Mark Brown fairly sized up the hard truth in Adam Toledo shooting

Kudo’s to you Mark Brown for your well thought out column about the Adam Toledo shooting. I expect you will receive much negative reaction from activists, the general population and even by your own peer group.

I’m sure you knew this, but followed through.

The current one-sided attitude of “my way or no way” is tearing the country apart. There are always two sides to a story but lately the press has put on blinders. Keep up your unbiased and unfettered views.

Steve Babyk, East Humboldt Park

Police need better ways

Mark Brown is correct. No one should be jumping for joy that a young teen was shot and killed by a police officer, but no one should be sitting in judgment of the officer — who was called to the scene by fearful neighbors. The officer made a fatal mistake, but that’s what it was — a mistake, an error in a split-second situation. This is why the Chicago Police Department must, must, must come up with better ways of handling future similar crisis situations. Could more — many more — officers respond to these calls? Could officers be trained to aim for a suspect’s legs? There must be better ways to deal with suspects in these situations than to shoot to kill.

George Pfeifer Evanston

Home runs and Roger Maris

Great column on Saturday by Rick Telander about the New York Yankee greats Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Billy Martin. Unfortunately for me, my 1961 baseball fandom ended in July of that year. Some guy named “Uncle Sam” needed me. So whenever I get a chance to read about Maris’ 61 home runs in 1961, I jump at it. “Jump” might be an exaggeration at my age. I’m 80. Let’s just say I enjoy it.

But my arithmetic must differ with Telander’s. Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 154 games while Maris hit 61 home runs in 162 games? Looks to me like Maris had eight more games to break Ruth’s record. Congrats to Maris for his 61 homers, but as for the record, hmmm.

Bob Meder, Romeoville

Allow nurses to work across state lines

The past year has highlighted the critical importance of ensuring Illinois hospitals and clinics can quickly hire an adequate number of professional registered nurses. The pandemic also has highlighted the need for nurses to travel across state lines to provide care to those in need. Disease and disaster don’t respect state boundaries, and neither should our licensing laws.

The Nurse Licensure Compact would ensure that nurses could practice across state lines without having to obtain numerous, separate licenses. This would allow nurses to begin working in Illinois more quickly than our current system allows and ensure patients receive the quality care they need.

Nurses licensed in the compact can currently practice in 34 states under a single multi-state license. The compact has been in place for over 20 years and provides safe and effective care by ensuring all included nurses meet the same uniform licensure requirements to practice.

Nurse leaders across Illinois have been challenged with identifying enough nurses to provide care in their facilities and often that need strikes with little warning. On behalf of the Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders, we urge the Illinois General Assembly to support adding our state to the Nurse Licensure Compact. In a crisis, time is of the essence and the Compact helps Illinois respond to the need for professional nursing services.

Elaine Kemper, Denise Wienand, Nicole Wynn, Tim Carrigan and Nicole Wynn, all members of the Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders