to name, we genuinely are inspired by the great and new musicians.

303: What does your creative process look like?

The Reminders: It varies. We sometimes hit the studio and create from scratch, other times a producer will send us an instrumental and we create around a theme, or during our travels, we learn so much and document the experience which later becomes a song or concept.

Photo courtesy of The Reminders

303: How did you go about curating your playlist?

The Reminders: We took the songs that are in our current rotation, mixed with some classic songs we absolutely love. Reggae, soul, R&B, hip-hop This is just a taste because we could go on and have a 12+ hours long playlist.

303: Who are some of your favorite artists of color in the local scene?

The Reminders: The Grand Alliance, Chef Ietef and Felix Fast4ward.

303: Do you think music and art can affect change?

The Reminders: Absolutely. If the intention for creating is pure, the emotion will be felt and therefore can inspire and motivate change.

303: What do you think the future of music looks like?

The Reminders: The future of music is amazing lots of artists have been developing their skills and creating amazing art, challenging themselves to new sounds, ideas and collaborations. Very excited for whats to come.

303: Whats next for you as artists?

The Reminders: We have more singles on the way and have been pushing ourselves creatively we cant wait to share some of this music with you all soon.

Check back next week for the next edition!

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Now Playing The Reminders' Pay Homage To Black History Month - 303 Magazine

By The Associated Press

Todays Highlight in History:

On Feb. 3, 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship SS Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo in the Labrador Sea; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived. (Four Army chaplains on board gave away their life jackets to save others and went down with the ship.)

On this date:

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.

In 1876, Albert Spalding invests $800 to start sporting goods company, manufacturing first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, the same day an American cargo ship, the SS Housatonic, was sunk by a U-boat off Britain after the crew was allowed to board lifeboats.

In 1959, rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. The Big Bopper Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

In 1988, the U.S. House of Representatives handed President Ronald Reagan a major defeat, rejecting his request for $36.2 million in new aid to the Nicaraguan Contras by a vote of 219-211.

In 1994, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev (SUR-gay KREE-kuh-lev), the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.

In 1995, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins, in the pilots seat for the first time in NASA history.

In 1998, a U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, causing the car to plunge hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.

In 2006, an Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.

In 2009, Eric Holder became the first black U.S. attorney general as he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden.

In 2020, in closing arguments at President Donald Trumps first impeachment trial, Democratic prosecutors urged senators to stop a runaway presidency and recognize Trumps actions in Ukraine as part of a pattern of behavior that would allow him to cheat in the 2020 election; Trumps defenders accused Democrats of trying to undo the 2016 election and said voters should decide Trumps fate.

Ten years ago: The breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure abandoned plans to eliminate its funding for Planned Parenthood, following a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and among Komen affiliates. Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Lance Armstrong, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the seven-time Tour de France winner and his teammates had participated in a doping program. (In January 2013, Armstrong publicly admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs.) Actor-director Ben Gazzara, 81, died in New York.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump launched his long-promised attack on banking rules that were rushed into law after the nations economic crisis, signing new orders after meeting with business and investment chiefs and pledging further action to free big banks from restrictions.

One year ago: A white Columbus, Ohio, police officer, Adam Coy, was charged with murder in the December 2020 shooting death of a Black man, Andre Hill. (Coy has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.) Country star Morgan Wallen was suspended from his label and his music was pulled by radio stations and streaming services after a video surfaced showed him shouting a racial slur. Tennis Hall of Famer Tony Trabert, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, died at his Florida home at the age of 90.

Todays Birthdays: Football Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 82. Actor Bridget Hanley is 81. Actor Blythe Danner is 79. Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese is 77. Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 75.

Singer Melanie is 75. Actor Morgan Fairchild is 72. Actor Pamela Franklin is 72. Actor Nathan Lane is 66. Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 66. Actor Thomas Calabro is 63. Rock musician/author Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) is 63. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 61. Actor Michele Greene is 60. Country singer Matraca (muh-TRAY-suh) Berg is 58. Actor Maura Tierney is 57. Actor Warwick Davis is 52. Actor Elisa Donovan is 51. Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 46. Actor Isla (EYE-luh) Fisher is 46. Human rights activist Amal Clooney is 44. Singer-songwriter Jessica Harp is 40. Actor Matthew Moy is 38. Rapper Sean Kingston is 32. Actor Brandon Micheal Hall is 29.

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Today in History: Today is Thursday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2022. - wausaupilotandreview.com

BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - The Butte County Sheriffs Office and the Butte County District Attorney provided more information following a mass shooting in Oroville Wednesday night.

Authorities said 21-year-old Asaahdi Coleman of Sacramento was arrested following the shooting on a Greyhound bus that killed a 43-year-old woman and left four people injured. The name of the person who was killed is not being released at this time.

Sheriff Kory Honea said an 11-year-old girl was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition. He said the other people who were injured, include a 25-year-old woman who is pregnant and is in critical condition, a 38-year-old man with minor injuries who is expected to be released from the hospital, and a 32-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds and is in critical condition after he underwent surgery.

deadly bus shooting 1.jpg

Oroville mass shooting pic 2

The shooting happened just outside the am-pm/Arco gas station on Oro Dam Boulevard in Oroville (Action News Now photo)

Oroville mass shooting pic 1

A shooting on a Greyhound bus in Oroville left one dead and four wounded Wednesday night (Action News Now photo)

Honea said people on the bus called 911 around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday from from the bus stop at the AM/PM market on Oro Dam Boulevard East.

As deputies were responding to assist the Oroville Police Department, they diverted to more 911 calls from Walmart at 465 Cal Oak Rd., which is about half a mile from the AM/PM store.

Honea said it appears Coleman had left the bus after the shooting and ran south across Oro Dam Boulevard through a commercial area, dropping the firearm at a construction site. The weapon was later recovered by authorities.

Honea added that Coleman continued south and made it to the Walmart. He reportedly walked over to the cash register and at some point he became involved in a verbal altercation with a woman who was with her boyfriend. Honea said that alteration escalated to a physical altercation.

Shortly after, Honea said Coleman then began to remove clothing. Once deputies arrived, they identified Coleman by the description they were given and arrested him without further incident.

At a news conference Thursday, authorities provided information about the events that led up to the shooting.

Honea said Coleman had boarded the southbound bus Wednesday afternoon in Redding, which made stops along the way in Red Bluff and Chico.

Coleman made a phone call from the bus as it passed through Chico and then started a conversation with other people on the bus, Honea said from information gathered from witnesses. Coleman then began acting paranoid and started to show people on the bus he had a firearm.

According to Honea, when the bus got to Oroville, Coleman fired a series of gunshots inside the bus. District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Coleman fired shots toward the front of the bus. During the news conference Ramsey referenced a photo that showed a bullet hole through the front windshield of the bus.

Ramsey said the Department of Justice came down from Redding to investigate the crime. He said investigators found a dozen 9mm shell casings, which was consistent with witness statements who described more than 10 shots fired.

Coleman had a criminal history, including a juvenile record and was wanted out of Alameda County for a felony warrant for a probation violation. Coleman was prohibited from possessing a firearm, according to Ramsey.

Coleman will appear in court Friday at 3 p.m. when Ramsey plans to file charges.

The identification of the person who was killed had not been released and authorities must notify next of kin.

The investigation is ongoing and authorities will release the information of the person who died in a news release after the family has been notified.

Follow Action News Now on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news, weather and sports in Northern California.

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Oroville mass shooting suspect identified as 21-year-old with criminal history - Action News Now

A force has taken over the NWSL, and she is set to make an impact on the United States Womens National Team for years to come. And, shes done it all while creating a name for herself in the soccer world. In 2022, the soccer world is about to be owned by Trinity Rodman.

Trinity Rodman was born in 2002, and most people had her pegged for greatness because her father just happens to be NBA legend Dennis Rodman. However, Dennis was not a big part of Trinitys life, so this star was created on her own. She grew up playing soccer in Southern California, winning 4 national championships with the SoCal Blues in her youth. During her time with that team, the team went undefeated for 5 years.

When she was set to commit to college, she received offers from colleges all around the country. She initially committed to play for the UCLA Bruins, but later changed her mind and decided to attend Washington State Cougars, where her older brother, DJ, played college basketball. However, she never had a chance to play a game for the Cougars, as the COVID pandemic canceled her freshman season.

Where Trinity started to earn her name was for the USWNT youth teams U-17s. At the 2018 U-17 Womens World Cup, Trinity played 165 minutes in the USWNT U-17s 3 games, recording one assist. However, she broke out for the USWNT U-20s at the Concacaf Womens U-20 championship in 2020, Trinity Rodman was on another level. She scored 9 goals in the tournament, helping the team to the title. She was later nominated for U.S. Soccers Young Female Player of the Year award.

With that success coupled with the cancellation of her freshman season at Washington State, Trinity decided to turn pro and declare for the 2021 NWSL Draft. She didnt have to wait long to hear her name called. The Washington Spirit made her the 2nd overall pick in the NWSL Draft, becoming the youngest player ever drafted into the league.

Even after all that, Trinity still wasnt getting the respect she deserved. Media still called her Dennis daughter or made references to their kinship whenever they spoke about her. Trinity just continued to grind and make sure people remembered her name. On April 10, 2021, Trinity made her professional debut for the Washington Spirit in the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup, scoring a goal in the process.

And some of her goals were incredible! In 25 appearances for the Washington Spirit, she scored 7 goals and 7 assists, and just about all of them were bangers. Her play continued to heat up the scene, as she scored a goal late in the season and then was a force down the stretch as the Washington Spirit lifted the trophy as NWSL champions.

Trinitys efforts did not go unnoticed by fans or the media. On November 17, 2021, she was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year. A month later, U.S. Soccer named her the Young Female Player of the Year. Just yesterday, Trinity set another record, agreeing to a 4-year deal with the Washington Spirit worth $1.1 million, the largest contract in league history.

Trinity is about to take her talents to the USWNT. She was named into the annual January Camp last month by USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski and looks to be a part of the USWNT for years to come. And when you see her work her magic for an incredible pass or a wicked goal, you know what to do

Call her Trinity.

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For more Black History Month stories, check out our Black History Month hub. We will be bringing stories throughout the month to highlight some of the biggest moments in Black American and world soccer history.

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Black History Month: Call her Trinity - Stars and Stripes FC

In the 1970s, Beverley Bryan joined the British Black Panthers in solidarity with her friend, who was a victim of a police assault. Since then, she has leveraged her educational background to intentionally spread Black stories, Black culture, and Black history.

A university professor of education and a political activist, Bryan was born in 1950 in the Fairy Hill district of Portland, Jamaica. Her parents hailed from the Windrush generationpeople who migrated from Afro-Caribbean countries during post-World War II to Great Britain, Northern Europe, and the United States. From Jamaica, Bryans family eventually settled in the Brixton district of London, which became a hub for a growing Caribbean community.

In 1968, Bryan graduated from Keele University, a high school in London. Her aspiration to become a school teacher led her to enroll in London University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, a Master of Arts in Language and Literature in Education, and a Ph.D. of Philosophy degree in Language Education by 1976.

After her friend Olive Morris was brutally assaulted by police in 1969, Bryan joined her in the civil rights group. Morris, who would become a leading figure in Britains anti-racism movement, served as a catalyst for her friend to help the British Black Panther Party not only take action against police brutality but also serve the local community.

The way Olive was tackling it was by being part of an organization that was campaigning against police harassment, Bryan told The Guardian. And so I joined, too.

As a member of the Panthers, Bryan was instrumental in combatingracial discrimination in education and teaching children about Black history, according to the news outlet.

The Panthers werent just about the politics, but also young people interacting, Bryan recalled. We found purpose in the work we were doing, but we also found pleasure.

Bryan led one of the groups Saturday schools, where she offered supplementary lessons in maths and English. The group essentially functioned as a free childcare service.

After the British Black Panthers dissolved in 1973, Bryan foundedthe Brixton Black Womens Group alongside Liz Obi, a British activist and feminist, and Morris. As the organization emerged in response to racism and police attacks, it focused mainly on the experiences of Black women in Britain.

In 1985, she co-wrote with two other members of her group,The Heart of the Race: Black Womens Lives in Britain, a sociological essay documenting the day-to-day realities of Black women in Britain, including their personal and political struggles.

In 1992, during the height of police violence in the UK, Bryan returned to Jamaica with her husband and two sons. She began teaching at the University of West Indies as a Lecturer in Educational Studies and later became a professor in 2011.

Her expertise in Jamaican Creole literature and language earned her a post with the Jamaican Ministry of Education as an adviser in primary education and literacy improvement. She also published a book in 2010 titled Between Two Grammars: Research and Practice for Language Learning and Teaching in a Creole-speaking environment.

I was in a privileged position when I returned to Jamaica, being in a comfortably middle-class profession, Bryan said. But one should always recognize what you can do with your privilege and the work to be done.

Today retired, the author and activist is still a prominent figure in both the Black community of the United Kingdom and in her native Jamaica. She continues to lecture and advocate for womens lives while uplifting African-Caribbean culture and identity.

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This Jamaican Native, Former British Black Panther Pioneered Black History Teaching In Classrooms - Black Enterprise

I thought Id take a break from the drumbeat of little or no news on the MLB labor front and take a dive into Cubs history.

Let me begin by saying I am not writing this article to disparage any of these players. Theyre all good MLB players in fact, some had really good years, and even with the Cubs but they had one season which ranked in the bottom 10 by bWAR in Cubs franchise history, since 1920.

Why 1920? Because prior to 1920, the minimum requirement to qualify for the batting title which is the criterion I used to look up these players was:

a player must have appeared in 60% of the teams games to qualify for a title. This number was rounded to the nearest integer.

Dode Paskert posted -1.1 bWAR for the Cubs in 1919. He appeared in 88 games, with 309 plate appearances. The 1919 season was 140 games, thus he cleared the 60 percent bar by a small margin (62.8 percent). Thats not even close to what a modern player would have to do to qualify, thus I made the cutoff year 1920. Paskert is the only player since 1900 who had a bWAR low enough to make this list who Im leaving off.

Also, you might recall this 2018 article in which I posted the 10 best seasons in Cubs history, by bWAR, since 1901, so I have noted those here previously.

Now, on to the rest of the list, and well start with the best of these negative bWAR figures.

Bowa, as you know, came over to the Cubs prior to the 1982 season from the Phillies along with some kid named Ryne Sandberg. Bowa was one of Dallas Greens Philly favorites and was expected to provide veteran leadership. That he did, but he really couldnt hit much at all. His .305 slugging percentage was the worst in the NL that year. Oddly, the next-worst was the player Bowa and Sandberg were traded for, Ivan De Jesus (.313). Bowa would have a better year in 1983, posting 3.0 bWAR.

The Cubs acquired Hoak from the Dodgers before the 56 season, along with with Russ Meyer and Walt Moryn, for Don Elston and Randy Jackson. This was not a good trade, though the Cubs eventually got Elston back.

Hoak had posted 2.5 bWAR as a part time player for the World Series champion Dodgers in 1955 (not that anyone knew what WAR was back then). The Cubs thought they were getting a guy they could slot in at third base for several years, as he was 27 at the time of the deal.

Apparently, Hoak absolutely hated being a Cub, said former Cubs pitcher (and Hoak teammate) Jim Brosnan:

Don Hoak played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, a very good team, before he was traded to the Cubs, a very bad one, remembers Brosnan from his home in suburban Chicago. It was hard for Hoak to relate. As far as he was concerned, he went right from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh without ever stopping in Chicago.

He refused to accept that he was a Cub. He had nothing but obscene words for the Cubs and their organization; he even hated (former club owner) P.K. Wrigley.

Hoak, he concludes, is quite possibly the only man who ever conquered his Cubness.

Hoak wasnt totally wrong. As you know, the Cubs of the mid-1950s were awful. He apparently demanded a trade and got one. The Cubs sent him to the Reds, along with Warren Hacker and Pete Whisenant, for Ray Jablonski and Elmer Singleton. He eventually played for another World Series winner, the 1960 Pirates.

This was the year after Barney won a Gold Glove and tied a record for consecutive errorless games at second base. In 2012, Barney managed 4.6 bWAR despite batting only .276/.313/.353. That WAR figure was 13th-best in the NL.

But his batting crashed in 2013, his OPS dropping by 84 points. If he could have only hit like he did in 2012, hed have had a long career as a Cub, his defense was that good. Here are four minutes of Barney defensive highlights:

This was very much like Barneys downfall. Morandini hit well enough to produce a 3.9 bWAR season and he finished 24th in NL MVP voting in 1998 for the NL Central champion Cubs. Like Barney, his offense cratered the following year, dropping 117 OPS points. He left the Cubs via free agency after the 1999 season and went back to the Phillies, where the Cubs had acquired him for Doug Glanville. Morandini had one last mediocre season split between Philadelphia and Toronto, then retired.

Miksis was never really that good a player and his defense was mediocre. He hit well enough for a couple years after the Cubs got him from the Dodgers in the disastrous Andy Pafko trade to play regularly, but his 1953 season was pretty awful.

This was all defense. Martin hit pretty well in 1980: .227/.281/.419 with 22 doubles and 23 home runs (the latter a career high), but his defense was atrocious. The defense accounted for -2.1 bWAR, negating a small positive batting WAR number.

This is largely because the Cubs didnt really have a center fielder in 1980 and Martin was forced into the role, for which he was truly unsuited. He started 98 games in center field and the other Cubs starting CF in 1980 were Carlos Lezcano, Jesus Figueroa and Scot Thompson.

Things are better now.

This would have been worse if not for the strike. It was weird, too. From 1977-80 de Jesus hit .272/.339/.353 in 632 games, played good defense and stole 133 bases, posting 9.5 bWAR. He just fell off a cliff offensively in 1981, posting a .509 OPS which was by far the worst of any qualifying batter in the NL that year.

Even with that, the Phillies still wanted him and if not for that, the Cubs wouldnt have acquired Ryne Sandberg.

This one surprised me. Soriano played well for the Cubs in 2007 and 2008, combining for 6.3 bWAR for those two seasons.

He was injured much of 2009 after running into the wall in left field in April, and playing through it. He still managed a .726 OPS with 20 home runs in 117 games, but that was his worst OPS number in a full season to that point. It was largely defense that made his WAR figure that low -1.9 bWAR defensively.

This was the only season in Cedenos career where he played 150+ games, and it was largely because of his defense. The guy just couldnt hit. He batted .245/.271/.339 and walked just 17 times and struck out 109 in 572 plate appearances.

This is why he spent most of 2007 at Triple-A Iowa and never came back to the majors full-time with the Cubs. Eventually they traded him to the Mariners for Aaron Heilman.

Well, look at it this way: That deal didnt work out for either team.

Cedeno is still an active player hes 38 and currently with a winter ball team in Caracas in his native Venezuela, where baseball-reference says hes batting .275/.337/.360 in 41 games.

This surprised me, as Moreland had been a productive player for the previous five years with the Cubs. But his power dropped in 1986, with his SLG under .400, and his defense, never good, suffered that year. Hed have made a perfect designated hitter, if the NL had the rule at the time.

Moreland recovered to have a 1.4 bWAR season with the Cubs in 1987, when he hit a career-high 27 home runs. (Look it up, though, a LOT of players had career highs in home runs in 87, and likely that was due to a rabbit ball used that year.)

In February 1988 the Cubs traded Moreland and Mike Brumley to the Padres for Goose Gossage and Ray Hayward, yet another deal that didnt really work out for either team.

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The 10 worst offensive seasons in Cubs history, by bWAR, since 1920 - Bleed Cubbie Blue

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Today in History: CT Education Commissioner moved forward to become US Education Secretary, an NHL team came to look at the XL Center, and 5th graders...

1. A Proclamation on National Black History Month, 2022  The White House
2. UA Community Celebrates Black History Month City of Upper Arlington  City of Upper Arlington
3. Black History Month To Focus On 'Black Health And Wellness'  Texas A&M University Today
4. A guide to Black History Month events in Philly  The Philadelphia Inquirer
5. Black History Month: When and how it got started  FOX 10 News Phoenix
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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A Proclamation on National Black History Month, 2022 - The White House

Katy: In addition to that, were archiving ProPublicas data journalism appstheir whole catalog, if we can. Theyre one of our partners on this work. They build some of these really interesting, complex, robust websites that are querying a database in real time. One, which is titled Are hospitals near me ready for the coronavirus?, allows you to enter your zip code and see how full the hospitals are. This was, of course, very useful last winter.

ProPublica produces many different versions of this but there isnt a technology thats able to capture and archive the sitesyet. Were working with different partners and developing tools and we think we will ultimately be able to capture all of ProPublicas journalism apps.

What does the archiving process look like?

Katy: Its not easy to look at a data journalism site and know whether its archivable or not. Were working on a flow chart that would help digital archivists and data journalists figure out exactly what they have built and which aspects can be preserved. Some things can be archived with Web Recorder, which is a high fidelity dynamic web archiving tool that can capture a lot of things, but it can present issues with getting the archives to library catalogs and making them available to researchers later. Sometimes it isnt until you get to the quality assurance step and you check the archived version that you realize it didnt capture crucial parts of the site.

Vicky: But our tool, ReproZipWeb, enables us to do server-side archiving. Anyone can use itits free and open source. If you have access to either a server where the materials are being hosted in production or a copy of those materials, you would first start the server, which engages the tool and keeps track of everything thats happening on the server, including the software it touches, the data it uses, the database, the type of the database, and so on. It captures a lot of in-depth metadata which is required for active, ongoing digital preservation. At the end of the process, you get a bundled file which is small and shareable and contains all the assets needed to rerun the Web application in different environments. Its not just facilitating archiving but its also facilitating reuse for others.

If we dont have access to different computational environments such as different operating systems and different servers over the long term, then a lot of this work becomes moot. If you dont have a copy of Windows 93 but you have a Windows 93 file and you opened it now, it would look like Wingdings. Software archiving is a crucial part of this work.

Its counterintuitive to think that something published online as recently as last year is already at risk of being lost. How widespread is the problem?

Katy: Oddly, there are books that were published 500 years ago that are much more stable and preservable than some of these dynamic websites. The sites can be exceptionally fragile, especially with some of these news organizations, like Vox or Chalkbeat, that dont have a legacy publication behind them. There has been a lot of really interesting data journalism created during COVID thats already gone, and data journalists are sounding the alarm about the loss of their work. Digital-first, start-up media organizations are incredibly volatile.

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History as it Happens: Rescuing the Historical Record in a Digital World - NYU News