Author: Sammy Caiola

Ian Dugan remembers James Easterling as “loud” with “a lot of smiles”. The young man used to be a regular in the Salvation Army Kroc Center computer lab where Dugan is an instructor.“He liked to talk a lot,” Dugan said, pausing for just a moment while planting a flag bearing Easterling’s name on the center’s lawn.Easterling was fatally shot in Germantown in September 2016 at age 22. His flag is one of roughly 700 the center has planted for gun violence victims since 2025.“All of us who have been affected by people who’ve died over the years believe the more…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city’s public school system.This story was published in collaboration with The New York Times.Zayvion Hamiel, also known as ZayMoney, sits at a DJ booth surrounded by speakers nearly as big as he is. He queues up a remix of Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls),” as a line of teens prepare to walk a makeshift runway.This is Zay’s House. From the street, it looks like a ‌‌nondescript building on a ‌narrow block in North Philadelphia, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the city’s gun violence crisis.…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system.School safety officers on School District of Philadelphia campuses will be issued “personal ballistic protection,” including bulletproof vests and handcuffs, by the beginning of next school year.The Board of Education voted Thursday to approve a $600,000 contract with police supply store Atlantic Tactical. The funding will come out of the school safety operating budget.The decision to outfit safety officers with protective equipment comes out of the most recent agreement between the district and the School Police Association of Philadelphia, the union representing school police.“Our officers…