Jessica Gallagher
photojournalist
Jessica Gallagher is a staff photojournalist at The Baltimore Banner. Her reporting and photos for a project about Baltimore's drug overdose crisis, published as a collaboration between The Banner and The New York Times, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2025. Prior to joining The Banner, Gallagher worked at The Greenville News, The Quad-City Times, and The Times-Georgian. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Professional Photography from the Brooks Institute.
The latest from Jessica
Flamin' Hot Cheetos burger and more at Ravens games
Food reporter Christina Tkacik tried several new food items, including the Flamin' Hot Cheetos burger, at M&T Bank Stadium ahead of the home opener.
Baltimore’s longest-vacant rowhouse has sat empty for 43 years. It didn’t have to.
More than 3,000 Baltimore buildings have been vacant for two decades or longer.
Thousands in Baltimore celebrate Caribbean culture with vibrant annual parade
Thousands of revelers filled the streets of Baltimore on Saturday for the Caribbean parade, one of the signature events of the 44th annual Baltimore Washington One Carnival.
‘What July 4 is all about’: 17 new citizens naturalized in historic Annapolis
Around 100 people gathered in Annapolis Friday to celebrate 17 new citizens just ahead of America's 250th birthday.
The faces of AFRAM 50: What Black joy, culture and community look like in Baltimore
Festivalgoers at AFRAM 50 shared the stories, inspiration and cultural pride behind their outfits as Baltimore celebrated a half-century of the festival.
Case dismissed against great-aunt who hid missing Baltimore child Tristan King
Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said he considered Denise Day’s humanity in the decision.
After nearly 6 months, missing Baltimore boy Tristan King is found
The monthslong search for missing Baltimore boy Tristan King ended Friday morning in the Curtis Bay neighborhood, several people familiar with the case said.
Everyone has seen Baltimore’s missing boy. So why can’t authorities find him?
Tristan King ran from a caseworker in Baltimore and has been missing since September. Brooklyn residents have seen him, but authorities can’t find him.
Finding Tristan King top priority as officials pledge accountability
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called it “tragic.” Mayor Brandon Scott said the situation has him “pissed.” Baltimore Schools CEO Sonja Santelises is “heartbroken” because of the Tristan King story.
In Baltimore’s ‘hope desert,’ mass overdoses overshadow residents’ struggle for survival
To Baltimore Penn North neighborhood residents, it felt like the beginning of a familiar cycle: Crisis strikes, troubling woes are in the spotlight and then the cameras and immediate attention are gone.
Woman found dead on street in West Baltimore neighborhood where mass overdose occurred
Police are investigating a “suspicious death” after a woman was found unresponsive Thursday in a West Baltimore neighborhood that was recently the epicenter of a mass overdose.
Baltimore again sees multiple people hospitalized after overdoses in Penn North
Just over a week after a “bad batch” of drugs sent dozens of people in West Baltimore to the hospital, authorities were in the Penn North neighborhood again Friday responding to multiple overdose calls.
‘Give it a week’: Residents worry help won’t stick after mass overdose leaves 27 hospitalized
At least 27 people had been taken to hospitals for overdose treatment as of Friday, authorities said.
Photos: Baltimore region celebrates the 4th of July
Hundreds of people in and around Baltimore and beyond took time to enjoy and celebrate America's Independence this year on the Fourth of July.
They entered treatment. Drugs, overdoses and deaths followed.
Baltimore addiction programs draw patients with free housing while collecting millions. Some say one program—PHA Healthcare—offered little help.
Strangers making small talk bonded over connection to overdose victim
One of the last people to see Devon Wellington alive, before he overdosed in 2021, has developed a relationship with the man’s mother. She taught him how to use Narcan, and they recently attended a street renaming event together.
As Baltimore ends deal with Poppleton developer, the community wants a say on what’s next
West Baltimore residents talk about what they’d like to see in Poppleton, now that the city is terminating its agreement with a New York developer that has struggled to build there.
A horrific number of older Black men are dying from overdoses in Baltimore
Many are dying from fentanyl and other drugs. The hardest-hit are Black men in their 50s to 70s, a group that Baltimore’s changing economy left behind.
Seniors in Baltimore are being devastated by drugs: 5 takeaways
The city has become the U.S. overdose capital, and older Black men are dying at higher rates than anyone else.
Jaylon Ferguson made it from Louisiana to the Ravens. An overdose cut his legacy short.
The same drug that Jackie Ferguson had used to ease her mother’s pain had also taken her son Jaylon’s life.
