A Data Visualization Newsletter

The Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI last night in dramatic fashion, after orchestrating a game-winning drive and a key defensive stop in the final few minutes of play. Two of the game’s most important plays featured Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald, star players that had been carrying the Rams all season long. The Washington Post breaks down their contributions in detail.

Back in the 1930s, officials working for the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) went to hundreds of metropolitan areas across the country to grade neighborhoods on their perceived mortgage-lending risk. The neighborhoods that they “redlined” as hazardous — often because a large number of Black Americans and minorities lived there — suffered from a lack of investment and support for decades. Now, FiveThirtyEight shows how the practice of redlining has left many modern American cities incredibly segregated even today.

After a disappointing second place finish four years ago, Ayumu Hirano redeemed himself in this year’s Olympics by taking home gold in the men’s halfpipe. He started his final run with a frontside triple cork 1440, an incredible, next-level trick that nobody else in the competition even dared to attempt. The New York Times breaks down Hirano’s game-changing run.

The volcanic eruption that rocked Tonga last month blew huge amounts of ash into the air and triggered a major tsunami. But it also triggered one of the largest volcanic lightning events ever recorded, which engulfed the Tonga archipelago and lasted several days. Scientists are still looking into the behavior of the lightning, but Reuters shares what we know so far.