Healthcare Central

  • Study links Chicago school closures to rise in neighborhood shootings

    Emmet Elementary School was one of 50 schools that closed in 2013 as part of a cost-saving measure. It re-opened in 2025 as a community center. Photo by Josh Kalov, CC BY 2.0 Thirteen years after Chicago closed 50 public schools, researchers found that shootings rose in the areas surrounding the vacant school buildings.  An…

  • Mapping Police Violence: A valuable tool for reporters

    Minneapolis Police officers in riot gear and gas masks stand outside the department’s 3rd Precinct station in Minneapolis on May 27, 2020, during protests following the killing of George Floyd. Photo: Chad Davis Reporting on police violence isn’t as straightforward as it is with community violence.  One complication is that police departments generally don’t report…

  • Researchers find ‘broad decrease’ in support for political violence in the US

    Despite an increasingly volatile and fraught political climate in the United States, researchers have found a “broad decrease” in support for political violence from mid-2025 to mid-2026.  The analysis, published earlier this month by the Centers for Violence Prevention at the University of California Davis, offers an important counterpoint to perceptions that political violence is…

  • Journalists must show human cost of gun violence, says trauma surgeon in new book

    Book talk: ‘Healing the Gun Violence Epidemic: A Trauma Surgeon’s Perspective’ Moderator: Abené Clayton, Reporter, Guardian US  Selwyn O. Rogers, Jr., M.D., MPH, Chief of trauma and acute care surgery, University of Chicago Medicine By Suzanne King (Kansas-Missouri Health Journalism Fellow) As a Chicago trauma surgeon, Dr. Selwyn O. Rogers, Jr., witnesses the impacts of gun…

  • Children face increased mental health risks after a parent is shot, study finds

    A new study identified yet another link between mental health and gun violence.  Researchers at Harvard and Mass General Brigham found that children whose parents were injured by firearms experienced higher rates of psychiatric diagnoses and mental health visits in the year following the injury. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine,…

  • What are ghost guns? Here’s everything a health reporter should know 

    Over the past decade, ghost guns have become a widely popular firearm of choice.  They’re called “ghost guns” because they lack serial numbers and are built from kits or 3D-printed designs. That means they’re nearly impossible to trace, making them especially appealing to people barred from owning guns.  The ATF calls ghost guns “privately made…

  • AHCJ awards 2026 AHCJ Firearm Violence Reporting Fellowships

    Left to right from the top: Briana Rice of Outlier Media, Jonathan Torres of the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, Lakeidra Chavis of WBEZ Chicago and Cierra Johnson of WCMH NBC4. The Association of Health Care Journalists is thrilled to announce this year’s class of fellows selected for the 2026 AHCJ Firearm Violence Reporting…

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