From Newstips.org reports

By Keri Lynch

In January 2006, Jami Max and Mena Daniel learned the graphic design and photo lab companies where they worked were being sold, and the two friends wondered what to do next. Not "corporate types," they considered their own business. The only question was what kind.

In a chance meeting with another friend, they got their answer: "Coffee, girls!"

Although neither woman had retail or foodservice experience, they started scouting locations. Driving around Uptown in March, Max spotted an empty storefront. Soon after, she and Daniel signed a lease on the space and began construction.

Mocha Café opened at 4133 N. Sheridan Rd. on August 24, 2006, to eagerly waiting customers. Meanwhile, inside, the two owners grew worried.

"We panicked," Max said. "We didn't want to open the doors. We had no bank (account for the business) and people were here!"

By Meg White

By Dara Belic

In mixed martial arts, a growing number of women compete under the same rules as men, which means punching, kicking and body-slamming. This increasingly popular - and violent - sport is attracting women around the globe at amateur and professional levels.

Mixed martial arts is a combat sport held in a "cage" with walls of metal fencing. A match is won when one fighter either forces the opponent to submit-much like in wrestling-or knocks the opponent out-much like in boxing and kickboxing.

The rules of competitive MMA have evolved to increase its practicality and safety immensely, said Rick Hines, advisory board member of the International Sports Combat Federation (ISCF), a widely recognized MMA sanctioning body.

"Less than two decades ago, MMA fights had practically no rules and were border-line illegal in this country," Hines said.

By Jason Porterfield

Though only 20, Chicagoan Thai Le has been to Vietnam three times since 1999.  His trips have been family oriented including his 2005 journey, when he traveled with his parents and siblings for his grandfather's funeral.

"I love going there," Le said.  "My family is from a part of central Vietnam where there is nothing but countryside.  It's absolutely beautiful."

The Vietnamese-American community generally supports people who return to visit friends and family, but there are strong divisions over business travel.  Many recent immigrants from Vietnam feel that Vietnamese-Americans who try to invest or establish businesses in Vietnam are collaborating with its totalitarian government.

"When you go, you have to let people in the community know that you're just going to visit.  Even then, when you get back you might have to reassure people that you weren't over there to set up a business or make money.  People can be suspicious," Le said.

Support from younger voters was key to wins by Barack Obama in Iowa and Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. Both campaigns will continue to woo this key group as they look forward to the Illinois primary and contests in more than 20 other states Feb. 5.  

By Suzanne Hanney

Streetwise 

"Austin has one of the highest levels of lead in the city," said Patrick MacRoy, program director at the Chicago Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.  The toxic effects of lead poisoning are well-established but there is help for area residents to combat the problem.    

By Meg White

Moving the nation's first primary contest from one flat, Midwestern state to another may not seem like a radical idea. But changing the primary schedule so that the "Land of Lincoln" voted before the Hawkeye state could change the outcome of presidential elections altogether.

"It would be a remarkably different world," said Kent Redfield, political science professor at the University of Illinois in Springfield.

Illinois is one of 22 states with primaries scheduled Feb. 5, known as Super Tuesday, to weigh in on the candidates for president. Iowa held the first caucus in the nation on Jan. 3.

Illinois and Iowa are not as similar as their shared border may suggest. Most notably, Illinois is more diverse.

By Allison Wright

Almost 10 percent of the campaign contributions Ald. William JP Banks (36th) received over a recent one-year period were used to pay for a 2007 Jaguar XJ.

Between July 2007 and June 2008, Banks received $134,425 in donations, according to campaign disclosure records. Of that money, $12,100 went toward the monthly lease on his Jaguar.

In November 2003, Banks put a deposit on a new luxury vehicle from Imperial Jaguar in Lake Bluff, Ill., of almost $2,000. The money came from his campaign contribution account, which is where the more than $1,000 monthly lease is also withdrawn.

This has some contributors wondering where their money is really going. For example, Belmont Funeral Home, one of Banks' larger contributors, donates thousands of dollars a year toward his campaign fund.

"I'm dumbfounded ... to say the least," said Mary Losacco, Belmont Funeral Home's office manager. "We always assumed here that he was using the money we gave him for campaigning."

By Suzanne Hanney

Streetwise

One in two unaccompanied homeless youths in Illinois were turned away from programs last year due to lack of resources, and a new study calls for doubling state funding. Youths who accessed programs numbered 2,895, but those who could not totaled 3,088.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) announced Dec. 20 that it is seeking $7 million more in state funding for homeless youths, based on a survey of the state's service providers. Next year, the programs have been allocated $4.7 million, which CCH said has increased only $700,000 since 1998.

The new money would double the number of beds for homeless youth from 318 to 636. It would also allow most youths seeking help to be served. Right now, pregnant or parenting youths were identified as "underserved" by 37 percent of the providers and disabled youth by 21 percent.