By Michael Pasternak

Calling the Blow energy drink mix a "blatant promotion of drug culture and addiction," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan earlier this month demanded that a Las Vegas-based company stop marketing and selling its cocaine-themed product in Illinois.

"I am deeply concerned that the design and marketing of Blow will have a detrimental effect on children in Illinois," Madigan wrote in the May 2 letter to Kingpin Concepts Inc.

Blow is packaged in "bricks" and vials, a combination that Natalie Bauer, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said glorifies cocaine.

Blow creator Logan Gola said his product is mocking drug culture, not glorifying drug use, but he has agreed to stop selling his product in Illinois.

By Kyle Hocking

As Carol Wang watches her pregnant daughter enter her North Side high school while dropping her off, she wonders if there was anything she could have done better as a parent in preventing Alexia from being a teenage mom.

"I had no idea she even liked anyone and if I did I wish she would have come to me to talk about it," Wang said.

Alexia is a sophomore and seven months pregnant. Her child is due sometime in June, leaving just enough time for her to finish out the school year.

Illinois ranks 18th among the states with the most teen pregnancies, according to National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Chicago leads among Illinois cities, accounting for more than half of all teen pregnancies.

By Julia Korol

Lingering one night after hours to finish up some work, Tony Dreyfuss, one of the owners of Metropolis Coffee in Rogers Park, noticed that something wasn't quite right. Except for the giant bags of coffee stacked against the back wall, the place was deserted. And yet the Internet network claimed that 230 users were connected.

Next door and across the street from Metropolis Coffee are two 300-unit apartment buildings each giving at least 600 residents the opportunity to log onto the coffee shop's wireless network, according to Dreyfuss.

Since the widespread public adoption of Wi-Fi, coffee shops have been shiny beacons of hope for the laptop crowd of young professionals and sleep-deprived students as they sip some java and hammer away at their keyboards. But lately, more and more coffee shops are finding themselves tightening Internet network security to prevent nearby residents from surfing the Web on the shop owner's dime.

From Newstips.org reports

By Lea Erwin

The cost for the new national identification cards is expected to be $40 more than the standard driver's licenses, but Secretary of State Jesse White's office says the federal government has yet to pay for the cost of the IDs.

In April 2007, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and Barack Obama (D-Ill) passed a joint resolution along with 19 other states to halt the Real ID program until the federal government finds a way to reimburse the states for the cost.

"States are responsible for putting together driving licenses, and they are expensive. The cost would have to be a decision the states would have to end up making," said Tom Ferrone, legislative correspondent for Durbin.

From Newstips.org reports

By Thomas Pardee

In the months leading up to the launch of its prolific iPhone, computing giant Apple touted the device as the tool that would change the way people looked at the Internet.

What Apple didn't expect was how the iPhone would change the Internet itself.

In a burgeoning movement to better meet the needs of the more than 3 million iPhone users, many popular Web sites are developing new "iPhone-friendly" versions of themselves. Unlike the stripped-down pages available on pre-existing mobile Web platforms, Web developers say these new iPhone sites pack the same punch as a regular Web site in a leaner, meaner and faster format.

By Rachael Koetsier

Residents of Hyde Park reviewed plans for redeveloping the Harper Court Shopping Center and offered suggestions as to what should be included in the new plans during an April 9 meeting.

Some asked questions about the sustainability of new and existing businesses during redevelopment while others questioned the developer about landscape within a proposed courtyard. Speakers supported the construction of a movie theater, as well as a safe and well-lit evening environment. 

With development as an expected issue at a May 12 Advisory Council meeting, the proposed plans have no definite date for completion.  Harper Court was established 30 years ago in Hyde Park on Harper Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets. It contains a number of shops and restaurants, many independently-owned. 

From Newstips.org reports

By John Lendman

The City of Chicago will hold its annual Bike Re(Cycle) event early next month at the West Lakeview Chase bank branch located at 3335 N. Ashland Ave.

The two-day bicycle recycling collection drive, which opens May 3, will benefit the Working Bikes Cooperative, a non-profit organization seeking to repair, restore and resell used bikes for local and international charities.

Last year's event collected more than 100 bikes, said Mary May, the Bike Chicago media specialist for the Mayor's Office of Special Events.