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Santa Cruz County has long been at the forefront of progress, both in California and the nation. Mainland surfing in the U.S. originated here (sorry, Huntington Beach), the area used to be renowned for its agriculture, and the logging industry brought lumber mills and flumes to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

In celebration of National Midwifery Week, which runs from Oct. 3-9, the San Lorenzo Valley Museum is celebrating and honoring yet another startup in Santa Cruz County: the midwifery industry. Midwives around the world have worked tirelessly to provide comfort and care to mothers and babies alike, and the current exhibit at the museum, Birth Happens, collects memories, art and artifacts from the areas midwives. The exhibit provides stunning insight into the struggles and successes of midwifery in the Valley.

Lisa Robinson, Board President of the San Lorenzo Valley Historical Society, was honored to finally deliver the goods on this display. Elected in 2008, Robinson has made it her mission to bring the past to the present, allowing tourists and locals alike to revel in the rich history of the San Lorenzo Valley, and its impact on the current day.

Robinson started curating the exhibit in 2016thats when the Birth Happens project did a pop-up exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, and Robinson harkened back to her own experience with home birth.

There were so many pieces of the display that I knew nothing about, and the origins of the project emanated from the San Lorenzo Valley. I thought it was so interesting, and the stories needed to be told, she said.

Robinson and her team started from scratch, interviewing midwives, collecting data and stories from as far back as the 1800s.

The events of that time actually fed into the stories of the 1970s, and the exhibit pays tribute to those women who led the industry, she said.

In creating the exhibit, the group collected oral histories of midwives who worked in Santa Cruz County, and written submissions from others. In Robinsons view, the exhibit is meant to explain the relationship between the midwives and the doctors and examine the difference between having a baby in a home environment and a hospital. Robinsons group talked to people like Raven Lang and Linda Walker who helped create the Birth Center of Santa Cruz in 1971, and women who were arrested for being midwives, like Kate Bowland.

Bowland is a firecracker of a woman with white hair, gentle eyes and steady hands. She grins as she reminisces about the babies she has caught and the price she has paid for her dedication to her craft. In 1974, following a phone call from a man who purported to have a wife in labor, two midwives from the Birth Center responded to what was reported as an imminent birth in Ben Lomond. The two attending midwivesLinda Bennett, and an apprentice, Jeanine Walkerwere caught in a sting operation; there was no pregnant woman, and no baby on the way.

Once they arrived at the cabin, their birth kits were confiscated, and they were arrested for practicing medicine without a license. Agents then raided the center itself, and Bowland was taken away in handcuffs, but not before contacting the media during her arrest. Bowland was determined to push the envelope for her colleagues and ended up taking her case to the California Supreme Court. In 1976, the Bowland Decision was handed down from the court. The result? Lay midwifery was defined as an illegal practice of medicine. Ironically, there was no path for midwives to become licensed at that time, although home births attended by midwives were legal until 1917 in the state. In 1949, the State of California stopped issuing midwifery licenses, leaving activists like Bowland striving for reforms decades later.

Since 1976, massive changes have made their way through the tunnel of midwifery licensure. There are now two different certifications for midwives: a California Licensed Midwife and a Certified Nurse Midwife. Certified midwives are not required to hold a registered nursing license, while California Licensed Midwives are licensed and regulated by the Medical Board of California.

Andrea Humphrey, 35, is a new addition to the Santa Cruz Mountains and is eager to get into the local midwifery game. A Nurse Midwife at Dignity Health, she has spent years working with international organizations like Doctors Without Borders, and in faraway locations like Togo, South Sudan and Nigeria. She graduated in March 2020 from the University of Washington with a Doctor of Nursing Practice in midwifery, landed in Santa Cruz County and sees her future opening before her.

Midwives are trained in a different school of thought than an obstetrician. We work in a team, and its a dynamic environment when you have a midwifery idea of a physiological birth with the backup of an obstetrician, knowing that we can provide emergent care quickly, and that our collaboration allows us to work in higher-risk scenarios, she said. Its important for the community to know that when they are seeking that level of care. So far this model of collaboration is the most ideal, and has the best possible outcome for mother and baby.

Women like Bowland are thankful for the influx of new talent in the area.

The seeds of midwifery came from women wanting to take care of their bodies in ways that were not part of standard medicine. In the 1960s and 1970s when women gave birth, they were drugged, tied down to the hospital bed, shaved and immediately separated from their babies; maternal death rates were at precariously high levels, she said. Midwives were marching in the streets, demanding more attention be paid to making prenatal care accessible and affordable.

As a result of the midwives efforts, maternal death contracted by 50% in California. The Nurse-Midwifery Practice Act was passed in 1974 (the same year Bowland was arrested) after lay midwives had been protesting the legislature for 11 years, demanding a path to licensure. The complaints about lay midwives operating with art and drama degrees finally made sense to lawmakers, and so the Act was passed.

Bowland finally had the opportunity to attend midwifery school in 1975 at UC San Francisco, although she admits that a midwifery school without walls had been operating in Santa Cruz County for years.

The San Lorenzo Valley was really the beginning, she said. We influenced the whole country. Bowland estimates shes performed over 1,100 home births in her careerhome births take a lot of timeand shes allowed herself to think with retirement.

I stopped in 2015, but in 2020, with the shutdown, the phone rang off the hook, so I went back into it, said Bowland, who finally retired this year after 50 years of catching babies.

Feeling a little pressure to learn more? The Birth Happens exhibit runs through Nov. 21, and can be found at the Felton branch of the San Lorenzo Valley Museum, 6299 Gushee St.

Read the rest here:

'Birth Happens' Honors History of Midwifery - Good Times Weekly

It is a rivalry that defies description.

The animosity between the Dodgers and the Giants cant technically be described as having started as an intracity squabble. When they first played each other in 1889, the Giants hailed from Manhattan, while the Dodgers (known as the Bridegrooms at the time) were based in Brooklyn, which wouldnt become part of New York City for another nine years.

A subway series? No, that 1889 championship between the clubs was 15 years before New York Citys subway existed. To put things in (ridiculous) perspective, they had already played each other 757 times when sliced bread was invented in 1928.

But however you choose to characterize their relationship, the longstanding feud will be in full force over the next week as the teams, now located in Los Angeles and San Francisco, face off in a best-of-five division series that will end the season for one of the two winningest teams in baseball this year.

When considering if this is the peak of the rivalry you first have to consider some biggest moments of their relationship over the last 133 seasons (with many other tense moments left on the cutting-room floor).

1889: The World Series

The first nine games between the clubs came in 1889. Brooklyn, which had been crowned champions of the American Association, agreed to face the Giants, champions of the National League, in what some referred to as the World Series.

Official statistics between the clubs dont begin until the next season, when Brooklyn joined the N.L., but the championship was taken fairly seriously. Coverage of the games in The New York Times pointed out that Arthur Dixwell, considered by many to be the most prominent baseball fan of the era, came down from Boston to celebrate the Giants beating the Bridegrooms, six games to three.

As soon as the New-Yorks won yesterday, he went to the clubhouse and presented each of the players with pretty scarfpins, the Times reported of Dixwell. In making the presentation he said that he admired skill, gameness, and honesty, and he felt certain that the New-York players possessed all these elements. He spoke of the drawbacks that the New-Yorks had to contend against this season, and he declared that, for various reasons, greater credit is due the Giants than if they had won under ordinary circumstances.

1934: Bill Terry Puts Foot Firmly in Mouth

In January 1934, Bill Terry, the player-manager of the Giants, was asked for his thoughts on the upcoming season. Among his remarks was a quip that would come back to haunt him: What has become of the Dodgers? he asked. Are they still in the league? Terrys Giants were terrific in the first half, but a second half collapse led to a tie with the St. Louis Cardinals going into the last two days of the season, and the Giants had to face the Dodgers twice. Fans from Brooklyn, looking to play spoilers in an otherwise disappointing season, packed the stands at the Polo Grounds and watched their Dodgers win both games, handing the pennant to St. Louis.

Much was made of Terrys comments, but Ed Hughes, a columnist for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, defended the quote, as he believed it brought some spice to a sport that was getting bland.

Personally I think it is a sad thing for baseball there are not more bon mots and repartees of the sort, Hughes wrote. Of late years the game has become entirely too orderly, the thoughts and actions too prosaic and rule-of-thumb. There is a preponderance of gold, silver and paper, and not enough red blood and romance to it. The result is dullness for the fan and weakened business for the promoter.

1951: This One Is Rather Famous

The Dodgers were riding high, leading the National League by 13 games on Aug. 11. But the wheels started to come off for Brooklyn, and the young Giants kept improving. The teams ended up being tied for first, necessitating a three-game tiebreaker. They split the first two games, and in the third one, Bobby Thomson, who hit 32 homers that season, crushed one of the most famous in history: The Shot Heard Round the World.

The situation would grow complicated decades later when it was revealed that the Giants had used a complicated signal system to steal signs from other teams, but on that day in 1951, Russ Hodges, who was on the Giants radio broadcast, blurted out one of the most famous calls in sports broadcasting history.

Theres a long drive its going to be, I believe The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left-field stands! The Giants win the pennant and theyre going crazy! Theyre going crazy! I dont believe it! I dont believe it! I do not believe it!

With the Dodgers frustrated by their lack of ability to build a new ballpark in Brooklyn, and the Giants struggling financially, the teams began exploring other opportunities. The leagues owners voted in May 1957 to allow them to relocate to California, provided they did so together. The Giants made their initial home at Seals Stadium, previously the home of the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. The Dodgers went far larger, moving into the oddly configured (and cavernous) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which set a regular season attendance record of 78,672 in the first game there which the Dodgers played against the visiting Giants.

After that first game at L.A. Memorial in 1958, the reports in The Times were positive:

The novel experiment of big league baseball in a vast stadium designed for track and football seemed an unalloyed success.

Just 11 seasons after the Shot Heard Round the World, the Dodgers and the Giants, firmly entrenched on the West Coast, once again had to play a three-game tiebreaker series to determine a pennant. Once again the tie in the standings came after the Dodgers faded badly down the stretch. And once again, the Giants triumphed, going ahead dramatically in the ninth inning to win Game 3 and capture the pennant. The list of parallels wouldnt have been complete without a subsequent World Series loss to the Yankees, and the Giants delivered that as well. But not before humiliating their most fierce rivals.

Arthur Daleys Sports of the Times column did not hold back.

The ignominious crack-up of the Dodgers reached splintering force today, leaving shattered hopes behind. They had the pennant as good as won weeks ago and let themselves get tied by the Giants. They had the final playoff game as good as won in the final inning. They lost it, 6 to 4.

On Aug. 22, 1965, the Dodgers were leading the National League while the Giants were one and a half games behind them. With emotions running high, Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax took turns throwing at star players for both teams and when Marichal came to the plate as a batter in the third inning, he fully expected Koufax to back him off the plate. Instead, it was Dodgers catcher John Roseboro who threw a ball back to Koufax in such a way that it either nicked Marichals ear or came close to doing so. Marichal responded, as a person holding a large piece of wood might, by walloping Roseboro over the head with it a few times.

Marichal earned a hefty suspension and fine, while the Dodgers went on to win the pennant. Marichal finally explained his side of the story a few days after the incident:

First of all I want to apologize for using the bat. I am sorry I did that, but I was afraid of him.

In 1982, the Dodgers and Giants were in a fierce battle with Atlanta for the N.L. West crown, with the three teams separated by one game. A three-game series at San Franciscos Candlestick Park proved disastrous for both teams. The Dodgers won the first two games, thus eliminating the Giants from contention, but then the Giants returned the favor, with help from Joe Morgans three-run homer in the eighth inning, beating the Dodgers on the seasons final day and handing the division crown to Atlanta.

Morgans role as a spoiler was not lost on him, but the former Reds superstar had a bit more perspective than is typical in this rivalry.

I know people are going to say how the Giants live to beat the Dodgers, he said. Thats not the case with me. Im not jumping up and down because we knocked the Dodgers out of the race. Ive learned some humility in my life.

In 1993, the last year of straightforward division races before the wild card was introduced, the Giants put on a show. The season had been an endless battle with Atlanta for the N.L. West crown (side note: Atlanta was in the N.L. West), and Atlanta had made itself far stronger down the stretch by adding the slugger Fred McGriff in a midseason trade. Still, the Giants were a force to be reckoned with thanks to the sluggers Barry Bonds, Matt Williams and Will Clark.

Atlanta led the division by four games on Sept. 17, but at the end of the games on Oct. 2, the second to last day of the season, the teams were tied on top. On Oct. 3, Atlanta took care of its business, beating the Colorado Rockies by 5-3. The Giants, meanwhile, were absolutely demolished by the Dodgers, who seemingly relished playing spoilers against their rivals in an ugly 12-1 game.

Peter Magowan, then a co-owner of the Giants, had the line of the day when asked about the defeat coming on the 42nd anniversary of Bobby Thomsons pennant-winning homer.

Oct. 3 is still a historic day in Giant history, he said. Its just some days in history are bad days.

Go here to see the original:

A Brief History of the Dodgers and Giants Rivalry - The New York Times

Along the Southern California coast, tens of thousands of oil wells are sitting next to scenic beaches, dotting coastal mountains, and evenoccupying residential blocks of urban Los Angeles. Platforms on the Pacific Ocean pull oil from deep-sea wells and send it to the mainland via pipelines on the seafloor. Onshore and off,California's oil and gas industry persists, despite state goals to cut back carbon emissions and a legacy of numerous environmental disasters.

In terms of volume, the recent pipeline leak near Huntington Beach (at least 126,000 gallons of crude oil released) pales in comparison to some of Southern California's previous environmental disasters.

Decades of leaks discovered under dunesAfter ceasing operations in 1994, it was discovered that pipelines at the Guadalupe Oil Field had been leaking diluenta product that helps move oil through pipesfor perhaps four decades. An estimated 12 million gallons of the substance had been released underground into nearby dunes, beaches, the groundwater, and the Pacific Ocean.

Santa Barbara mega-spill starts a movementIn January 1969, a well on the Dos Cuadras field spewed as much as 4.2 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean. Oil from this incident was later found as far south as Mexico. The disaster killed thousands of birds and helped bring about the first Earth Day, in 1970.

Explosion causes fatalities at the L.A. HarborIn December 1976, a loaded oil tanker named Sansinena exploded and killed nine people while refueling at the Los Angeles Harbor. The huge blast severed a nearby pipeline and released 1.2 million gallons of oil into the water.

See more here:

Mapping Southern California oil extraction and its history of spills - National Geographic

Preview: Preservation New Jersey documentary 'Saved or Lost Forever"

Preservation New Jersey is set to release a short documentary 'Saved or Lost Forever" in March 2020 about Garden State historic preservation efforts.

Courtesy of Preservation New Jersey

PARAMUS The historic Van Dien-Ruffgarten House, which has ties to a tiny community of Black homesteaders, will be spared the wrecking ball after years in limbo.

A developer hadrequesteda demolition permit for the West Midland Avenue property in 2019. At the time, Bill Twomey, who acts as manager for the applicant, 113-117 West Midland Avenue LLC, said the house was "beyond its useful life."

Now, however, the owner is seeking to preserve the stone portion of the historic home, although a later woodframe addition will be razed.An application to subdivide the property into three lots, which woulddesignate one lot for the preservation of the home, was heard by the Planning Board on Thursday night.

The house sits on a 9-acre lot and is one of six remaining Jersey Dutch stone houses in the borough. Built between the 1840s and 1850s, the one-room stone portion of the home was said to be occupied by members of a small enclave of educated and independent African Americans. It was placed on Preservation New Jersey's list of most endangered historic places in 2016.

The house was sold in the 1800sto Peter Ruffgarten, an immigrant from the Netherlands, who enlarged it by adding the frame section in 1869, according to nonprofit Preservation New Jersey.

Under the proposal, two of the three subdivided lots would be eligible for the building of a single-family home. An existingsingle-familyhouse on the property near the Van Dien-Ruffgarten House would remain standing.

More: Act now to save historic Van Dien-Ruffgarten House | Opinion

The applicant plans to offer the historic home to the borough or to a nonprofit.Ifthere is no interest, the new owner plans to maintain the house.

The Van Dien-Ruffgarten House is one of the boroughs last ties to Black history after the Zabriskie Tenant House was torn down in 2011. In the midst of plans to move the Zabriskie house to Bergen Community College, the developer razed the building and replaced it with two luxury homes.

H.Gelfand, thechairman of the Bergen County Historical Society Historic Preservation Committee,said he had a lot of questions he'd like answered before celebrating the proposal, including how a restoration would be done and if it would be done correctly. The stone house is now shored up by strips of lumber.

He'd also like to hear what type of use would be considered for the house. "What I don't want to happen is to go through all the trouble to restore it and then have it not be used and fall apart," said Gelfand.

More: Paramus Council changes zoning to allow age-restricted housing at Joy's Farm

He also wished to see the wooden portion of the house saved, since he believed it would also be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

"Why would the entirety of the house not be restored and then either sell it to someone who wants to live in a historic home or why not use it as Section 8 housing?" said Gelfand. "That way, there's an active use for the house."

Hearing for the subdivision proposal will continue at the Planning Board's Oct. 21 meeting.

Stephanie Nodais a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:noda@northjersey.com

Twitter:@snoda11

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An 1800s home in Paramus with ties to Black history will be spared, developer says - NorthJersey.com

It needs a good bit of work, but someone interested in local history could find quite a lot of it within the walls of an old stone farm house in Jeannettes Seneca Heights neighborhood.

In the 100 block of Locust Street, a dark stone house predating the city sits near the top of the hill. Originally granted by warrant in July 1784 to Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Kimmel (or Keemel, depending on which document from the state archives youre looking at), the property once was more than 300 acres. Later, Kimmel split the property and gave part to his son Andrew.

The home itself was built in 1779, according to a publication celebrating Jeannettes 75th anniversary. Jeannette became a city in 1888.

A few years before that, in 1876, the house was the birthplace of Maud M.B. Trescher, the first woman elected to the Jeannette school board in 1921 and the first woman elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1924.

In 1917, with the country in the throes of World War I, George and Mary Jupena bought the property. At that time, it still was part of Hempfield, according to the Jupenas great-granddaughter, Patricia Beggs of Greensburg.

It was part of a section of Hempfield that was eventually incorporated into Jeannette, Beggs said. They also built a red-brick home two lots down thats no longer there.

On an old lot map Beggs found in the state archives collection, a large section of the original property stands out as the biggest in the neighborhood. It is labeled the Mansion House.

Because of its size, Beggs said it often was used as a duplex for multiple tenants, including her aunt Jeannette, who was the first baby to be born in the city after its 1888 incorporation.

Beggs mostly remembers visiting her grandmother at the house when she was younger.

Wed stay overnight, walk down to Enricos Bakery, she said. On football nights, wed walk to the stadium. We had a lot of fun there.

Beggs and her siblings want to sell the home, which is listed at $99,500, to someone with an interest in its history.

The 5,000-square-foot house is a fixer-upper, to be sure. But it has a host of interesting features, including a newer section on the rear with curved archway entrances, a double staircase leading to the second floor a vestige of its days as a duplex and two large (currently nonfunctional) fireplaces that had been plastered over.

My dad always loved it here, Beggs said. He knew there was a lot of history, and he wanted to see it restored.

For more on the home, see OldHouses.com/31230.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Read the rest here:

Jeannette 'Mansion House' that predates city is home to local history - and up for sale - TribLIVE

1981: New York Yankees 3, Milwaukee Brewers 2

Lets start off with a bit of a bonus entry. While the League Division Series didnt start in full until the playoffs expanded in 1994 (and officially happened for the first time in 1995), the template for the division series actually came around in 1981. That season, the season was split in half due to the midseason players strike. As the winners of the second half of the season in the AL East, the Brewers earned their first ever postseason spot that year, and faced the Yankees in a divisional round created just for this season. While the Brewers had the best overall record in the AL East (62-47), the Yankees had home-field advantage due to an agreement made for this postseason, giving the first half winners the right to host the last three games and the second half winners the right to host the first two.

Despite home-field advantage, the first four games went to the road team. With the Brewers hosting their first postseason games in team history, they couldnt get a win, going down 2-0 in the series after their two home games at County Stadium. The series shifted to New York, and the Brewers rallied back with two straight wins to force a decisive Game 5. Despite leading 2-0 early in Game 5, the Yankees rallied with 4 runs in the fourth inning and added on to take the game and win the series.

Though the Brewers made another postseason appearance in 1982, the series went back to the original format that did not feature a division series, and the Brewers wouldnt appear in another until 2008.

After a 26-year playoff drought, the 2008 season put the Brewers back in the postseason for the first time since 1982. It was a memorable season, but their first series back in the postseason wasnt quite as memorable.

Yovani Gallardo got the start in Game 1, but fell behind when the Phillies scored three in the third inning, and Cole Hamels kept the Brewers off the board. The Brewers did have a chance in the ninth when they got to closer Brad Lidge. Ray Durham singled and Ryan Braun drove him in with a double. J.J. Hardy walked with two outs to put the tying run on base and a wild pitch put him in scoring position, but Corey Hart struck out to end the game.

Brewers ace CC Sabathia was on the mound for Game 2, but after his run to carry the Brewers into the postseason, he was spent in this game. The Brewers led early thanks to a bases loaded walk, but the Phillies scored five in the second to build a big lead, with most of that coming from a grand slam by Shane Victorino. The Brewers added another run in the seventh, but they couldnt rally beyond that and went home down 2-0.

Hoping to force a decisive Game 5 in Philadelphia, the Brewers sent Jeff Suppan to the mound to start Game 4. However, it didnt go well. Suppan pitched just three innings and allowed five runs. The Brewers trailed the whole game as Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home run. The Brewers did score a couple of runs late, but it wasnt nearly enough and their season came to an end with a 6-2 loss.

With a franchise record 96 wins in 2011, the Brewers entered the postseason for the first time as the NL Central Division champion. They took the #2 seed in this postseason, and got to host the #3 seed Diamondbacks to start out the playoffs.

Game 1 was a nice welcome back to the playoffs for the team. Playing before the home crowd, they put together a strong performance. Yovani Gallardo was stellar, allowing just one run in eight innings pitched. Jerry Hairston drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly, Jonathan Lucroy added the second with an RBI single, and Prince Fielder added some fireworks with a two-run home run in the seventh inning. It was basically all Brewers from start to finish as the Brewers got the Game 1 win.

Game 2 wasnt as smooth but still came out in the Brewers favor. Zack Greinke made the Game 2 start and was roughed up a bit, allowing four runs in five innings (with three home runs allowed). However, the Brewers offense backed him up. Ryan Braun had the Brewers on the board early with a two-run home run in the first inning. The Brewers added two more in the third with a Fielder RBI single and Rickie Weeks RBI triple, but the Diamondbacks tied it up in the fifth inning at 4-4. However, the Brewers offense responded in the sixth, sending ten batters to the plate. They had four singles, two walks (one intentional), and a double to score five runs, and the Brewers were up 9-4. The bullpen would hold it there the rest of the way, and the Brewers had the 2-0 series lead.

Shifting to Arizona, the Brewers sent out Shaun Marcum in Game 3 looking for the series sweep. However, the Diamondbacks would not go quietly. They roughed up Marcum for seven runs in 4 23 innings. Meanwhile, all the Brewers offense could muster is a Corey Hart solo home run in the third inning. The Brewers took the 8-1 loss, but still had breathing room with a 2-1 series lead.

Unfortunately, Game 4 didnt go any better. This time, Randy Wolf was the pitcher roughed up, as he also allowed seven runs in his start, which just covered three innings. The Brewers offense tried to overcome the deficit, with six runs and eleven hits in the game, led by a 3-for-4 day from Yuniesky Betancourt. However, the early deficit was too much, and the Brewers lost 10-6, tying the series at 2-2 and sending it back to Miller Park.

Game 5 at Miller Park was one for the ages, an all-time classic in Milwuakee Brewers history. Yovani Gallardo was back on the mound for Game 5, hoping to lock the series down. It started out in the Diamondbacks favor, with Justin Upton hitting a solo home run in the third inning to give them the early 1-0 lead. However, the Brewers loaded the bases in the fourth inning, and got one run in on a sacrifice fly from Jerry Hairston, but nothing else. The game was tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning. With two runners on base, Betancourt singled to center field to score Braun, and the Brewers were up 2-1. Takashi Saito and Francisco Rodriguez held the Diamondbacks in check, and John Axford came in for the ninth for the save to end the series. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks got to Axford quick, with a Gerardo Parra double, Sean Burroughs single, and Willie Bloomquist bunt single scoring Parra and tying the game at 2-2. Axford managed to get the next three batters out, but the game was tied and headed to extra innings. Axford stayed in for the tenth inning and sent the Diamondbacks down in order, giving the Brewers the chance to win it in the tenth inning. With one out, Carlos Gomez singled to left field to put the winning run on base. Nyjer Morgan came up and Gomez stole second. On a 2-2 count, Nyjer Morgan hit a single to center field, and the Diamondbacks tried throwing home but werent in time, as Gomez scored to send Miller Park into chaos as the Brewers won the game and the series 3-2. It was the teams first postseason series victory in 29 years.

After a late-season run, the Brewers found themselves as the top seed in the National League for the first time in franchise history, and hosted the Colorado Rockies, who were the Wild Card winner over the Chicago Cubs.

Game 1 featured Brandon Woodruff leading the Brewers rotation in the postseason, with Corbin Burnes behind him. Together, the two combined to pitch five scoreless innings with just one hit and one walk allowed, with six strikeouts. Corey Knebel and Josh Hader added three combined scoreless innings as well. Meanwhile, Christian Yelich gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead with a home run in the third inning. The Brewers were in great shape heading to the ninth inning, but Jeremy Jeffress struggled and allowed two runs, sending the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth, Yelich led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Travis Shaw was intentionally walked and pinch hitter Curtis Granderson moved Yelich up to third, but with two outs. Mike Moustakas came up and delivered for the Brewers, hitting a single to right field that scored Yelich and gave the Brewers a 3-2 win.

Jhoulys Chacin got the ball in Game 2 and continued the Brewers strong pitching. He pitched five scoreless innings, and Knebel, Joakim Soria, and Hader combined to keep the Rockies off the board. Jeffress was back in after his blown save in Game 1, but this time kept the Rockies scoreless as well. Meanwhile, on offense, back to back doubles from Moustakas and Hernan Perez scored a run in the fifth. The Brewers tacked on three more in the eighth for some breathing room, and the Brewers got a 4-0 win.

The series went to Colorado from there, and the pitching remained on point. Despite pitching in hitter friendly Coors Field, the Brewers staff was still excellent. Wade Miley got the Game 3 start and pitched 4 23 scoreless innings. Meanwhile, the Brewers manufactured a run in the first and tacked on from there. Jesus Aguilar hit a solo home run in the fourth, a crazy sequence in the sixth that involved a balk and a wild pitch plated two more Brewers runs, and back-to-back home runs in the ninth from Orlando Arcia and Keon Broxton extended the lead further. Meanwhile, the Brewers bullpen was lights out again, and the Brewers secured the 3-0 series sweep.

The Brewers now start their fifth division series in franchise history, against the fifth different opponent theyve faced in a division series. Theyve won their last two division series and are favored to extend that streak. Can the Brewers make it a third straight division series win?

Read more here:

Milwaukee Brewers history in the NLDS - Brew Crew Ball

Years ago, anyone driving back home to Charlotte knew theyd officially arrived when they saw the JFG Coffee sign. Since 1964, the iconic sign was right off the John Belk Freeway and as much of a landmark for the Queen City as the Duke Energy Building is now.

It came down in 2009 and much of Charlotte mourned.

And you hear that about a lot of these different signs, said Adria Focht, president and CEO of Charlotte Museum of History. It's like, Oh, that was how I knew this was home. This was school.

Its placemaking, right? And that's a big part of historic preservation and why we do it, why we advocate for historic preservation. Obviously, businesses come and go, but some of the businesses that we're highlighting were really cultural cornerstones or, you know, community cornerstones for Charlotte.

Starting Oct. 16, the JFG Coffee sign will be one of the signs featured in the Charlotte Museum of Historys new exhibit, Charlotte: Signs of Home. Other signs among the exhibit include one for Eastland Mall and the recently removed sign for The Penguin.

We have all these icons of places in Charlotte that were near and dear to peoples hearts, Focht said.

In fact, the exhibit might be a bit sad for those who yearn for Charlottes past.

But the icons still exist, Focht said. And people still think of them fondly and think of the time spent (there).

The exhibition kicks off Thursday, Oct. 14 with Charlotte Gem, a party on the museums grounds that will include performances by Nouveau Sud Circus Project, ax throwing, drinks and appetizers and access to new museum exhibits, including Siloam School. Tickets are $200 or $150 for museum members

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'Signs of Home' showcased in new Charlotte Museum of History exhibit - WFAE

Hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into the tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp near the Cambodian border, in March 1965. | Horst Faas / AP

Mainstream history books portray United States foreign policy in benevolent, glowing terms: American governments have always been dedicated to freedom, democracy and human rights, promoting these ideas and values abroad. In Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, Vijay Prashad challenges these assertions in his short history of U.S. imperialism.

Since the foundation of the U.S., and well before the emergence of modern Republican and Democratic parties, governments have pursued policies of expansionism, conquest, and empire building, according to Prashad. In 1823, President James Monroe announced that Latin America and the Caribbean were now under U.S. control. In its presumptive backyard, the U.S. went to war with Mexico in the 1840s and seized one-third of the country. Earlier, in 1812, it had made a similar, but unsuccessful attempt with Canada, then under British control.

When countries pursued independent policies that Washington disagreed with, they were dealt with brutally. In 1912, the president of Nicaragua attempted to create a Federal Republic of Central America and with the help of Germany build a canal that would compete with the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal. U.S. Marines invaded the country, deposed the president and stayed for 20 years.

After World War II, the U.S. expanded and maintained its hegemony less through military invasions and more by encouraging or organizing coups that installed subservient governments. In Guatemala, the government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1953 nationalized idle lands owned by the U.S. multinational United Fruit Company to distribute to landless farmers. When U.S.-backed mercenaries failed to overthrow the government, CIA officials warned Guatemalan army commanders that the U.S. military would invade if they did not depose the duly elected reformist government. Military officers drove Arbenz to the airport and forced him to undress in an act of humiliation before being allowed to fly to Mexico, where he was granted political asylum. For the next 40 years the country would be governed by repressive military juntas. The bananas kept coming.

Also in 1953, the U.S. organized a successful coup against the reform-minded government in Iran which nationalized the British-owned oil industry. In the 1960s and 70s, the CIA overthrew leftwing governments in Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Chile, among other places. Prashad recites an old joke: Why has there not been a coup in the U.S.? Because there is no U.S. Embassy there.

We all know about recent U.S.-backed coups against Evo Morales in Bolivia and Bertrand Aristide in Haiti, but the world does not know the same thing happened in Japan. Prashad reveals how the Obama administration forced the Japanese Prime Minister to resign in 2010 after he demanded that the U.S. remove its military bases from the Japanese island of Okinawa.

The U.S. also ensured that global trade, finance and development were controlled by U.S.-dominated institutions. The American dollar became the central currency of the global economic system. If any country displeased the U.S. government, and if a regime of sanctions were put in place, this institutional architecture could throttle any government, wiping out lines of credit, making it impossible to sell its goods and settle payments, writes Prashad. No system outside the control of the U.S. government was allowed to remain in place.

One obstacle the Americans faced was the emergence of strong communist and left-leaning nationalist movements and parties after 1945. The Soviet Bloc, with the help of a USSR recovering from the war, created another economic and political model outside of U.S. control. In some places in the so-called Third World where new nations were born out of their colonial past, that model offered viable alternatives, resulting in a series of local proxy wars, each side backed by one of the great superpowers.

Such left-wing movements grew strong, and even came to power in some countries. To eliminate such opposition, the U.S. government worked with military juntas from Brazil to Bolivia to Argentina to Colombia to abduct, torture and kill communists, socialists and human rights advocates during Operation Condor in South America that ran from 1975 to 1989. It would result in 100,000 deaths, the imprisonment of 500,000, and the handing off of babies born to pregnant activists for adoption.

The U.S. encouraged the 1965 military coup against the left-leaning nationalist government of Indonesia that had been supported by the countrys powerful Communist Party. The U.S. and Australian embassies provided the Indonesian army with lists of vaguely identified communists who had to be executed. In a short period, soldiers killed an estimated 1 million CP members and sympathizers. Rivers ran red with their blood as bodies floated out to sea. Whether in Guatemala or in Indonesia, or by the 1967 Phoenix program in South Vietnam, the U.S. egged on local oligarchs, and their friends in the armed forces to completely decimate the left, writes Prashad.

In the Middle East, the CIA encouraged Saudi Arabia to form the Muslim World League in 1962 to organize people on the basis of fundamentalist religion. This organization, amply funded with Saudi oil money, would preach the gospel of Islam and seek to turn young people inward, against anti-colonialism, communism and trade unionism in countries with large numbers of Muslim communists or where powerful anti-colonial movements had taken power.

Prashad sheds light on how the U.S. used terror and murder to achieve its goal of weakening left governments and movements in the postwar years, citing a chilling 19-page CIA document on Guatemala titled A Study of Assassination distributed in 1953. No assassination instructions should ever be written or recorded, says the study. Decisions must be made in the field and kept there. There is a list of tools that can be used in an assassination, from hammers to kitchen knives, anything hard, heavy, and handy will suffice. Absolute reliability is obtained by severing the spinal cord in the cervical region, which can be done by a knife. Persons who are squeamish should not attempt it. The CIA would continue to produce such studies for U.S.-friendly military regimes and paramilitary forces abroad, with ample results.

After the dissolution of the USSR and the Eastern European socialist bloc in 1991, the U.S. according to Prashad has become even more aggressive. The socialist bloc had provided military protection as well as economic aid to countries that broke from the capitalist model. Those socialist countries remaining in the Third World were left to fend for themselves. The U.S. would invade Iraq and Afghanistan, bomb former Yugoslavian states and Libya, and finance a brutal contra war against Syria. Pressure has built up on China and Russia, writes Prashad, through expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe and with the buildup of U.S. forces in the Pacific Rim region.

Those countries that will not submit to the U.S. such as Cuba, Syria, Venezuela, Belarus, Iran and North Korea are subject to crushing economic sanctions. Prashad cites one study reporting that U.S. sanctions against Venezuela have killed at least 40,000 people because the country could not import certain key medicines. Prashad suggests that the U.S. has gone after Venezuela (which has vast oil reserves and is generous in helping struggling neighboring countries) to weaken and destroy Cuba, which has strong trade ties with the South American nation.

Washington Bullets, written in beautiful prose, provides a myriad of interesting stories and details about American foreign policy and interventions. This slim volume is especially recommended for beginners seeking an introductory course on U.S. imperialism.

Vijay PrashadWashington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and AssassinationsNew York: Monthly Review, 2020, 162 pagesPaperback $17.00, clothbound $89.00Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58367-906-7Cloth ISBN: 978-1-58367-907-4

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'Washington Bullets': The U.S. history of coups and assassinations under review - People's World

In June, The Pantagraph dug into the history behind some of the Twin Cities most unusual street names. But in a community with history dating back nearly 200 years, theres plenty of ground left to cover when it comes to the naming of city streets.

BLOOMINGTON In June, The Pantagraph dug into the history behind some of the Twin Cities most unusual street names. But in a community with history dating back nearly 200 years, theres plenty of ground left to cover when it comes to the naming of city streets.

Heres a look at 12 more street names in Bloomington-Normal:

In this November 2017 file photo, traffic moves on Linden Street after the opening of the rebuilt bridge over Sugar Creek north of Emerson Street in Bloomington. Linden is one of many streets named for trees in Bloomington-Normal, a reminder of early Twin Citian Jesse Fell's affection for trees.

1. A series of tree-themed names. If youve noticed a number of Bloomington-Normal streets named for trees, the credit goes to early Twin Citian Jesse Fell. He loved trees, as evidenced by the nearly 20 streets named for trees, and the several thousand shade trees he had planted along those byways. Among them are Chestnut, Elm, Hickory, Linden, Locust, Maple, Mulberry, Oak, Poplar and Walnut.

Franklin K. Phoenix named Emerson Street for fellow "radical" of his time Ralph Waldo Emerson.

2. Streets with a radical beginning. Franklin K. Phoenix laid out a large city addition in about 1867, and Franklin and Phoenix avenues now bear his name. Franklin was, according to an early history of McLean County, a radical in politics, in religion, and in everything. So, he named streets for other radicals at the time, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner and Henry Ward Beecher. Emerson and Beecher streets still exist, but Garrison and Sumner have been renamed.

In this November 2017 file photo, blazing red trees line Empire and Prairie streets. When Prairie Street was named, its northern end stopped at the prairie, and it was believed this would always be true.

3. Prairie Street. When this street was named, stretching north-south between Empire and Grove streets, its northern end stopped at the prairie, and it was believed this would always be true. Today, the city has expanded well beyond that point, and where Prairie meets Empire is now the edge of the busy Illinois Wesleyan University campus. One would have to drive a few more miles for a glimpse of the prairie.

S.R. White laid out White Place, North Clinton Boulevard and Fell Avenue in 1898, aiming for the neighborhoods to hold several fine residences with new streets, elegant pavements and improvements.

4. White Place. S.R. White laid out this street and others nearby in 1898. He aimed for it to hold several fine residences with new streets, elegant pavements and improvements. Indeed, White Place today, along with North Clinton Boulevard and Fell Avenue, is home to some of Bloomingtons most beautiful historic homes, with plenty of mature trees forming a canopy over the streets. Clinton and White Place also have medians with additional greenery.

The Park Place Subdivision in west Bloomington, and part of Normal, has several streets named for tiles on the iconic Monopoly board game.

5. A Monopoly on street names. The Park Place Subdivision in west Bloomington, and part of Normal, has several streets named for tiles on the iconic Monopoly board game: Pacific Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Reading Road, Ventnor Avenue, Boardwalk Circle and Park Place Drive. The subdivision plan was approved in 1988, and while it was originally proposed to feature streets named after trees, developers Vern and Kurt Prenzler must have had a change of heart. Perhaps they thought the Twin Cities had enough streets named for trees? (See No. 1.)

Empire Street was named for a large factory in town called The Empire Works.

6. Empire Street. To what empire is this busy street referring? Originally called North Grove Street, it was changed to Empire Street to reflect a large factory in town called The Empire Works. The factorys creator, W.F. Flagg, built the countys second courthouse, a brick building that stood from 1836 to 1868. He was also known for his invention and manufacturing of early harvesting machines, and for his work in real estate. Flaggs legacy also lives on in Bloomingtons Eugene Street, which was named for one of his sons, described as a young man of great promise who died in early manhood.

Normals place in Steak n Shake history is cemented with this street named for A.H. Gus Belt, who founded the restaurant chain in Normal in 1934.

7. Belt Avenue. Normals place in Steak n Shake history is cemented with this street named for A.H. Gus Belt, who founded the restaurant chain in Normal in 1934.

Bloomington might not exist if it werent for James Allin, who donated the original 25 acres of land that became the city. He would go on to name Catherine and Livingston streets for his wife, Catherine Livingston Allin, and Lee Street for his son, Lee Allin.

8. Allin Street. Bloomington might not exist if it werent for James Allin, who donated the original 25 acres of land that became the city. He would go on to name Catherine and Livingston streets for his wife, Catherine Livingston Allin, and Lee Street for his son, Lee Allin.

Developer Bill Brady Jr.s father, William Brady Sr., came up with the name "Willedrob" by combining parts of his three sons names: William, Edward and Robert.

9. Willedrob Drive. If youve even seen a street name and thought, Surely someone just made that up, you would be correct. Developer Bill Brady Jr.s father, William Brady Sr., came up with this name by combining parts of his three sons names: William, Edward and Robert. You can find the street off Four Seasons Road in Bloomington.

Yotzonot Drive comes from the Mayan language and means place of well-being or prosperity. Apparently, the developer of this neighborhood also owned property in the Mexican state of Yucatan, home to a town and a cenote bearing the name Yokdzonot.

10. Yotzonot Drive. This name, while unusual, is not made up. It comes from the Mayan language and means place of well-being or prosperity. Apparently, the developer of this neighborhood also owned property in the Mexican state of Yucatan, home to a town and a cenote bearing the name Yokdzonot.

Pavement patches could been seen in March 2014 on southbound Hershey Road at Lincoln Street on Bloomington's east side. The origin of the name "Hershey Road" is a bit of a puzzler, but we can tell you one thing: Its not named after chocolate. It may have been named for Dr. L.E. Hersey, who owned a violin school in town and was affiliated with the music program at Illinois Wesleyan University, and his son, Max Hersey, a prominent physician and surgeon and at some point the road became Hershey instead of Hersey.

11. Hershey Road. This ones a bit of a puzzler, but we can tell you one thing: Its not named after chocolate. The start of todays Hershey Road is seen on city documents in the 1960s, but at the time, it was merely a country road called public road. In 1969, plans were being made for the Broadmoor Subdivision in southeast Bloomington, and a city map at that time labeled the public road Hershey Road. One theory on the names origin points to two well-known residents by the name of Hersey: Dr. L.E. Hersey, who owned a violin school in town and was affiliated with the music program at Illinois Wesleyan University, and his son, Max Hersey, a prominent physician and surgeon. Its possible the road was named for one or both of these men, but at some point, Hersey became Hershey instead.

In this Pantagraph file photo, McLean County Highway Department crews clear debris from beneath the Union Pacific Railroad underpass on Stringtown Road, just west of Old Route 66 on the southwest side of Bloomington. Settlers began making their homes here in the early 1830s. At the time, there was no formal name for the area, so people identified it by looking for the string of houses, and it soon became known as Stringtown Road.

12. Stringtown Road. Settlers began making their homes in this spot southwest of Bloomington in the early 1830s. At the time, there was no formal name for the area, so people identified it by looking for the string of houses easily seen on the flat prairie land, according to Pantagraph archives. It soon became known as Stringtown Road.

Sources: McLean County Museum of History; Pantagraph archives; City of Bloomington

In this November 2017 file photo, traffic moves on Linden Street after the opening of the rebuilt bridge over Sugar Creek north of Emerson Street in Bloomington. Linden is one of many streets named for trees in Bloomington-Normal, a reminder of early Twin Citian Jesse Fell's affection for trees.

Franklin K. Phoenix named Emerson Street for fellow "radical" of his time Ralph Waldo Emerson.

In this November 2017 file photo, blazing red trees line Empire and Prairie streets. When Prairie Street was named, its northern end stopped at the prairie, and it was believed this would always be true.

S.R. White laid out White Place, North Clinton Boulevard and Fell Avenue in 1898, aiming for the neighborhoods to hold several fine residences with new streets, elegant pavements and improvements.

The Park Place Subdivision in west Bloomington, and part of Normal, has several streets named for tiles on the iconic Monopoly board game.

Empire Street was named for a large factory in town called The Empire Works.

Normals place in Steak n Shake history is cemented with this street named for A.H. Gus Belt, who founded the restaurant chain in Normal in 1934.

Bloomington might not exist if it werent for James Allin, who donated the original 25 acres of land that became the city. He would go on to name Catherine and Livingston streets for his wife, Catherine Livingston Allin, and Lee Street for his son, Lee Allin.

Developer Bill Brady Jr.s father, William Brady Sr., came up with the name "Willedrob" by combining parts of his three sons names: William, Edward and Robert.

Yotzonot Drive comes from the Mayan language and means place of well-being or prosperity. Apparently, the developer of this neighborhood also owned property in the Mexican state of Yucatan, home to a town and a cenote bearing the name Yokdzonot.

Pavement patches could been seen in March 2014 on southbound Hershey Road at Lincoln Street on Bloomington's east side. The origin of the name "Hershey Road" is a bit of a puzzler, but we can tell you one thing: Its not named after chocolate. It may have been named for Dr. L.E. Hersey, who owned a violin school in town and was affiliated with the music program at Illinois Wesleyan University, and his son, Max Hersey, a prominent physician and surgeon and at some point the road became Hershey instead of Hersey.

In this Pantagraph file photo, McLean County Highway Department crews clear debris from beneath the Union Pacific Railroad underpass on Stringtown Road, just west of Old Route 66 on the southwest side of Bloomington. Settlers began making their homes here in the early 1830s. At the time, there was no formal name for the area, so people identified it by looking for the string of houses, and it soon became known as Stringtown Road.

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Watch now: The history of 12 more street names in Bloomington-Normal - The Pantagraph

This is the second time a La Russa team has met a Baker team in the playoffs; the other was a five-game victory for Bakers San Francisco Giants over La Russas Cardinals in the 2002 N.L. Championship Series. It remains Baker's only pennant in his 24 seasons as a manager, and his team lost the World Series in seven games to the Angels.

La Russa managed for 33 seasons without a break, from 1979 through 2011, with the White Sox, the As and the Cardinals. He won six pennants, three championships and a spot in the Hall of Fame, then returned to Chicago this season after a 10-year hiatus from the dugout, eager to fit in with a team on the rise.

The first conversation I had with him in the off-season, right when he was hired, I was expecting Tony La Russa, Hall of Fame manager, to be very strict, to be very like: Im in charge. This is what were going to do, said Lucas Giolito, who will start Game 2 on Friday. And I was very surprised when, in our first conversation, he told me that: Im coming over. This is your guys team, and Im going to work every day to earn your respect starting in Day 1 of spring training. And hes done that.

Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the White Sox, had always regretted La Russas departure in 1986, when General Manager Ken Harrelson fired him. The White Sox are the only team La Russa has managed that has not won the World Series with him.

This club has inspired me, La Russa said on the field during batting practice before Thursdays Game 1 in Houston, after praising the teams attitude in the interview room. Its a very spirited bunch. In years past, weve had some clubs that had something like this a vocal spirit but this is a real spirited bunch all the time, from the minute you walk in the clubhouse to their pregame, during the game, after the game.

Like La Russa, who inherited a playoff team from the previous manager, Rick Renteria, Baker took over a strong Astros team before last season. The Astros were coming off an A.L. pennant, but they fired Manager A.J. Hinch after revelations of illegal sign stealing during their 2017 title run.

With no connection to the scandal and a knack for bonding with players, Baker fit well for a team in crisis that would also be missing two elite starters: Gerrit Cole, who had signed with the Yankees, and Justin Verlander, who had just one start before sustaining an elbow injury that also cost him the 2021 season. Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia, among others, have capably taken their place.

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Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker Have a History. Now They Meet Again. - The New York Times