Back-to-school season changes the rhythm of Chicago kitchens. Mornings get earlier, lunchboxes return to the counter, and families once again need food that is quick, nourishing and appealing enough that children will actually eat it.
This year, food safety headlines have added uncertainty. Some families are asking whether they should stop buying fresh produce. The concern is understandable, and every outbreak deserves a serious response. But abandoning fruits and vegetables is not what health officials are advising.
A July CBS News/YouGov poll found that 4 in 10 Americans were buying or eating less produce because of the recent cyclospora outbreak. That worries me. Many families already struggle to eat enough fruits and vegetables. A necessary precaution should not become fear of an entire grocery aisle.
The better response is informed confidence. When health officials identify a concern, follow their specific guidance rather than assuming it applies to every fruit and vegetable. Check current U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisories. At home, stick with habits that protect families every day: Wash hands and preparation surfaces, keep produce separate from raw meat and seafood, rinse fruits and vegetables under running water and refrigerate perishable items promptly.
Then bring the joy back. Add vegetables to a familiar family meal or tuck fruit into a lunchbox. Fresh, frozen and canned choices can all help families build nourishing meals within their budgets and traditions.
Strawberries are an example I especially love. They fit easily into busy days — sliced over oatmeal, blended into a smoothie or simply rinsed and eaten. I have visited California strawberry farms and seen firsthand the care growers put into the fruit they bring to market and to their own families.
Food producers and regulators carry the primary responsibility for prevention, rapid detection and clear communication. Consumers should not have to decode vague warnings.
As a dietitian, I do not ask families to choose between food safety and good nutrition. We need both. Follow reliable guidance, practice sensible food handling and keep nourishing foods on the table. Caution belongs in the produce aisle. So do confidence, appetite and joy.
Sylvia Meléndez Klinger, dietitian, founder, Hispanic & Multicultural Nutrition Communications, and 2025 recipient, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Medallion Award
Amtrak rail yard belongs on industrial site
Picture a massive diesel fuel tank in your backyard. Now surround it with a 24-hour railroad maintenance facility: locomotives, fueling, lights, trucks, noise and emissions.
That is what Amtrak wants to put beside thousands of South Side residents.
Amtrak already has a maintenance facility. It sits on 47 acres along the Chicago River in a largely industrial corridor. According to figures cited by 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee, just 26 people live within 500 feet of the existing facility. More than 6,000 live within 500 feet of the proposed Canal Street site.
Amtrak says it needs a new, modern facility. Fine. But that doesn’t explain why it needs to be here.
The land beneath Amtrak’s existing facility has become extremely valuable. Billionaire investor and White Sox minority owner Justin Ishbia has that property under contract, while his Canal Edge LLC is developing and delivering Amtrak’s replacement facility.
The result is difficult to ignore: A 24-hour industrial operation is being moved away from a place where almost nobody lives and into a densely populated area.
Amtrak also points to the 3,000 union jobs it says construction will support. Bridgeport is a pro-union community. But those jobs aren’t tied to South Canal and 33rd streets. Union workers can build or modernize a facility at an appropriate industrial location.
And location matters. In 2019, 2,800 gallons of diesel spilled at Amtrak’s existing Chicago facility. Industrial facilities have accidents. That’s one reason we put them in industrial areas rather than beside homes, schools, parks and playgrounds.
Chicago is a railroad city with extensive rail infrastructure and industrial land. If Amtrak cannot modernize its existing yard, find a genuinely nonresidential alternative.
This isn’t an argument against Amtrak, modernization or union jobs. It’s an argument against putting a massive 24-hour industrial operation beside thousands of people when we already know it doesn’t have to be.
Stop this project. Find another site.
Kathleen M. Hughes, Bridgeport
Sen. Duckworth, hold Trump and his cronies accountable
For 20 months, the Trump administration has relentlessly attacked our democracy and civil liberties. Chicago, in particular, has reeled under the deployment of federal paramilitary forces intended to terrorize residents and chill freedoms of speech and assembly. But for some reason Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., recently said if the Democrats take the House back in November all she wants to do is “move the ball forward” and allow Donald Trump a way to “save face.”
The American people don’t want to help Trump save face. A majority —55% — want to see him impeached, including more than 80% of Democrats. The demand for accountability has even crossed party lines. Congress abruptly recessed last month when Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., surprised leadership with a push to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Duckworth’s statement is out of line with fellow Americans, but right in line with establishment Democratic leadership. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., insists impeachment is not a priority, and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, says that it’s more important to “end the lawlessness.”
The question for the Democrats is how, exactly, they plan to “move on” if they won’t impose consequences.
Does “moving on” mean that Trump gets to keep the more than $2 billion he’s enriched himself with during his presidency? What about the white supremacist Office of Remigration and the approved or pledged $400 million to fund secretive “third-country” deportation agreements? Does helping Trump “save face” mean that we skip past accountability for the masked paramilitary forces who have detained people without due process? What does “moving on” look like for the families of people killed by the U.S. government in broad daylight and then lied about to the American public?
Trump and his enablers must face consequences for their abuses of power, full stop.
Duckworth is a veteran. So am I. We swore the same oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It is time to uphold that oath, senator. Find your courage. Demand accountability. Demand justice. Defend this democracy and call for the impeachment, conviction and removal of Trump from office.
Keira Havens, executive director, Citizens’ Impeachment
Single mothers hit hard by SNAP restrictions
Ask a single mother on the West Side what she’s keeping an eye on this year, and she’ll say Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recertification: the county letter with a deadline, a list of documents and the shift she must skip to gather them.
She is reading the situation correctly. Under the 2025 federal budget law, states now cover 75% of SNAP administration costs, an increase from the previous federal-state 50% split. Illinois puts its share at roughly $80 million a year. If the state’s SNAP error rate stays above 10%, Illinois will owe a federal penalty of $550 million to $700 million. It doesn’t bode well that SNAP payment error rate in Illinois was 11.56% in fiscal year 2024 — the fifth-highest in the country.
Those costs land in a city where the Greater Chicago Food Depository finds that 36% of households lack consistent access to enough food, climbing to 47% among households with children. Statewide, 45% of SNAP benefits go to households with children.
At New Moms, which works with young mothers across the West Side, that math is what we’ve talking these days. A recent Jeremiah Program and Urban Institute survey of nearly 1,800 single mothers in 43 states, found matching numbers: 85% had experienced food insecurity, 97% had faced housing hardship and 64% had quit, declined or changed a job because childcare did not work.
None of that reads distant in Austin, Englewood or Little Village, where the mothers walking into our programs are doing the math.
If we can design a program for single mothers who are employed and in school with a child at home, the hardest version of the problem is solved for most others.
If you fund programs in this city, look at where your dollars land now that the state pays the bill. If you lead an organization that touches these families, come sit at the table. It is still being set.
Laura Zumdahl, president and CEO, New Moms
Chastity Lord, president and CEO, Jeremiah Program
Rooting for renters rights
Greta Connor, a “mom-and-pop landlord” in Evanston, contends in a recent letter to the Sun-Times that landlords only pass on costs to renters out of necessity, not out of greed. Her tenants didn’t force her to purchase two properties. Why is it her renters’ responsibility to pay off the mortgages she and her husband took on voluntarily? Landlords don’t become landlords out of the goodness of their hearts. They rent properties to make a profit. The Protecting Renters Ordinance is good for tenants. Good for Mayor Brandon Johnson for standing up for us.
Kathryn Flucht, Boystown
Rein in unlicensed drivers
Gun control, undocumented immigrants and artificial intelligence have gotten much attention in recent years, but why aren’t we targeting unlicensed drivers?
This too is a major social issue. Various national studies have found these operators running at a rate anywhere from 2.7 to nine times above their licensed counterparts for crashes and fatalities. Zooming in on local potential problems, I tabulated the police blotter page entries in the local neighborhood papers over the last two months. I found traffic stops outnumbering DUIs by a factor of four and above the speeders at a rate of 3 to 2. Serious stuff here, and lots of it.
Hopefully the day is coming when we’ll be seeing all our cars equipped with voice or fingerprint recognition technology. If your machine consults various databases and detects a problem with your license or vehicle plates, your car will refuse to start. And if this also serves to deter a few car thieves, so much the better.
The technology for it is probably already here; it’s only a question of whether and when public demand will catch up. Such a fix can’t come too soon. With so many illegal motorists out there running under the radar, I think we’re due to shine some more light on the trouble and lower the radar on the rogue drivers.
Tom Gregg, Niles
Moneyball
As a sports fan, I find the MLB playoffs unsatisfying. Not with regard to the quality of the games, but more so about the integrity of seeking competitive balance. Everyone loves a good David vs. Goliath story, but in actuality how often do the Davids win?
In this year’s MLB playoffs the disparity in the participating teams payrolls is embarrassingly lopsided. The Dodgers payroll hovers around $400 million, and the Yankees, Phillies, Braves, Padres, Astros and Cubs are all in the $250 million or more payroll club. For the remaining teams it must feel like racing against Usain Bolt and giving him a 20-yard head start. Even fans of Goliath can’t feel good knowing they beat an undermanned opponent.
In the spirit of promoting fair play, I propose changing the playoff rules to require teams participating to set their rosters at a predetermined payroll dollar amount. The aim is to promote a fairer competition on the field instead of being based on bank accounts.
Steven Fortuna, Naperville