Get vaccinated to protect yourself and others

With fall underway, it already feels like every day is busy with school activities, raking leaves and prepping for the upcoming holidays. But as we carry on with our bustling lives, we can’t forget the importance of our individual and shared responsibility to get our seasonal vaccinations.

We're already seeing an early start to this year’s flu season, and I’ve seen friends who were waiting to get their vaccinations get sick already. Soon as it gets cooler outside, we're going to be spending more time indoors, making it more likely for illnesses to spread.

In 2012, we saw the highest number of cases of whooping cough since the 1950s, and today we are experiencing our country’s largest measles outbreak since 1991.

These dangerous outbreaks were and are completely preventable. They serve as a reminder of the importance of vaccinations to protect our co-workers, teachers, infants, older family members and others who may be more vulnerable.

The Illinois Department of Public Health's new immunization guidance for children and adults was reviewed and approved by 20 highly qualified medical experts on the Illinois Immunization Advisory Committee. This science and fact-based guideline is our best protection against the flu and other respiratory viruses.

Getting vaccinated should not be a political issue. This is a shared effort for the health of our families, friends and communities. Let's do it for each other. Here’s to a safe and healthy holiday season ahead.

Rob Anderson, Naperville

Hope isn’t enough — get out and vote

From where I sit in the good common-sense state of Illinois, it’s unthinkable that the Democrats won’t gain traction during the midterm elections. But how does one avoid the unthinkable? How do you prevent it from happening? Sometimes it’s as simple as thinking about it.

I was talking with another communications strategist who pointed out two possible outcomes for the midterm elections: The polls are wildly wrong, and Republicans come out in droves to maintain the status quo. Or the indications of discontent and people readying to push back against the erosion of our democracy are correct, and they reinvigorate Congress and bring in a blue wave.

I say there could also be a third “unthinkable” outcome where voter suppression, the normalization of armed uniformed agents in the streets and the fear and intimidation of people with the right to vote — but who may not have been born in this country — lead to a Democratic loss. After all, this is the administration of Project 2025, which saw so many of its actions come true, and where billionaires, media consolidation deals for Donald Trump's allies and capitulation by others have all changed the dynamics of what we read, watch and hear.

Yet, I believe more people are tired of seeing human rights treated like a bauble in the hands of a mercurial tyrant. I believe some Republicans don’t feel that the current folks speak for them. I believe we’ve strayed too far from the basic decency and goodness we all want to see in the world, for our families, neighbors and institutions. I believe in optimism, but we have to keep our eyes open and our wits about us.

The unspeakable can happen if we don’t speak about it. I heard author Percival Everett paraphrase the famous quote as, "Hope without strategy is foolish."

Now is the time to recognize the threats, plan to vote and make sure your vote is counted.

Sylvia Ewing, Country Club Hills

Is that all you got?

It seems every televised campaign ad has a candidate saying with a great deal of bravado, “I’ll stand up to Donald Trump." Does that mean when Trump is no longer in office that they will resign? I’m old enough to remember when candidates had an actual platform to run on instead of using a hot button statement to try to get elected.

Thomas Pries, Orland Park

Sick of seeing Grant Park trashed

I was so happy to read that a nonbinding measure regarding a permanent festival site in Chicago is on the November ballot. This has been a problem for years in many parks but especially in Grant Park — our city's "front yard." It is an embarrassment to the city to have Buckingham Fountain, the Grant Park Rose Garden and other areas around the park cordoned off for much of the summer with chain-link fences, filled with utility truck trailers, portable toilets, tents, etc.

Imagine tourists coming to our city expecting to visit our beautiful Buckingham Fountain, only to find it behind chain-link fencing and being used as a staging area for events. Chicago definitely needs a large fairground to hold events without commandeering Grant Park for most of the summer.

The sites Sara Heymann mentioned in WBEZ's Courtney Kueppers' article — The 78, Soldier Field and the former Damen Silos — would all be great options for a fairground. Northerly Island could also be expanded to include a fairground.

Grant Park should be for peace and relaxation. As Montgomery Ward said: "Here is a park given to the public ... to look out upon, a place where they can go and breathe the fresh air and look out upon the lake."

Michael Shawgo, Edgewater

Shout-out to forensic nurses

All victims of violence — regardless of age, gender and background — deserve expert healthcare and support in pursuing justice. Forensic nurses deliver that specialized care and commitment.

Forensic nurses know the injuries sustained as a result of abuse and assault are more than bruises or broken bones. Guided by a foundation in trauma-informed care and understanding of the laws, they are among the first to acknowledge the emotional pain and provide the safe space for a patient to seek healing and justice.

Forensic nurses may work in emergency departments, but they are vital members of teams in many places. Through their expertise, they may work as sexual assault nurse examiners, death investigators, forensic clinical nurse specialists or legal nurses. Their specialized knowledge and approach serve those who have experienced sexual assault or abuse, intimate or interpersonal violence, elder and child maltreatment, human trafficking and accidental as well as non-accidental trauma.

It takes not only distinct skills but also a special strength to be a forensic nurse.

Forensic Nurses Week, Nov. 2-8, was established to honor the extraordinary work of these nurses who practice what was first recognized as a unique specialty in 1995.

On behalf of the Emergency Nurses Association, I celebrate and appreciate forensic nurses and sexual assault nurse examiners around the world for the care they provide to patients during scary and vulnerable moments. I encourage everyone to learn more about forensic nurses and how they serve — and need support — in your communities.

Dustin Bass, president, Emergency Nurses Association

ComEd is making sure data centers pay their fair share

Recently in a Sun-Times story, consumer groups suggested customers could be left paying billions for grid upgrades associated with data centers. As the electricity provider for northern Illinois, ComEd takes seriously its responsibility to protect customers from unnecessary or speculative investments. It’s inaccurate to suggest that customers are exposed to — or paying for — grid upgrades made to serve large-load customers like data centers.

The groups cited in the Oct. 22 article compared $3.1 billion in projected grid investments with $721 million in deposits. This analysis inaccurately combines different categories of costs (transmission and distribution) and overlooks nation-leading customer protections ComEd has put in place.

Approximately half of the $3.1 billion projection is related to transmission is protected through Transmission Security Agreements created by ComEd that require large-load customers to guarantee payment for use of the transmission system, even if the project isn’t built or hit its full projected use. ComEd has secured $1.1 billion in transmission revenue guarantees. ComEd has also proposed additional safeguards to make qualifying data centers put forth additional deposits for the costs of the grid upgrades required to serve them.

The $721 million does not reflect the full scope of customer protections for distribution investments or the additional deposits still being determined for projects under development.

Every projected grid investment is not and will not automatically become a cost for households, and regulators review and approve all of our investments. Regulatory rules determine which costs must be paid by individual projects and which may be shared when broader system benefits are created.

Incomplete comparisons that create the mistaken impression that billions of dollars in costs are being shifted to Illinois households won’t help us address the real issue: Electricity supply costs have risen — and customers deserve to know why: because power supply has not been added to meet growing demand.

As electricity use grows, adding generation will be essential to both future affordability and reliability. ComEd does not own power plants and does not profit from the "supply" portion of customers’ ComEd bill — those costs are passed through to customers with no markup.

Customers need clarity, not confusion, and they should not be led to believe billions of dollars in costs are being shifted to Illinois households.

Kristin Munsch, vice president, Regulatory, Policy and Strategy, ComEd

Campus assaults tied to universities’ failures, gender inequity

As I write, the Sun-Times has published several articles about two alleged sexual assaults at University of Chicago fraternity houses. Meanwhile, our country also stands in the shadows of the 2024 alleged gang rape at Cornell University.

Local and national reporting on these cases need more perspective. I write not only as a former Northwestern University undergraduate (1967 —1970) but as a university professor for more than five decades. During my college days, frat boys often drunkenly stormed across campus on "panty raids," demanding women's undergarments. A surprising number of young women tossed fancy underwear out their dorms and sorority house windows.

With the recent assaults, many are responding as if they are new and unusual. Sadly, they've been and are much more common. They're part of the more than centurylong history of fraternities and sororities; “coming of age” traditions and the unequal place of women, combined with the complicity of sororities in the vulnerability of their members and the power of so-called "Greek" fraternities and sororities. Few emphasize that Cornell’s Jane Doe is also suing her former sorority, along with her alleged assailants, their fraternity chapter and the university.

Precise data on campus rape allegations is often lacking because of pressures not to report sex crimes, universities’ obsessions with reputation, the economic, social and cultural power of fraternities and their influential organizations, and the typically close relationships between local police and campus authorities.

Now, more fraternity chapters seek to be "banned" from university auspices while remaining active in their houses with even less supervision.

Gender issues are complicated. We must consider harmful, sometimes deadly hazing among men and women along with alcohol, drugs and forced sex. They are interrelated and common.

Universities fail not only by accepting the power and largesse of fraternities and sororities. Few provide attractive alternative on-campus residential opportunities. These include established co-ops but increasingly popular theme houses that span social issues and pre-professional interests from health to law and safety, social welfare and social reforms.

Harvey J. Graff, professor emeritus of English and history, Ohio State University, Lincoln Park

CTU’s chance to put money where its mouth is

With Mayor Brandon Johnson’s recently unveiled “fair share budget” and his mentor Stacy Davis Gates' consistent reminder that it’s all about the children, perhaps a partial solution to our chronic deficit is sitting in plain sight. All current and future Chicago Teachers Union retirees should have their pension taxed as ordinary income under the state tax code. This would meet the fair share standard the mayor wants and demonstrate that Ms. Davis really means it when she says it’s all about the children.

Rick LaBelle, Streeterville