What’s New

Moon Alert

There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Aries.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

You have a strong need to communicate lately, which might be prompted by the fact that once again, you’re in touch with old friends and relatives. Nevertheless, you are restless and taking short trips. (Again?) Look for ways to bounce your ideas off someone.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

You have money on your mind — cash flow, earnings, assets, and, of course, your possessions. In fact, you’re thinking lot about this right now. Today things are nicely balanced in your mind because some behind-the-scenes news or research makes you feel better. Good.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Today everything is pretty copacetic. The sun is in your sign dancing nicely with the moon in Aries. (It’s a friendly combo.) Naturally, with Mercury retrograde taking place in your own sign, things are frustrating. Silly errors and misplaced items! Oy! Courage. This is small potatoes.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Even though you’re happy to take a backseat at the moment, Venus and Mars are both in your sign pushing you to be sociable, friendly and physically active with others — even competitive! The main thing is Venus will smooth all your relations with everyone.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

You want to socialize with others, especially people who are far way or different. In part, this is because you want the stimulation of talking to someone fascinating as well as a chance to learn something new and expand your world. Smart choice.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

With the sun still at high noon in your chart casting you in a flattering spotlight, you are unstoppable! Go after what you want because you look good to others, especially bosses and VIPs. Timing is everything. That’s why now is the time to make your pitch.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

It’s Friday and this is a great day to schmooze with everyone! Be prepared to go more than halfway when dealing with others because the moon is opposite your sign. (Aries and Libra are 180 degrees opposite.) Make sure that whatever you do is stimulating and a tad adventurous. Hmmm?

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Do yourself a favor. It’s the end of the week and the planetary energy right now will help you to finish some kind of job or project, perhaps related to your work or some financial matters. Whatever the case, do what you can to get this stuff off your plate. Just do it.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

It’s Friday and you’re in a playful mood! Enjoy fun times with kids, sports activities and entertaining diversions. Ex partners might be back in the picture, which could complicate things — or not. Your breezy style will probably take everything in stride.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Be patient with partners and close friends because with Mars opposite your sign, it’s easy to be annoyed with someone. (Of course, they might be annoying!) You’ve been working hard, which is why you want to cocoon at home. It figures.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

TGIF! You’ve been in party mode this week and perhaps enthused about sports events or fun activities with kids. Romance is also looking cozy! That’s why today, you are eager to talk to others and get the latest scoop on what’s happening. (“Yeah, yeah, who wants to know?”)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

You have been strongly focused on home and family, in part because relatives might be in touch again. Today you are balancing money and how to handle your possessions and keep everyone happy. Fear not because you will you be able to do this. Why? You bring the magic!

If Your Birthday Is Today

Imprisoned Russian activist, lawyer Alexei Navalny (1976) shares your birthday. You have the charisma to be convincing and draw people to you. You are restless, versatile and lovable to others. You are also trustworthy and reliable. Domestic responsibility will be your theme this year, which is why you will be focused on your obligations to home, friends and family. Finances and romance look promising.

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Davies allowed four runs over 4 1⁄3 innings on Thursday against the Giants. It was the first time he’s allowed three earned runs in a game since April 26.

SAN FRANCISCO — Zach Davies had a lot of things go right during his bounceback in May, but he didn’t have as much success in his first start in June. Following a 1-2-3 first inning, it was a battle for the Cubs’ right-hander who had traffic on the bases all night Thursday against the Giants.

Davies got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, allowing only one run to score, but San Francisco made him pay in the fourth and fifth innings.

Manager David Ross removed his starter from the game in the fifth inning after he allowed two singles and a walk, but reliever Rex Brothers came in and promptly served up a long three-run blast to Brandon Crawford to give the Giants a three-run lead.

Davies finished the game going 4 ⅓ innings allowing four runs on eight hits, walking two batters and striking out four. It was his first start allowing more than three earned runs since April 26.

Heyward, Marisnick getting close

All reports are trending in the right direction for Jason Heyward and Jake Marisnick, and the Cubs’ outfielders could be back soon.

Heyward went 0-for-2 with a walk and Marisnick was 1-for-3 with a double in the first game of their rehab assignment on Wednesday. Heyward added a home run on Thursday in their second game on Thursday. Both could return to the team by the weekend.

Right-hander Alec Mills (lower back strain) made his third rehab start in Wednesday’s game for Triple-A Iowa, tossing six scoreless innings.

“The guys had a nice game,” manager David Ross said.

“Mills threw the ball really well. The trainers said everything went well. No negative repercussions from playing in the game.”

Down on the farm

It’s going to be a while before Brennen Davis is playing in the big leagues, but he is beginning to make a push toward Chicago.

Davis, 22, is the Cubs’ No. 1 prospect and baseball’s No. 48 prospect overall, according to MLB Pipeline. He made an impression during major-league camp during spring training and got off to a fast start at Advanced-A South Bend, sporting a .321/.406/.607 slashline with two homers. Davis was promoted to Double-A Tennessee on Tuesday.

The Cubs’ 2019 second-round pick, second-base prospect Chase Strumpf, also was promoted to Double-A Tennessee and started out strong, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a two-run home run.

Pitching prospect Ryan Jensen tossed five hitless innings with seven strikeouts for Advanced-A South Bend on Wednesday. The right-hander, who is the Cubs’ No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA in five starts this season.

He said it

“It’s a blessing. It’s a great opportunity to be here with this team. Being able to play for the Chicago Cubs is something that I’m really fortunate for and excited about. … This clubhouse is very united. There’s a lot of unity here. They’re supporting you through the highs and the lows. If you get a hit, if you don’t get hit, they’re always giving you feedback support. It’s [a clubhouse] that I’m very grateful and happy to be a part of.”

— Sergio Alcantara, Cubs infielder

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Davies allowed four runs over 4 1⁄3 innings on Thursday against the Giants. It was the first time he’s allowed three earned runs in a game since April 26.

SAN FRANCISCO — Zach Davies had a lot of things go right during his bounceback in May, but he didn’t have as much success in his first start in June. Following a 1-2-3 first inning, it was a battle for the Cubs’ right-hander who had traffic on the bases all night Thursday against the Giants.

Davies got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, allowing only one run to score, but San Francisco made him pay in the fourth and fifth innings.

Manager David Ross removed his starter from the game in the fifth inning after he allowed two singles and a walk, but reliever Rex Brothers came in and promptly served up a long three-run blast to Brandon Crawford to give the Giants a three-run lead.

Davies finished the game going 4 ⅓ innings allowing four runs on eight hits, walking two batters and striking out four. It was his first start allowing more than three earned runs since April 26.

Heyward, Marisnick getting close

All reports are trending in the right direction for Jason Heyward and Jake Marisnick, and the Cubs’ outfielders could be back soon.

Heyward went 0-for-2 with a walk and Marisnick was 1-for-3 with a double in the first game of their rehab assignment on Wednesday. Heyward added a home run on Thursday in their second game on Thursday. Both could return to the team by the weekend.

Right-hander Alec Mills (lower back strain) made his third rehab start in Wednesday’s game for Triple-A Iowa, tossing six scoreless innings.

“The guys had a nice game,” manager David Ross said.

“Mills threw the ball really well. The trainers said everything went well. No negative repercussions from playing in the game.”

Down on the farm

It’s going to be a while before Brennen Davis is playing in the big leagues, but he is beginning to make a push toward Chicago.

Davis, 22, is the Cubs’ No. 1 prospect and baseball’s No. 48 prospect overall, according to MLB Pipeline. He made an impression during major-league camp during spring training and got off to a fast start at Advanced-A South Bend, sporting a .321/.406/.607 slashline with two homers. Davis was promoted to Double-A Tennessee on Tuesday.

The Cubs’ 2019 second-round pick, second-base prospect Chase Strumpf, also was promoted to Double-A Tennessee and started out strong, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a two-run home run.

Pitching prospect Ryan Jensen tossed five hitless innings with seven strikeouts for Advanced-A South Bend on Wednesday. The right-hander, who is the Cubs’ No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA in five starts this season.

He said it

“It’s a blessing. It’s a great opportunity to be here with this team. Being able to play for the Chicago Cubs is something that I’m really fortunate for and excited about. … This clubhouse is very united. There’s a lot of unity here. They’re supporting you through the highs and the lows. If you get a hit, if you don’t get hit, they’re always giving you feedback support. It’s [a clubhouse] that I’m very grateful and happy to be a part of.”

— Sergio Alcantara, Cubs infielder

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Popped an unfiltered Zwickelbier from Germany Radeberger.Read More

The Cubs were lights out in May, but they’re not looking in the rearview mirror with a lot of baseball remaining.

SAN FRANCISCO — As the calendar turned to June and more than a quarter of the season passed, the Cubs’ situation has gotten a lot more interesting. Not only have they found themselves in first place in the National League Central, the Cubs have flipped the script on what many believed would be a season of finality for the team’s collection of stars.

After several weeks of chasing the target of topping the NL Central, the Cubs now have a target on their backs as they try to continue their strong run of good baseball into what is shaping up to be a crucial stretch against some of baseball’s best.

As they start their stretch of games against several teams currently in the chase for a postseason spot, the Cubs must ensure that their hot month of May isn’t followed by a letdown in June.

“I think there’s a lot of that talk in the media and outside about teams that are having success this year and the West Coast teams that have been really good,” center fielder Ian Happ told the Sun-Times. “Everybody knows the standings and the teams that have played good baseball.

“But at the same time, baseball’s an amazing game because any team can be anybody at any time.”

The Cubs began their West Coast swing on Thursday against the NL West-leading Giants. The team’s confidence is high after sweeping the Padres last weekend, and on Sunday, manager David Ross said he thought his club was “pretty damn good.”

Through Wednesday, the Cubs are 14-9 against teams over .500. They’re also 11-1 against the Padres, Cardinals, Mets and Dodgers, and the Cubs will play each of them again later this month.

But the Cubs have made a point not to let results of the past give them a false sense of accomplishment, especially with more than 60% of the season remaining. Ross, like most managers, takes the “one game at a time” approach, regardless of which teams are on the upcoming schedule.

“I think our goal is to play our best baseball night in and night out and continue to get better,” Ross said. “The more we do that … I think we’ll have some success with the talent level that we have.

“I’ve been on some really good teams that have been beaten by some of the worst teams in the game, and I’ve been on some bad teams that swept a team that may be the hottest team. … When you just roll out and think you’re going to beat somebody because you have names on the back of the jerseys and hardware and all that, it doesn’t work like that in this game.”

The Cubs came into the season with very few expectations, but now that they’re one of the best teams in baseball, those expectations seem to increase by the week.

And if the team’s winning ways against the NL’s best continue as the month rolls along, those expectations should continue to grow.

“I think it’s that holistic mindset,” Happ said. “It doesn’t really matter who you’re lined up against. I don’t think that our team puts any more stock in wins against the Padres than wins against the Pirates. We’re just focused on going out and playing baseball every day.”

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“You can’t come out walking at nights because there is shooting everywhere,’ said Jessica Martinez, 38. “I’m scared to take my babies to the park.”

Maria Medina was on her way to tend to her backyard when she saw a young teen walking her dog with her boyfriend.

She recognized the 14-year-old girl, her family were nice people from the same Back of the Yards neighborhood where Medina has lived for over 30 years. From the back of her house Medina heard two gunshots and, when she thought it safe, ventured to the front to find paramedics trying to save the seventh-grader’s life.

“It’s so sad,” Medina, 76, said in Spanish.

The teen and her boyfriend had just bought snacks from a store at the corner of 48th and Wood streets around 6 p.m. Wednesday when they were confronted by three young gunmen, according to police and the alderman of the ward.

They asked if she was in a gang and she said she wasn’t, at which point the three chased her half-way down the block and opened fire, according to Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), who said he got the details from police.

The gunmen jumped into an SUV and sped off. The girl was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. She underwent surgery Wednesday night.

No one was in custody.

Anthony Vázquez / Sun-Times

A classmate of the girl said she’s outgoing and always befriending new people. She’s an avid drawer and part of their school’s art club, the classmate noted.

“She could talk to anyone and make you feel so comfortable,” the classmate said. “And she really loved her dog.”

Police have said little publicly about what led to the confrontation. Medina said that, in all her years living in the neighborhood, she’s never seen anything like it.

The Back of the Yards neighborhood has been a hot spot for homicides over the years, but within the last year they have significantly dropped. In 2020, the New City community area — which includes Back of the Yards and Canaryville — had 11 homicides. It has seen only 3 so far this year.

Even so, some residents say shootings have gotten worse recently.

“You can’t come out walking at nights because there is shooting everywhere,’ said Jessica Martinez, 38. “I’m scared to take my babies to the park that’s nearby, and I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Lopez tweeted that he heard shots near a grade school as he watched police work the scene where the girl was shot.

“What the hell is going on tonight?” he asked. “I’m still on scene for the gang shooting in Back of the Yards and now 17 rounds fired off in front of Shields Elementary School in Brighton Park.”

Others at the scene were clearly on edge.

Mariah McClinton, 20, said she heard two gunshots and ran to the window to see what was going on. The shooters had already left, but she saw a crowd gathering near the girl and shouting that one of the gunmen had run into her apartment building — which wasn’t true.

“This guy, I don’t know who he was, but he ran up in our building and he started banging on my door,” McClinton said. “I was terrified because he was banging on the door so loud and kicking it that I thought he was going to break it down. I didn’t know if he was one of the shooters trying to hide or who he was. I thought me and my daughter were going to get shot.”

McClinton was alone in the apartment with her 3-year-old daughter. As the banging grew more intense, she pushed her refrigerator in front of the door.

“I called the police telling them there is some man banging on my door, that they need to send someone to stop him,” McClinton said. “But the operator just said it might be the police since they are investigating an incident nearby and I should probably answer the door.

“I knew it wasn’t the cops,” she added. “After what seemed like forever, officers came and stopped the man.”

McClinton said her landlord just informed her that her rent is going from $500 a month to $1,200. But after Wednesday’s shooting she is preparing to move.

“I get they are trying to make this neighborhood more high-end because it has gotten somewhat better in terms of crime, but there is still too much of it here,” McClinton said.

Lopez said a new gang in the area has been recruiting from neighborhood schools — focusing on kids 15 years and younger. He blamed the glorification of gang culture for violence in his ward.

“This elevation of gang life has to come to an end. It’s not cute. It only comes to one outcome, what we saw last night,” he told the Sun-Times.

The girl’s classmate, who’s in eighth grade, said the new gang had been encroaching on the block, with members in both high school and middle school. The classmate once saw them on the block talking to young people.

“She was friends with everyone and tried to be if she could, even people who were affiliated with the old and the new gang,” the classmate said. “I think it’s related to that, and I just want police to know this information.”

On Thursday evening, dozens gathered on the corner of 48th and Wood for a vigil.

Lithzuly Pizano, a friend of the wounded teen, spoke out against statements made by officials attributing the shooting solely to gang violence, arguing that violence in neighborhoods like Back of the Yards stems from disinvestment.

“I think it’s important to note that this is all a result of a lack of investment and a lack of importance being placed on our children in low-income neighborhoods such as Back of the Yards,” Pizano said. “There is so much that she could have done and there’s so much that she will be doing. There is hope.”

Pizano said her friend spends most of her time with her younger sister and used to participate in park district programs that were temporarily cut due to COVID-19. Pizano wouldn’t comment on the young girl’s condition but said her friend “is a fighter.”

Berto Aguayo, executive director of the community organization Increase the Peace, shared a similar message that regardless of background, the lives of all children in Chicago matter.

“There is no way or no reason why in our community it should be this normal for young people to continuously be lost to the streets,” Aguayo said.

Since last week Thursday, at least 10 people 18 or younger have been shot in the city.

Through the end of May, 1,386 people were shot in Chicago, a jump from 1,116 during the same time in 2020. Murders have risen 5% compared to 2020, with the police department reporting 252 murders so far this year.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call Area 1 detectives at (312) 747-8384.

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The actor was heard shouting, swearing in December about the need to practice social distancing.

LONDON — Paramount Pictures on Thursday temporarily shut down production on the British set of Tom Cruise’s seventh “Mission: Impossible” film after someone tested positive for coronavirus.

“We have temporarily halted production on ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ until June 14th, due to positive coronavirus test results during routine testing,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “We are following all safety protocols and will continue to monitor the situation.”

The company provided no further details.

In December, Cruise launched an expletive-laden rant at colleagues on the “Mission: Impossible” set, after he reportedly spotted two crew members violating social distancing rules. In audio released by the Sun tabloid, Cruise can be heard warning that anyone caught not following the rules to stay at least 2 meters (more than 6.5 feet) away from others will be fired.

The film, which paused production for months early last year along with the rest of the film industry when the coronavirus pandemic took hold, is scheduled to be released in 2022.

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The home in North Kenwood where blues legend Muddy Waters lived was granted preliminary landmark status by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Thursday. A great-granddaughter is converting the property at 4339 S. Lake Park Ave. into The MOJO Muddy Waters House Museum.

McKinley Morganfield was born in rural Issaquena County, Mississippi, in 1913, the son of a sharecropper who played guitar on weekends.

His mother died not long after he was born, and he was raised by his grandmother.

She’s the one who gave him the nickname “Muddy,” stemming from his “muddying” for fish in a nearby creek. And when he picked up his first musical instrument, the harmonica — moving on to guitar in his teens — no one could have predicted Morganfield was destined to become the international blues legend “Muddy Waters.”

That would come after he headed north in the Great Migration, settling in Chicago.

And on Thursday, the home in the South Side North Kenwood neighborhood where the blues icon lived and raised his family moved a step closer to becoming a city of Chicago landmark, granted preliminary landmark status by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.

“Muddy Waters was one of the most important figures in the development of the distinctive electrified sound that came to be known as the ‘Chicago blues.’ Muddy Waters skillfully married the raw acoustic Delta blues he learned in Mississippi, with amplification, to create a powerful new urban sound,” Kendalyn Hahn, project coordinator at the Chicago Department of Planning & Development told the commission.

Courtesy of Chicago Department of Planning and Development

“This 1891 structure served as the home of the blues musician and his family from 1954 to 1973. And musicians who came to record or perform in Chicago made the home an unofficial center for the Chicago blues community, a community largely composed of African Americans whose gifts to the world not only shaped American popular music and subsequent generations of musicians, but one which gave the world a uniquely American art form, which speaks to the incredible resilience of the human spirit,” Hahn said.

The property at 4339 S. Lake Park Ave. is owned by Waters’ great-granddaughter, Chandra Cooper, who is converting the brick two-flat — where Waters lived on the first floor, rented out the top floor and had his recording studio in the basement — into The MOJO Muddy Waters House Museum. The preliminary designation passed unanimously.

The project is among burgeoning efforts to honor Black history in a post-George Floyd era, and part of a wave of house museums — including those honoring Emmett and Mamie Till Mobley, Phyllis Wheatley, and Lu and Jorja Palmer — that nearly got blocked by a failed ordinance earlier this year by Ald. Sophia King (4th) to limit them.

Courtesy of Chicago Department of Planning and Development

The Waters house is in the 4th Ward, and while Cooper and King have sparred over roadblocks in recent months, King on Thursday spoke ardently in support of the designation.

“My family comes from the Mississippi Delta. And so this is truly personal for me as well. My grandfather would be proud of me, because he taught me to drive in the backwoods of the Mississippi Delta. My mother picked cotton there. My uncle had to flee there when he was 16 because of fear of lynching,” King said.

“So I lived these stories. To have somebody like Muddy Waters who really put the blues and rock ’n’ roll on the stage, not just here in Chicago but across the country and the world, I’m personally proud. All of the challenges I know he was faced with to break down such barriers and do such significant things — this is a no-brainer for me.”

Courtesy of Chicago Department of Planning and Development

Arriving in Chicago in 1943, Waters played house parties at night for extra money, eventually becoming a regular in local nightclubs. By 1948, Chess Records released his first hits, “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “I Feel Like Going Home,” and his career took off.

By the early 50s, his blues band, at one time or another comprised musicians who went on to make their own mark — Otis Spann, Little Walter Jacobs, Jimmy Rogers, Elgin Evans, Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton — had become one of the most acclaimed in history.

Waters’ classics topped charts, becoming standards in the repertoires of English rock ’n’ roll bands of the ’60s, including The Beatles. The Rolling Stones took their name from Waters’ single, “(Like a) Rolling Stone.”

“On behalf of the family of McKinley Morganfield, we believe it essential for the legacy of African American history that this home be designated a landmark,” Chandra Cooper told the commission, accompanied by her mother, Waters’ granddaughter, Amelia Cooper.

Sun-Times Media

Amelia Cooper lived in the home with her grandfather from 1956 to 1973. Waters moved his family there in 1954, purchasing it in 1956. Independent record companies like Chess, King, Vee Jay, Chance and Parrot, and distributors like United and Bronzeville were then headquartered around Cottage Grove from 47th to 50th streets, and the home became a gathering place for musicians welcomed at all hours.

At one time or another, legends like Otis Spann, Howlin’ Wolf and Chuck Berry stayed on the top floor. Waters lived there until after the death of his wife in 1973. He moved to suburban Westmont, where he lived until his death on April 30, 1983.

“I didn’t think I was going to be that emotional, but just seeing the pictures, and thinking of him and the struggle we went through, it was overwhelming,” Amelia Cooper said later.

“When I was born in 1956, my mother brought me home to that house. When Chandra was born in 1970, I brought her home to that same house. We have a lot of love and pride for that house. This has been a hard fight, and I’m proud of Chandra for not giving up.”

Courtesy of Chicago Department of Planning and Development

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DePaul’s Theatre School retools the MFA acting program to be less expensive and more relevant; plus news from Collaboraction and Playmakers Laboratory

Twenty years ago, actor Cherry Jones gave an interview to the industry trade Backstage, where she called out one of the problems facing those hoping to make acting their profession. “I’ll tell you the thing that frustrates me the most right now for young actors: Graduate programs now in this country seem to be the best way for a young actor to get a calling card into this profession.…Read More

The younger generation of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are on average about three feet shorter than whales were 20 years, drone and aircraft data show in a study in Thursday’s journal Current Biology. Scientists say humans are to blame.

One of the giants of the deep is shrinking before our eyes, a new study says.

The younger generation of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are on average about three feet shorter than whales were 20 years, drone and aircraft data show in a study in Thursday’s journal Current Biology.

Scientists say humans are to blame. Entanglements with fishing gear, collisions with ships and climate change moving their food supply north are combining to stress and shrink these large whales, the study says.

Diminishing size is a threat to the species’ overall survival because the whales aren’t having as many offspring. They aren’t big enough to nurse their young or even get pregnant, study authors said.

These marine mammals used to grow to 46 feet on average, but now the younger generation is on track to average not quite 43 feet, according to the study.

“This isn’t about ‘short’ right whales, it’s about a physical manifestation of a physiological problem, it’s the chest pain before the heart attack,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America, who wasn’t part of the study. “Ignoring it only leads to an inevitable tragedy, while recognizing and treating it can literally save a life, or in this case, an entire species.”

There are only about 356 North Atlantic right whales left, down from 500 in 2010, said study co-author Amy Knowlton, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium. Other estimates put the population around 400, though researchers agree the population is shrinking.

In the past, scientists and activists have concentrated solely on whale deaths, but now they realize there’s a problem afflicting surviving whales that can still cause populations to further dwindle, said study co-author Michael Moore, marine mammals director at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The authors were able to take pictures of 129 of the right whales and use a computer program to compare them to right whales of similar age 20 years ago.

The issue emerged from a research trip several years ago when Knowlton and others saw a few small whales and a dead one. They figured the small whales were calves, less than a year old, because of their size, but checking showed the whales actually were about two years old. Whale calves normally double in size in two years, said study lead author Joshua Stewart, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher.

The study authors said the No. 1 issue with smaller right whales is entanglement in fishing gear, especially ropes that have become stronger and harder for whales to shed.

“Over 83% now of the species has been entangled at least once in their lifetime, some as many as eight times,” Knowlton said. “If it doesn’t kill them, it’s certainly going to affect their ability to reproduce.”

Collisions with ships is another problem. Both fishing gear and ship crashes have been addressed with government regulations in some normal feeding grounds for the whales. But since 2010, climate change has caused plankton the marine mammals eat to move north and east to areas without regulations, so entanglements and crashes increased, Knowlton said.

The shifting of feeding grounds has added more physical stress to North Atlantic right whales, which already were skinny compared to their southern cousin species, Moore said.

“We know that climate change has affected some of their key prey sources, so entangled whales are likely experiencing a triple whammy of less food around, less ability to forage for it, while burning more energy,’’ said Dalhousie University marine biologist Boris Worm, who was not part of the study. “It’s heartbreaking to think about the lives that some of these whales lead.”

Patrick Whittle contributed from Portland, Maine.

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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