Rita Oceguera

1 month ago | thetrace.org | Rita Oceguera

The Trace Four years ago, Kam Buckner, a Democratic state representative in Illinois, introduced a bill that would give the families of homicide victims a chance for closure by letting them petition police departments to reopen unresolved cases. The measure stalled, but each session, Buckner reintroduced it, regularly updating the bill. When Buckner renewed his effort last year, he added a companion bill that would set clear reporting requirements for Illinois law enforcement agencies.

1 month ago | thetrace.org | Josiah Bates |Rita Oceguera |Justin Agrelo

The Trace Mothers never expect to bury their children. Rachael Parker, a steadfast public servant in Peoria, Illinois, found that the 2020 shooting death of her son, Ryan, made her feel helpless. Just one year earlier, after nearly a decade on the county board, Parker had been appointed county clerk, a role she still occupies. Every day for years, she has helped maintain public filings, track land records, and issue various licenses.

1 month ago | thetrace.org | Rita Oceguera

The Trace In 2021, Chicago launched a counterterrorism initiative to teach city employees to respond to life-threatening injuries caused by dangerous events, like mass shootings. To do that, the city installed more than 1,000 blood control kits in over 500 municipal buildings. Since then, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications has grown the program by partnering with other agencies and departments.

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Rita Oceguera

This story was originally published by the Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here. In early November, Michael Smith was shot in the thigh after an argument with a close friend in front of his grandmother’s home in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. Smith’s cousin called 911, but 15 minutes later, they were still waiting for an ambulance. “I don’t want to die from bleeding out,” Smith remembers thinking. So he took matters into his own hands.

2 months ago | thetrace.org | Sunny Sone |Rita Oceguera

The Trace In Chicago, gunshot victims are contending with the kind of quick decision-making you might think would be more common in remote areas: Should they risk waiting for an ambulance that may come too late, or should they find their own way to a hospital? As emergency response times in one of the country’s biggest cities have gotten worse, the latter has become a popular option, reports The Trace’s Rita Oceguera.