Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    After apps like Uber and Lyft underwent scrutiny from the city, it became disappointing that other app services like Favor and Postmates have stayed under the radar. Just as cab drivers were pissed about having more competition in their field, so are those in the service industry pissed at third-party delivery services. The disdain comes from all positions: delivery drivers losing out on deliveries, servers losing tips that go to the app driver, and kitchen staff being harangued for food quality that is the app driver's fault. The worst part is that app drivers are not held to the same standard as the rest of the service industry. I have asked app drivers if they need a food handler certificate, which they don't. The potential risk that this poses is disconcerting considering that most of these drivers don't have hot bags for keeping temperatures, let alone the knowledge of proper food management. Accountability is essential in keeping a kitchen running smooth; this new arm of the city's kitchens needs to be held to the same standard.

Dear Editor,
    I have for years been disappointed that the AC doesn’t seem to feel that health issues are newsworthy. So I find it particularly irritating that twice now Michael King has decided to report on the vaccine debate – not with an in-depth and even piece but rather a few snarky comments that insinuate the people opposed to forced vaccinations are nuts. In last week’s City Council news ["Council: If You Come to a Fork ... Take It," April 24], he informs us it’s Infant Immunization Week, but just has to add, “No, it doesn’t cause autism.” And his only mention of the dozen bills that would make it harder to opt out of forced vaccination was another equally snarky comment about protests at the Capitol. Readers comments to that remark were only given voice on your online paper. You don’t appear to be beholden to Big Pharma advertising dollars like the rest of mainstream media, so I’m confused as to why you don’t explore the many issues of the pharmaceutical industry and paid lobbyists corrupting our health care policies. There are many to choose among: GMOs, CPRIT malfeasance, CDC corruption, low-cost effective treatments like low-dose Naltrexone that are shunned because they compete with high cost ineffective pharmaceuticals, or even the demonizing of Dr. Oz only when he dared to speak out against GMOs.
    Please hire someone who can wade through complex medical issues and present the side Big Pharma and Big Medicine doesn’t want us to know. Start by reading Dissolving Illusions by Suzanne Humphries, MD, or the works of vaccine researcher, Mark Geier, MD, or the autism and GMO researcher, Dr. Stephanie Seneff from MIT. Or watch the movies Bought or Trace Amounts.

   [Michael King responds: I repeat: Vaccines do not cause autism, and those who refuse to vaccinate their children because of such unreasoning and unreasonable fears are endangering the most vulnerable members of their communities. Moreover, the Chronicle regularly covers "health issues," just not the popular obsessions listed in Carol Jackson's catalog.]

Dear Editor,
    The basis for “The Hightower Report: Corporate Weasels Try to Escape Paying for Workers’ Injuries,” April 24, was a factually incorrect Mother Jones “article.” Readers who like to do their own research are welcome to visit our website (www.arawc.org/blog) and read a point-by-point refutation.
    What ARAWC believes should be discussed is how to best care for injured workers in a way that makes sense for the employee and the employer. The goal of any occupational injury benefit plan should be to expedite benefits to injured employees, getting them back to work quickly.
    It takes an attorney to understand workers’ comp benefits or how to access them. On the other hand, an Option – the workers’ comp alternative ARAWC advocates for – requires all employees to receive a document that details the exact benefits and process for accessing them, in language understandable by the average worker.
    What about the benefit caps mentioned? Workers’ comp operates on this “grand bargain” from 100 years ago, which removes all legal liability from an employer. We believe legal exposure forces the employer to have some skin in the game. This accountability results in safer workplaces and more responsiveness to employee injuries. In the extraordinarily rare instance where an employee reaches a medical benefits cap, the Option gives him or her the right to sue and receive funds above the cap to cover medical needs. Workers’ comp doesn’t do this. Option-covered employees that miss time from work also routinely receive more lost wage benefits than are paid by workers’ comp.
    So while Mr. Hightower spends his time bashing job-creating businesses and defending the broken workers’ comp system, we will spend our time advocating for a free-market Option alternative, which is just that – an option. Injured workers deserve better outcomes, not baseless hyperbole.

   [Jim Hightower responds: It’s unsurprising that Evans, the top lobbyist for a Walmart front group, would use factual errors and hyperbole to accuse me and Mother Jones of using factual errors and hyperbole in articles that rightly condemn ARAWC’s privatized workers comp scheme. He’s dead wrong, for example, to assert that I spend my time “bashing job-creating businesses” – in fact, I’m the proprietor of one! I do, however, expose the shameful greed of corporations (like the ones he fronts for) that use their campaign cash and vast lobbying networks to rig the rules against hard-hit working people. In Texas, which already has the corporate utopia of privatized workers comp that Evans & Company intend to impose nationwide, fewer than half of the privatized plans offer benefits to seriously injured workers – or even to families of workers killed on the job.]

Dear Editor,
    I was in shock when I saw your tiny article on Stevie Ray's induction on p.68 [“Playback,” April 24]. I expected a cover for Stevie Ray and the band. This is by far the biggest thing this week for Austin music and in a long time for that matter. How many bands from Austin have been inducted into the freaking Rock & Roll Hall of Fame??
    I would be embarrassed when Double Trouble and Jimmie Vaughan see this puny tribute. I hope and pray that the cover is coming this next week that they so richly deserve. I flew there to be there with Stevie (in spirit) and had tears for the tribute Jimmie paid his brother. The jam, by the way, included mega star guitars Doyle Bramhall II and Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer for Stevie along with Double Trouble. I really treasured the days the Chronicle put covers of Stevie just for cutting an album. Please tell me the cover is coming next week. Horrified reader and No. 1 Stevie Ray fan in Austin. After last Saturday evening, I am championing an effort to see statues of Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, and Jimmie Vaughan to join Stevie on Auditorium Shores. Will keep you informed of developments on this. Chronicle please get real!!!

Dear Editor,
    Did everybody forget how to drive? I don't care where you're from or how long you've lived here, my main concern is how you passed the driving test and acquired a driver's license! It is ridiculous out there, people. The number of times I personally am affected by sheer incompetence out on the Austin streets these days is staggering. My round-trip commute to and from work is a whopping 6.2 miles, and each way I encounter a minimum of 2 to 3 incidences of potentially lethal stupidity on the roads. Biking, busing, or carpooling is no better, as we are all at risk from these idiots who have no idea how to safely switch lanes or – heaven forbid! – slow the fuck down a fraction of a second. All you shitty drivers have no idea how terribly awful you are at operating a motor vehicle. I know I am not alone in this sentiment. When it comes to this topic, we officially FAIL.