Letters: Students should have to pass Constitution test

Every public school student in the state of Illinois should have to pass a test on the U.S. Constitution before being issued a valid diploma. In light of recent actions and comments made by the president and his appointees, it might serve us well if they all took such a test to determine how well or poorly they are prepared to carry out their assigned/elected/chosen positions.

Daniel Pupo, Orland Park

Backward priorities

What exactly has Oscar Lopez Rivera done to earn an honorary street sign designation in Chicago? Not only was his pardon by Obama a slap in the face to the citizens of this country, but now Chicago aldermen rub salt in the wound by naming a street after him. They give one to a murderer and terrorist, but take one away from the president? What planet do these self-serving mush heads live on? It seems the priorities of the City Council are backward. Nothing gets accomplished by wasting the taxpayers time and money with frivolous pursuits like this, especially one that honors a man who spent his life’s pursuit trying to destroy our nation.

Do we have to spell it out for them? Stop the murders. Stop the guns. Fund our schools. Bring some jobs in. Give the people hope, not pomp and circumstance. In essence, do your job.

Scot Sinclair, Third Lake

Do the right thing

Is is time to put your country before your party and do the right thing by making our president show his taxes and make his foreign business interests known. If there are conflicts of interest, they need to be known.

Diane Kacprowski, Park Ridge

Just asking

Just asking: Donald Trump keeps saying “fake media” constantly, but wasn’t he a huge part of the “fake media” espousing Barack Obama as not being an American citizen — for years?

Robert Mitchell, Northlake

Allow charitable aid for kidney disease

Kidney disease affects as many as 700,000 Americans, and that number continues to grow. To afford medical insurance and ensure access to essential treatment, patients sometimes rely on charitable financial assistance. I am one of those patients.

When I was just 20 years old, I learned that I was born with one kidney instead of two, and my kidney was already 75 percent damaged. After 13 years of managing kidney disease, I had to go on dialysis. I then needed additional treatment after a kidney transplant failed. No longer able to work, I watched my family’s savings shrink because of my health care costs.

Thankfully, I was able to find a lifeline in the form of premium assistance offered by the nonprofit American Kidney Fund. I honestly don’t know what my family would have done without this safety net.

Health insurance companies have recently been lobbying the government so they can block kidney patients from being able to use charitable assistance. Charitable assistance provides an important lifeline for patients when we need it.

Richard T. Nelson, Elk Grove Village