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Dec 6, 2024 | 
thetrace.org | Crystal Paul |Rita Oceguera
The Trace What happens after a person is shot and killed? After the police are called and the work of the medical professionals is done, after the funeral home doors close and the headlines are tucked away in the archives? The seven gun violence survivors who participated in this year’s Chicago Survivor Storytelling Workshop answer those questions with revelatory honesty and from vastly different perspectives.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Crystal Paul |Corniki Bornds |Estela Diaz |Jessica Brown
The room was quiet. The only thing the seven people sitting around the table knew about each other was that their lives had been marked by gun violence. That’s how it all started — seven survivors, gathering to tell their stories. They were part of the Survivor Storytelling Network — an initiative by the news organization The Trace to empower violence survivors to tell their stories in their own words.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
thetrace.org | Crystal Paul
Crystal L. Paul Crystal L. Paul is a journalist and editor based in South Side Chicago. She currently serves as the State Investigations Editor with the Illinois Answers Project. Her Chicago-based work has appeared in Chalkbeat Chicago, Block Club Chicago, American Theatre Magazine. She previously worked as a journalist and editor for The Seattle Times.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
americantheatre.org | Crystal Paul
Every time the disabled dance ensemble Kinetic Light wraps up a production, they leave a wave of change in their wake. That is always their plan. Before the ensemble agrees to perform at a venue, they talk access.
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Sep 25, 2024 | 
blockclubchicago.org | Crystal Paul
ENGLEWOOD, BEVERLY — District 9, which extends from Morgan Park to Englewood, including parts of Roseland, Pullman, Beverly and Auburn Gresham, has 95 CPS schools serving 34,128 students. The district is predominantly Black, with 76 percent of residents identifying as Black, and CPS enrollment reflects that, with 81.6 percent of CPS students in the area identifying as Black.
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Sep 25, 2024 | 
blockclubchicago.org | Crystal Paul
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news. MCKINLEY PARK, BACK OF THE YARDS — District 8, on the Southwest Side of the city, covering parts of the South Loop, McKinley Park and Back of the Yards, has two candidates on the ballot: Garfield Ridge resident and public service consultant Angel Gutierrez, and McKinley Park resident and music educator and music education advocate Felix Ponce.
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Aug 28, 2024 | 
blockclubchicago.org | Crystal Paul
BRIDGEPORT — Restaurateur Erik “Rico” Nance was a year old when, in 1979, he and his family were the victims of a racist attack outside the old Bridgeport Restaurant. The Nance family, including several young kids, sat in their car near the corner of 35th and Halsted streets when the people who lived in the apartments above the restaurant threw eggs and shouted racist slurs at them, Rico Nance said.
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Jul 16, 2024 | 
blockclubchicago.org | Crystal Paul
BEVERLY — Last week, the co-owner of Ohana Ice & Treats scrambled to pick up ice cream bars and popsicles from her distributor to donate to Sutherland Elementary’s summer camp. Keynn Cain, who opened Ohana with her spouse, Kenneth Cain, in 2018, was booked to provide Ohana’s signature shaved ice for the summer camp. But after the shop’s air conditioning unit was vandalized, Ohana has been forced to close and is unable to make its icy treats.
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Jul 10, 2024 | 
blockclubchicago.org | Crystal Paul
FAR SOUTH SIDE — Drivers lined up on Longwood Avenue on Wednesday to get free bottled water as a water main break forced another boil order for Far South Side neighbors. Auburn Gresham, Morgan Park and Beverly neighbors received a boil water order alert about 2 a.m. Wednesday after a high-pressure water main at the Roseland Pumping Station began leaking Tuesday night. Numerous neighbors posted on social media their water had been shut off during the night as storms doused the area.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
blockclubchicago.org | Crystal Paul
CHICAGO — A state law goes into effect Monday entitling child influencers to compensation for being in their parents’ and guardians’ work, making Illinois the first state in the country to enact such a law. Although the law is the first, it is part of a broader movement — largely led by the young people who’ve grown up in the age of social media — to create greater protections for children online.
