More state, local funding needed to boost protection from floods

Brett Chase's article in the Sun-Times, “Flooding in Chicago is getting worse. Here’s why,” correctly calls out the need to create more green spaces to soak up excess water from the stronger, more frequent thunderstorms the region is experiencing due to climate change.

The importance of conserving and restoring open space to mitigate and prevent flooding is all too often understated or forgotten.

As one of the few private foundations in Chicagoland that provides resources for land conservation, we see firsthand the vital role that wetlands, prairies, forests and other open spaces play. Conserved lands also provide other critical quality of life benefits, including cleaning our water and air, reducing urban heat, providing wildlife habitat and connecting us with nature.

As the article notes, there are huge economic benefits too. By conserving natural areas that absorb flooding, we can make our communities more resilient and save on costly repairs to homes, businesses, roads and reduce the strain on our sewer systems.

But we cannot do this work alone. Given the scale required to deliver nature-based flood protection for the communities that need it the most, private investment only goes so far. The reality is that public funding will be needed. And given federal funding cuts, our state and local governments will need to step up in an even bigger way to fund and support nature. Solutions like a state wetland protection program and a dedicated state conservation fund would be a good start.

Nature is a unifying issue, as evidenced by the recent ballot measure wins in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties, where voters approved raising their property taxes or paying for bonds to increase land conservation at their county forest preserve districts. This demonstrates the strong public appetite for additional state and local investment to preserve and restore the green spaces and natural areas needed to ensure a more flood and climate-resilient future.

Arnold Randall, executive director, and Rebecca Judd, senior conservation program officer, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation

Dismantle segregation, criminal justice disparities

Alden Loury’s most recent column exposes a truth Chicago can no longer ignore: segregation and criminal justice disparities are two sides of the same barrier holding Black families back.

This point cannot be overstated. For decades, the “war on drugs” fueled mass incarceration that disproportionately targeted Black Americans, undermining economic stability across entire communities. Despite studies showing that Black and white individuals use and sell illicit drugs at similar rates, Black people remain far more likely to be arrested for drug offenses.

These disparities have long-term consequences. Every arrest, conviction and prison sentence removes wage earners, disrupts families and drains wealth from neighborhoods already facing structural barriers.

This inequity was further entrenched through policies such as the sentencing gap between crack and powder cocaine — an injustice highlighted when the Biden administration commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders. Economic parity is impossible when the justice system systematically extracts people and resources from Black communities.

If Chicago hopes to improve economic mobility, we must recognize that spatial inequality and criminal justice disparities are inseparable. Closing the wealth gap requires dismantling the punitive systems that helped create it and reinvesting in the neighborhoods most harmed.

Paige Harrison, Clarkston, Washington

Sweet and not-so-sweet memories

The new Candy Hall of Fame sounds like a lot of fun. So much Chicago history resides in those colorful and famous delights. I assume the museum will also have a display recounting the sugar import quotas under Ronald Reagan, which had such a devastating effect on Chicago's many candy producers.

Victor Skade, Brookfield

Trump doesn’t stand a chance with pope

Donald Trump had better be careful with the pope.

It's one thing to bully world leaders — quite another to mess with someone who was born on the South Side of Chicago.

Larry Niemi, Loop (originally a South Sider)

Pope Leo XIV

Donald Trump says he's "not a fan of Pope Leo." Well, Mr. President, I guarantee you that Pope Leo XIV isn't a fan of yours either. Big cheers for the fearless Pope Leo XIV, because after all that is said and done, the real winners are always the good and peace-loving people like Pope Leo — not the evil and war-loving opposition that includes Trump.

Eileen Hughes, Near North Side

Look who’s talking

We have to keep from "allowing nuclear power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people."

Could this statement from President Donald Trump apply to Trump?

Don Wedd, Hyde Park

Exploring is great, but keep focus on Earth

Thank goodness the Artemis II astronauts returned safely from their mission. Technology proved that difficult endeavors can be accomplished. The pictures of the moon revealed a barren, inhospitable surface — a place scientists say can be used as a “proving ground” for crewed missions to Mars.

There are significant roadblocks for humans to live on Mars. Its atmosphere is composed of only 0.13% oxygen — man cannot breathe "martian air." The average temperature on Mars is 80 degrees below zero. Water is scarce on Mars, and it is in the form of ice. The dust storms of Mars are also the largest in the solar system, capable of blanketing the entire planet and lasting for months.

Mars is not an alternative for Earth, even as our planet becomes overpopulated and polluted by greenhouse gases. There is a great difference between exploring and thriving. All of us should put our efforts together to rehabilitate those challenges that we face on the "third rock from the sun."

Sam Solomon, Deerfield