Disappointed in Durbin

Dear Sen. Dick Durbin,

I’m writing to express my profound disappointment in your recent vote with the Republicans to end the government shutdown, a vote that will drive health care premiums even higher for millions of Americans. Frankly, I’m stunned and saddened.

I have always viewed you as a champion for working families, someone who stood up for fairness and compassion in a system that so often forgets both. But this vote feels like a painful betrayal of those very values. By siding with those who continuously undermine affordable health care, you’ve helped pave the way for more financial strain, more fear and more suffering for everyday people.

Let’s be honest: Rising premiums aren’t just policy consequences, they’re human ones. They mean parents skipping their own doctor visits so their children can be seen. They mean seniors cutting pills in half to make them last. They mean families living with the constant anxiety of wondering what happens if they get sick.

Sen. Durbin, we expect more from you. We expect leadership that puts people before politics. We expect courage to stand against decisions that hurt the very citizens you’ve spent your career fighting for.

Please find your way back to the values that earned our trust. Illinois deserves better. America deserves better.

Charles Reilly, Palos Park

Brand name

Change what the Affordable Care Act is known as from "Obamacare" to "Trumpcare," and it’d become, "a wonderful big beautiful institution."

Gary Andersen, Palatine 

No to library cuts

As a Chicago resident and librarian, I want to thank Mayor Brandon Johnson for recognizing the impact and importance of libraries, especially now as we see ever-increasing attempts at book bans and subversive attempts at limiting access to knowledge and information.

However, I am extremely concerned over the proposed budget, in which the collection funding for the Chicago Public Library is cut in half — reduced by $5 million. Overall, $5 million is a drop in the bucket in the city budget, but it makes a difference to library patrons. This budget reduction comes at a time publishers are increasing the cost of e-books and federal tariffs have increased the price of printing costs for physical books. It also comes at a time Chicagoans are relying more on their libraries — circulation rates since 2022 have increased by 17.5%.— and as the Chicago Public Library prepares to open its 82nd branch.

Also troubling is that the proposed budget eliminates 89 positions, forcing library staff to do more with less. I fear these significant losses will only be compounded.

Not only is $5 million not enough to support all of the collection materials Chicago wants and needs, it doesn’t even begin to stand up to peer institutions across the country. When comparing the Chicago Public Library collection budgets to other large urban libraries, we rank near the bottom in what we invest into our collections. Among the nine largest library systems serving populations of over 2 million people, Chicago Public Library ranks second-lowest in terms of spending per resident. The Illinois Library Association standards recommend that all public libraries maintain a collection budget that is 8% to12% of their operating budget. With this cut, Chicago Public Library will only spend 5.6% of its operating budget on collection.

Please reconsider the budget cuts to our library system. Let’s invest in our residents, in our library patrons, in our learners and innovators and in our future.

Carolyn Ciesla, Hyde Park

Blue over Bowman

I've never been a fisherman, but I love the outdoors, and when I discovered Dale Bowman's column in the sport pages years ago, I felt as if I'd stumbled upon a lost world of beauty and fierceness that made living in the world of politics, city noise and concrete worthwhile. Reading the column twice a week for years made me slow down and breathe a little deeper. Gradually, I learned the difference between small and big mouth bass, where to hike, antler sheds, how to hook big fish and what areas were worth visiting for natural respites outside the city. Bowman's column also kept me appraised about creeping carp in Illinois waterways and how close they have gotten to invading the Great Lakes, as well as the remedies to resist their encroachment.

When the column went to once a week, I grieved, but continued to turn to it first in the Sunday sports pages, even before the comics and crossword puzzle. And now it's gone. Bowman’s departure tore a little piece of calm that people living in the big city need. His column was more than a fishing report; it was a weekly check-in with the state of God's green earth at a time, when it seems, all humans care about is exploiting it. While I am happy for Mr. Bowman's well-deserved retirement, I am sorry for all of us readers and sportspeople who found joy in it. The column and Mr. Bowman will both be greatly missed.

Nancy Alexander Oak Park

Prohibit use of tear gas on civilians

What is curious is that the use of tear gas during war has been banned by the 1925 Geneva Protocol, but politicians in this country have never gotten around to banning its use on civilians.

If President Donald Trump is serious about being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, maybe a good first step would be for him to sponsor a law making it illegal to use tear gas against American citizens and others.

William Dodd Brown, Lincoln Square

Winter winners

Don't look now but Chicago's "Boys of Winter" are winning. That is, Da Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks all have winning records to date.

And while the season is young, so are our overachieving athletes. What's more, the faint echoes of "wait 'til next year" have already been forgotten.

Keep it up, boys. Chicago has your backs!

Bob Ory, Elgin