I was thrilled to read about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s support for the reinstatement of Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa as a Chicago City Council committee chair. Johnson is making the right call for Chicago and the council.
I’ve organized for civilian oversight of the police and higher wages for tipped workers in Chicago. I’ve witnessed how Carlos has been instrumental in fostering consensus to enact these significant policy wins. The Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance and One Fair Wage, which raised the wage for 44,000 mostly Black and Brown tipped workers, could not have been enacted without Carlos’ leadership. These legislative victories testify to Carlos’ ability to build bridges to deliver for Chicagoans and his commitment to the issues impacting Black Chicagoans. Carlos is the type of elected official we need in a City Council leadership role.
The allegations against Carlos — that he manhandled and assaulted a colleague — were unequivocally debunked when CBS released video of the incident. It’s a travesty that the video was released after Carlos was forced to step down from his leadership roles as floor leader and zoning chair.
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Now that we’ve seen the video, it’s only fair that Carlos returns to a leadership role. After all, Transportation Committee Chair Greg Mitchell was not forced to resign from his committee chairmanship and vice chairmanship after credible allegations that he used his aldermanic power to make threats and that he physically assaulted a colleague. Such a double standard should not be allowed to stand.
I’ve known Carlos for years, since his time as an community organizer. Carlos has always been respectful and collaborative with me and others. He listens to community voices and centers the people directly impacted by policy in his work. Those who know Carlos can see beyond the politically motivated attacks and recognize him as a leader who steadfastly delivers for Chicago’s communities. Carlos returning to a committee chairmanship is good for Chicagoans
Nataki Rhodes, national lead organizer, One Fair Wage
COPA’s chief is wrong about cops in Dexter Reed case
Andrea Kersten serving as the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability is systematically demoralizing the Chicago Police Department with her recent recommendation to strip the four Chicago police officers involved in the Dexter Reed shooting of their police powers.
It has been well-documented that when Dexter Reed was stopped in his vehicle he refused to comply with numerous requests to roll down his driver side window and exit the vehicle.
Instead of complying, he decided to shoot at officers at the scene and wounded one, thankfully not fatally.
The police retaliated by firing back and stopping the threat. At this point there could have been other assailants in the vehicle not seen by the police due to the heavy tinting of the windows. Had Reed complied with the officers’ numerous requests, he would be alive today.
Kersten is placing complete blame on the CPD for defending their own. The police did not arbitrarily take “pot shots” at an innocent citizen. They returned fire on someone who shot at one of their own.
COPA serves a purpose, but in situations like the Dexter Reed case, for Kersten to call for the officers to be stripped of their police powers is unconscionable.
John Livaich, Oak Lawn
Abortion drugs shouldn’t be available via app
Planned Parenthood recently announced that it will start providing high-risk abortion drugs to women in Illinois via an app, without ever speaking with them. The app user needs only to “confirm that [she is] currently located in Illinois and answer a few health questions.” Planned Parenthood’s app cannot properly screen a woman for a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, determine the gestational age of her unborn baby, or even confirm if the app user is a pregnant woman. This development imperils women’s health and safety.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s label for abortion drugs warns that roughly one in 25 women end up in the emergency room after taking these drugs. It also contains a black-box warning that the drugs present “risks of serious complications,” including “fatal infections and bleeding.” It’s no wonder that the FDA says that abortion drugs should be “prescribed [only] to women for whom emergency care is available.”
The FDA initially required doctors to provide ongoing care to women who take these drugs, including in-person doctor visits to check for ectopic pregnancies, severe bleeding, and life-threatening infections. But the FDA removed these safeguards. Its current mail-order abortion drug regime allows abortion providers to prescribe these high-risk drugs without ever having met with or examined a woman before, during, or after taking abortion drugs. The new abortion-by-app scheme represents the inevitable, dangerous outgrowth of the FDA’s actions to remove crucial safeguards.
Without an office visit and ultrasound, a woman may take abortion drugs with a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy—which occurs in one in 50 pregnancies—or past the approved gestational age. Abortion drugs can mask the symptoms of a rupture and lead to maternal death. And over a third of women need surgical intervention if they take the drugs in the second trimester. An app cannot replace an ultrasound or in-person examination.
Planned Parenthood’s announcement comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to hold the FDA accountable for recklessly removing crucial safeguards for abortion drugs. Alliance Defending Freedom and our medical professional clients are challenging the FDA’s actions. Two courts have agreed with us that the FDA crossed the line. We hope the Supreme Court becomes the third and final one to do so. Because women and girls deserve better.
Erik Baptist, senior counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Where are the cicadas?
I haven’t seen one cicada yet. I live across the street from the Chicago River and the Wrigley Building. Is it because, as my suburban friends like to say, they can’t find parking downtown?
Felicia Carparelli, Loop
