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It's Your Week: Highland Park and how we cover mass shootings, tragedy

Sallee Ann Harrison   | Paste BN

I'm Sallee Ann and this is Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers.

I wrote a draft of this newsletter a couple weeks ago about a network-wide project led by reporter Grace Hauck on how active shooter drills at schools vary state by state, and if experts say they hurt more than help.

That column was scrapped when news broke of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

I planned to run that edition this week. Then the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, happened.

Grace Hauck covered the shooting. This week, she shares with us what she observed and what's next for the Chicago suburb rocked by tragedy.

Highland Park 'frozen in time'

From Grace Hauck:

Since Monday, Paste BN has been in Highland Park, Illinois, covering the mass shooting here at a Fourth of July parade that left seven dead and nearly 40 injured.

I arrived a little more than an hour after the shooting to find this Chicago suburb seemingly empty and frozen in time. Lawn chairs were abandoned. Little red wagons, pink tricycles, a sparkly headband and a marching band drum were discarded on the grass.

For several hours, the gunman was on the loose, and the small army of law enforcement here told reporters and residents to take shelter indoors. The suspect was finally apprehended about eight hours after the massacre.

Since then, residents have hosted about a dozen vigils and the first funeral services got underway Friday, starting with a memorial service for 63-year-old Jacquelyn “Jacki” Lovi Sundheim. Dozens of people filled North Shore Congregation Israel to remember the life of the dedicated member and preschool teacher.

We’ll plan to continue reporting on the victims and their families and how residents are stepping up to help their community — and calling for change.

How we cover mass shootings

Buffalo. Uvalde. Tulsa. Highland Park. Our newsroom has covered a lot of tragedy lately. It's our job.

Editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll wrote in her Backstory column this week about how mass shooting coverage has become routine, but it doesn't get easier.

"It’s our responsibility and our privilege to provide news coverage to our readers," Carroll told Your Week. "I wanted our readers to understand the lengths our journalists go to to provide this information. It’s heartbreaking and haunting and we do it again and again."

Sign up here for The Backstory newsletter from Nicole Carroll.

More from Highland Park:

A little bit of hope

I was talking to a coworker this week about "counterprogramming." Sometimes it honestly feels weird to talk about anything that's not the latest tragedy or major legislation. But we can't doomscroll forever. And as great as puppy videos are, I don't think that's the antidote. I think hope is.

Here are some stories with nuggets of hope I don't want you to miss:

  • A breakthrough could be coming soon in treatment for pancreatic cancer. One doctor said he believes there is "measured hope, justified hope," against a disease that has long lacked it.

  • LGBTQ, female woodworkers aim to carve out more space in a field built for men. "We celebrate each other, and we celebrate what each other has made," said Kathryn Sullivan, a cabinet maker who's found support for her work on TikTok from other LGBTQ creators. 

  • Brain cancer patient and his mom save lives by pushing care in new ways. Jace Ward had one goal when he died of a brain tumor at 20 years old: to make the path easier for others. A year later, his mother still pursues that dream.

Thank you

Your support makes our journalism possible. We're here for our readers in the tough times and in the triumphs. Thank you for subscribing and allowing us to tell stories that matter to you.

See you next week!

P.S. Are we texting buddies? Not yet? Join us and I'll see you there 😎 

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