As a Lake County election judge, I take great offense at new Illinois Republican Chair Kathy Salvi raising an envelope that read “election integrity” as she spoke to the GOP Illinois delegates in Milwaukee (“New Illinois GOP chair Kathy Salvi vows to end ‘blue funk’: ‘We’re gonna make Illinois red again’ ”).

She said she “wants to make sure that every honest vote is counted,” which implies they were not, raising at the same time the tired lie that there were fraudulent votes in the last few elections.

There are only two options here: Either she doesn’t understand how elections are run in Illinois and how difficult it would be to cast fraudulent ballots, or she is just another Trump Republican embracing his big lie.

I challenge Salvi to produce any evidence that “honest” votes were not counted or that fraudulent ones were. Trump couldn’t produce any. Can she? If not, then she should be quiet.

We election judges do an excellent job, and there are dozens of security measures that prevent fraud. And she wonders why the Republican Party is a joke here in Illinois. Just look in the mirror.

Laurence D. Schiller, PhD, Deerfield

Blagojevich attends RNC while Pence is sidelined? Say what?

Hulk Hogan, Amber Rose, Rudy Giuliani and convicts Peter Navarro, Paul Manafort, Rod Blagojevich and Roger Stone were all welcome at the GOP convention. The last Republican vice president of the United States wasn’t. Just as well probably. Some delegates might have built a gallows.

Michael M. Bates, Tinley Park

Housing is a human right when you pay for it

In touting Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez for City Council Zoning Committee chair, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Sigcho-Lopez is someone who believes housing is a human right. I have recently paid off a three-decade housing mortgage, and now I have a human right to housing.

Does Sigcho-Lopez refer to this kind of right, or is there a document somewhere expressing another form of human rights to housing? I would hate to think I paid off an expensive three-decade mortgage to get my housing right, when there may exist less pricey means to do so.

Willam ONeill, Near West Side

Warning: New insurance laws could raise costs

As president of the Illinois Life & Health Insurance Council, I am writing in response to the governor’s signing House Bill 5395 into law, a measure intended to improve access to affordable high-quality health care.

Since early spring, the council has been involved in frequent discussions with the governor’s office, Illinois Department of Insurance and legislators to shape the complex legislative initiative.

These discussions amplified the indispensable role insurance companies play in the affordability of health care and nurtured a spirit of cooperation, which led to several key compromises improving the bill signed into law today. These include:

• Inserting language clarifying the intent for prior approval of large-group insurance rates.
• Preserving an insurance company’s ability to manage its prescription drug formularies.
• Giving insurance companies additional time — until Jan. 1, 2026 — to implement the changes under the Act.

Unfortunately, there were also a couple of provisions on which we could not find common ground, which may bring about unintended consequences in the form of increased costs to consumers, namely:

• Banning the use of step therapy and restricting the use of prior authorization, which limit the tools insurance companies have to control costs. These changes in the new law could lead to an increase in health insurance premiums as the cost of medical care continues to outpace cost increases for other goods and services.
• Banning short-term limited duration insurance, effective Jan. 1, 2025, that was inserted into another bill, House Bill 2499. Short-term limited duration insurance is designed to fill gaps in coverage to ensure against catastrophic medical events. Eliminating the availability of these insurance products will leave more consumers vulnerable to going without any financial protection against unexpected medical needs because they may not otherwise qualify for enrollment in subsidized Affordable Care Act health insurance or even be able to afford those options.

I want to re-emphasize the Illinois Life & Health Insurance Council is committed to continue working with all parties as implementation of the complex new law is being developed and executed over the next year and a half. This is the next phase in the process, and working together we can achieve results that will accomplish our shared goals: improving access to affordable high-quality health care.

Laura Minzer, president, Illinois Life & Health Insurance Council

Electric stoves stink

I read with interest the letter from the reader questioning the wisdom of converting everything to electric in view of the recent storm outages. I would add that I have never seen a professional chef cooking on an electric cooktop.

I absolutely despise my electric stove and long for the gas cooktop I used to have. It takes minutes for it to heat up, and you cannot just turn the heat down if something threatens to boil over. You must move the cooking vessel and wait for things to cool down. While some home appliances operate as well on either gas or electric power, not all do.

Regina Gomory, Crystal Lake

Gas pumps require electricity

People always seem to “worry” about electric cars when we have the occasional and usually quite short power outages. Could people possibly not understand that gasoline pumps require electricity, too?

Don Anderson, Oak Park

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Several victims of the Highland Park Fourth of July parade mass shooting have filed lawsuits against the Illinois State Police, alleging it allowed the suspected shooter to obtain firearms.

Five lawsuits filed in the last month in the Illinois Court of Claims accuse the state police of having negligently approved Robert E. Crimo III’s gun ownership application in 2019 even though the Highland Park police had issued a “clear and present danger” alert against him months earlier.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Crimo is charged with firing from a rooftop on July 4, 2022, killing seven people and wounding 48 others.

The state police – who won’t comment – have said the alert didn’t rise to the level of denying him a gun ownership card.

The lawsuits dispute that, saying the alert, prompted by a police house call, included details that showed Crimo was not fit to obtain guns.

“The atrocity carried out by Robert Crimo III was predictable and preventable, if only the Illinois State Police and its Firearm Services Bureau had followed their internal rules, laws, and code provisions that applied to dangerous individuals like Robert Crimo III,” according to a lawsuit filed by the family of Eduardo Uvaldo, who died in the shooting.

His family’s lawyer, Matthew Sims, said the “red flag should have been maintained and used to deny the shooter a FOID just weeks later. Instead, it appears the State Police did nothing with it.”

SEE MORE: Highland Park 4th of July parade returns 2 years after deadly shooting

Crimo applied for a gun ownership card when he was 19 and required the signature of his father, Robert Crimo Jr. The father pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct for signing the application, admitting that he knew his son was not fit to own a weapon.

According to the lawsuits, the red flag was prompted when Highland Park police responded to the Crimo household in September 2019. A family member had called police, claiming Crimo was suicidal and had threatened to “kill everyone,” the lawsuit states.

The police came and confiscated more than a dozen knives, a dagger and a sword. But they said the father told them the weapons were his, and the family denied that Crimo had threatened them and himself.

Three other similar lawsuits were filed by the firm Levin and Perconti on behalf of victims Zoe Kolpack, Stephen Kolpack and Michael Joyce. A fifth lawsuit, representing nearly 40 victims and relatives, was filed by the Romanucci & Blandin law firm.

In 2022, the same families filed suit in state court against Crimo, his father and gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, which made the murder weapon.

The new lawsuits were filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, where people can sue state agencies for damages. The cases haven’t yet been given a hearing date, according to a spokesperson for the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, which oversees the court.

Shortly after the mass shooting, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said there had been “insufficient basis” to deny Crimo III’s request for a firearm owners ID card – with family members denying his threats and no domestic violence order or court order restraining him from having a gun.

Days later, Kelly and Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted an emergency rule for broader use of “clear and present danger” reports – aimed at barring applicants from receiving a FOID card or revoking a current card for those who exhibit violent or suicidal behavior.

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire – Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2024.)

SPRINGFIELD: A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy pleaded not guilty to murder on Thursday, according to court documents, one day after he was fired, arrested and charged in the fatal shooting of a 36-year-old Black woman during a call for help at her home.

Sean Grayson, 30, fired three shots, striking Sonya Massey one time in the face as she ducked for cover behind a kitchen counter separating the two, according to court documents. The shooting followed a verbal exchange about a pot on the stove.

Massey, a mother of two teenagers, had called police regarding a suspected intruder in her Springfield home, said Ben Crump, the prominent U.S. civil rights lawyer representing the family. It is the latest in a running list of high-profile police killings of Black people, including George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Roger Fortson, that Crump has counseled.

“While nothing can undo the heinous actions of this officer, we hope the scales of justice will continue to hold him accountable and we will demand transparency at every step,“ Crump said in a statement.

A grand jury indicted Grayson, who is white, on five charges, including three counts of murder in the first degree, one count of aggravated battery and one count of official misconduct. He was arraigned in Illinois’ Seventh Judicial Circuit Court on Thursday and pled not guilty to all charges. He was jailed until his next court date on August 26.

Grayson’s attorney, Daniel Fultz, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grayson and another Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy were called to Massey’s home for a suspected prowler at 12:50 a.m. July 6. About 30 minutes later, Massey was shot.

According to the indictment, Massey had placed a pot of possibly hot water on the counter on Grayson’s instructions. Grayson was in the living room when he then drew his firearm and threatened to shoot Massey in the face, prompting her to put her hands in the air, say, “I’m sorry,“ and duck for cover behind a counter separating the two.

Grayson moved closer, yelled at Massey to put the pot down and opened fire, the document said. He then activated his body camera, though his partner’s camera was activated upon arriving on the scene. He is twice her size, according to court files.

Grayson did not render aid and discouraged the other deputy not to provide help. The second deputy, who was not named, stayed by Massey until medics arrived. She was pronounced dead at St. John’s Hospital.

The family has viewed body-camera footage, which officials plan to release on Monday with minimal redactions, according to State’s Attorney John Milhiser.

The shooting was investigated by the Illinois State Police. The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office said on Wednesday it fired Grayson after the investigation found he did not follow proper training and standards.

“With our badge we accept enormous responsibility, and if that responsibility is abused, there should be consequences,“ the office said in a post on Facebook.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said in a statement Massey deserved protection rather than being “gunned down.”

“My heart breaks for Sonya’s children, for her family and friends and for all who knew and loved her, and I am enraged that another innocent Black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer,“ he said.

The killing comes roughly two months after a Florida deputy shot and killed Fortson, a 23-year-old Black airman with the U.S. Air Force, at Fortson’s home in Fort Walton Beach. Eddie Duran, the deputy, was later fired amid an investigation into the shooting, though charges have not been filed.