I read with interest this week’s Sun-Times article on new constraints on federal transportation funding, “Federal transit money for Chicago, state of Illinois could be jeopardized by Trump directive.”
What was not included in that article, and is perhaps more concerning, is that the memorandum issued by new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, prohibits U.S. Department of Transportation resources being directed to recipients that impose vaccine mandates.
Illinois, like many other states, rightfully has vaccine mandates for all children entering childcare and preschool through 12th grade. Mandated vaccines include those for measles, rubella and pertussis, also known as whooping cough. These and other conditions are all highly contagious, thus, the vaccines not only protect the immunized child, but also those with whom they come in contact. In fact, in 2024, Illinois reported 1,900 cases of whooping cough (a respiratory infection), the highest levels in two decades.
Public health is challenging enough, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. With the new administration suppressing vital surveillance data, and the likely appointment of an Health and Human Services secretary known for his vaccine skepticism, we need good policy now more than ever. The federal Department of Transportation should be focusing on roads and transit, not birth rates and vaccine mandates. In short, it needs to stay in its lane.
Erica Salem, senior director, Strategy, Programs and Policy, Respiratory Health Association, Chicago
Cultural Center exhibit isn’t hate speech
Dear City Council members,
I haven’t visited the Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets up Close exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. However, I believe in free speech. Most people don’t understand the difference between critical critique and prejudice or hate speech. I am Jewish, I am against hate speech in all its forms. The exhibit is not hate speech per se. It’s free speech.
Please hold your ground. Don’t fold under pressure. Censorship is not the correct response, creating a dialog would be a better response to work/art/performance/writing we disagree with. You have my support..
Jane Wenger, Wicker Park
Cultural Center art represents harsh reality
I’ve got blood on my hands, just as the “protest puppet” at the Chicago Cultural Center.. Why? Because my tax dollars, and yours, and those of Alders Debra Silverstein, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Bill Conway, go toward the purchase of U.S.-made bombs that, to date, have killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians, 70% of whom are women and children. Tens of thousands more have been maimed, and the dead buried under the rubble that was once Gaza may double or triple the known casualties. I’m sickened by my complicity in this conflict, and if that makes me an antisemite, so be it.
Carter Cleland, West Ridge
Chicago isn’t being treated right
The Sun-Times timely editorial on hospital transfer delays is commendable for describing a trauma only a victim fully understands. If city and state officials do devise a comprehensive plan to improve this situation, as the editorial suggests, they might investigate why the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side, one of the largest medical districts in North America, has only out of town transfers cutting-edge cancer treatment patients — the IMD is not a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center.
Most of the 76 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers are affiliated with university medical centers. Philadelphia has four such centers and La Jolla, California has three. Chicago has two, one at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. It makes sense to have one at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine, where many graduate every year. NCI-Designated Cancer Centers were designed to deliver cutting-edge cancer treatments to patients in communities. Chicago needs more.
William ONeill, Near West Side
Stranger than fiction
I just finished watching science fiction classic “The Day The Earth Stood Still” again. Klaatu’s (Michael Rennie) speech at the end of the movie is so appropriate for the conditions that Donald Trump is creating today that it is appropriate to repeat it now. In the speech, the character says, “The universe grows smaller every day, and the threat of aggression by any group, anywhere, can no longer be tolerated.” We are at the brink of awful initiatives taking place and we need to stop many of them before they create the most hostile environment I have experienced in my 80 plus years. God help us.
Alan Dordek, Wilmette
Buyer’s remorse
I’m looking forward to the day when you publish letters from those who regret voting for the madman who resides in the White House.
Marilyn Gilroy, Garfield Ridge
City haul
I agree to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s gift closet transparency rules. But how long should these items remain entombed there? How about an annual online auction, proceeds going to Chicago’s treasury? Why leave items of any value to sit, useful to no one? Sell raffle tickets or find a way to use them for Chicago’s benefit.
Linda Ferguson, Oak Forest
Gift giveaway
The kerfuffle over gifts to the mayor has an obvious and simple solution. All such gifts should be auctioned to offset the budget deficit. It’s a win/win for everybody! Now, are there any women’s Hokas in size 8.5?
Anne Morse, West Side
Sun-Times won’t be the same without Lyons
Sad to see that columnist Gene Lyons is retiring. His Saturday column in the Sun-Times was both informative and entertaining. It was the highlight of my Saturday reading. He will be missed.
John Keating, Near North