Reporting

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes region has unusually high gun homicide and suicide rates, and faces unique problems in tackling the gun violence crisis. As major cities in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — once the industrial backbone of the U.S. — are still battling the legacy of redlining and disenfranchisement, The Trace seeks to take readers to locales that often get minimal coverage, hold leaders accountable, and highlight some of the programs and people making a difference. Our Great Lakes correspondent, Josiah Bates, is building a network of sources in the communities often most deeply affected by gun violence, and within the government services, law enforcement agencies, and institutions that routinely intersect with our beat. 

Great Lakes

In Cleveland, Shootings Drop But Kids Are at Higher Risk

Activists are scrambling for solutions amid a steady increase in gun violence among young people.
Josiah Bates

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The Trace’s gun violence coverage across the Great Lakes region includes Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

Lead Reporters

  • Josiah Bates

    Reporter
    Josiah is The Trace’s reporter covering the Great Lakes region. He previously worked as an enterprise reporter at TheGrio and was a staff writer for TIME Magazine, and has written extensively about policing, gun violence, and other criminal justice topics across the country. His first book, In These Streets: Reporting from the Front Lines of Inner-City Gun Violence, was published in May 2024. He’s a graduate of Penn State University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Funders

The Trace’s reporting in the Great Lakes region is supported in part by The Joyce Foundation. You can read more about The Trace’s editorial independence policy here, and find a full list of our major funders here.