diff --git a/api/resolvers/item.js b/api/resolvers/item.js
index 6f0f2856d..50d4d3e67 100644
--- a/api/resolvers/item.js
+++ b/api/resolvers/item.js
@@ -499,7 +499,6 @@ export default {
         const doc = domino.createWindow(html).document
         const metadata = getMetadata(doc, url, { title: metadataRuleSets.title })
         const datedata = extractArticlePublishedDate({ url, doc })
-        console.log(datedata, (new Date() - datedata.date) / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24))
         const dateHint = (datedata && (new Date() - datedata.date) / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24) > 365)
           ? ` (${datedata.date.getFullYear()})`
           : ''
diff --git a/lib/timedate-scraper.js b/lib/timedate-scraper.js
index 210ea4cd8..66334bcd8 100644
--- a/lib/timedate-scraper.js
+++ b/lib/timedate-scraper.js
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ exports.extractFromLDJson = function ({ url, doc }) {
 // returns { date, source } or undefined
 exports.extractFromMeta = function ({ url, doc }) {
   const dateRules = {
+    // note a couple of sad things:
+    // 1. meta names are case sensitive
+    // 2. rules stop if selector matches, even when callback returns false
     rules: [
       ['meta[property="article:published_time"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
       ['meta[name="pubdate"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
@@ -63,11 +66,11 @@ exports.extractFromMeta = function ({ url, doc }) {
       ['meta[name="article_date_original"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
       ['meta[name="cxenseparse:recs:publishtime"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
       ['meta[name="date_published"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
+      ['meta[itemprop="datePublished"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
       ['meta[itemprop="datepublished"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
       ['meta[itemprop="datecreated"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
       ['meta[http-equiv="date"]', node => node.getAttribute('content')],
 
-      // note: rules stop if selector matches, even when callback returns false
       ['meta[property="og:image"]', node => exports.extractFromURL(node.getAttribute('content'))],
       ['meta[itemprop="image"]', node => exports.extractFromURL(node.getAttribute('content'))]
     ]
@@ -91,11 +94,11 @@ exports.extractFromHTMLTag = function ({ url, doc }) {
   ({ date } = getMetadata(doc, url, {
     date: {
       rules: [
-        ['span[itemprop]="datePublished"]', node => node.getAttribute('content') || exports.parseStrDate(node.innerHTML)]
+        ['span[itemprop="datePublished"]', node => node.getAttribute('content') || exports.parseStrDate(node.innerHTML)]
       ]
     }
   }))
-  if (date) return { date, source: 'span[itemprop]="datePublished"]' }
+  if (date) return { date, source: 'span[itemprop="datePublished"]' }
 
   for (const tag of ['span', 'p', 'div']) {
     for (const className of ['pubdate', 'timestamp', 'article_date', 'articledate', 'date']) {
@@ -112,22 +115,25 @@ exports.extractFromHTMLTag = function ({ url, doc }) {
 // returns { date, source } or undefined
 exports.extractArticlePublishedDate = function ({ url, doc }) {
   console.log('Extracting date from', url)
-  let articleDate
+  let foundDate
   try {
-    articleDate = { date: exports.extractFromURL(url), source: 'url' }
-    let possibleDate = exports.extractFromLDJson({ url, doc })
+    // establish a default from the URL if possible
+    let possibleDate = exports.extractFromURL(url)
+    if (possibleDate) foundDate = { date: possibleDate, source: 'url' }
+
+    // try to get date from various sources in order of precedence
+    possibleDate = exports.extractFromLDJson({ url, doc })
     if (!possibleDate) possibleDate = exports.extractFromMeta({ url, doc })
     if (!possibleDate) possibleDate = exports.extractFromHTMLTag({ url, doc })
-    if (possibleDate) articleDate = possibleDate
+    if (possibleDate) foundDate = possibleDate
   } catch (e) {
     console.log('Exception in extractArticlePublishedDate for', url)
-    console.log(e)
   }
-  if (articleDate) {
+  if (foundDate) {
     try {
-      const d = new Date(articleDate.date)
-      if (!isNaN(d)) articleDate.date = d
-    } catch {}
+      const d = new Date(foundDate.date)
+      if (!isNaN(d)) foundDate.date = d
+    } catch { }
   }
-  return articleDate
+  return foundDate
 }