Sammy Caiola

Jan 7, 2025 | rjionline.org | Sammy Caiola

“Watch a bad movie.” Beat reporters have learned some simple, effective strategies to help deal with the trauma of covering traumatic eventsIn June 2023 I was sitting in a bar in the Philadelphia suburbs, trying to file an 11 p.m.story about a teen who’d been shot by police in the city a few days earlier. I’d just left his funeral, and the images of his open casket, his friends’ sullen gazes and his parents’ wrenching eulogies were making it hard to write.

Dec 22, 2024 | thephiladelphiacitizen.org | Sammy Caiola

On the stretch of Kensington Avenue between the Allegheny and Somerset SEPTA stations, wound care vans, mobile drug treatment clinics, drop-in centers and harm reduction sites offer daily care to the hundreds of people who openly use drugs on the neighborhood’s sidewalks. And still, the 19134 ZIP code sees the highest number of overdose deaths citywide as of 2022, the latest year of data available from the Department of Public Health. The total death toll there increased 14 percent from 2021.

Dec 6, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Emily Rizzo |Jill Bauer-Reese |Sammy Caiola

As city officials announced Thursday that narcotics arrests in Kensington have more than doubled since March, residents at a Harrowgate community meeting questioned whether the increased enforcement has improved quality of life in their neighborhood. Residents continued to express concerns about the number of people living outside and using drugs, often in front of their homes.

Dec 4, 2024 | kensingtonvoice.com | Sammy Caiola |Jill Bauer-Reese |Emily Rizzo |Solmaira Valerio

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of sexual abuse and assault, including sexual violence against women and minors. Two women who were sexually abused as children by former Philadelphia police officer Patrick Heron are suing the Philadelphia Police Department, alleging it knew about Heron’s misconduct for more than a decade but failed to intervene.

Nov 20, 2024 | rjionline.org | Sammy Caiola

The database helps journalists build stories centered on the people most affectedThis winter, journalists covering gun violence in Philadelphia will get access to a newly created source list of gun violence survivors who want to speak with the media. The newly launched “Survivor Connection,” serves two goals: Empower people harmed by gun violence to tell their stories, and ensure news coverage of the topic is survivor-centered.