MillerCoors has decided to delay the release of "Sparks Red", their planned higher alcohol, higher caffeine version of regular Sparks, after 25 state attorney generals, including our own Lisa Madigan, banded together to ask MillerCoors to abandon it. The company plans to discuss Sparks Red with the various states, where statements like, "uh, it's a legal product," and, "what about the children?" will be volleyed back and forth. In a letter to MillerCoors, the attorneys......

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan joined 24 other attorneys general in calling on MillerCoors to stop the release of their new "Sparks Red" liquid speedball alcoholic energy beverage. Madigan cited studies linking Sparks and similar drinks to underage drinking, health risks, and Tankboy's love of the product (well, not that last one). [WBBM AM]......

Although he's already announced that he won't be calling the State Senate back into session until after the November elections, Senate President Emil Jones is under pressure from lawmakers to call a vote on the state ethics bill. The House overrode Governor Blagojevich's amendatory veto of the bill last week, leaving the Senate just 15 days to take action or the bill dies. Not taking action in the Senate until November also leaves Illinois vulnerable......

With Illinois still waterlogged from the heavy rains this weekend, Attorney General Lisa Madigan warned consumers to be on the look-out for home repair con-artists ready to prey on flooded residents. "Far too often, we see man-made disasters follow natural disasters. Scam artists know how to take advantage of the aftermath of major storms and persuade people to make snap decisions for repairing their homes or businesses," Madigan said. Madigan encouraged consumers to check out......

As the Democratic National Convention got underway last night, much of focus has been on the ongoing Clinton-Obama struggle and an appearance by stricken Senator Ted Kennedy. But Monday night, with the theme of "One Nation" focusing on Barack's background, featured a plethora of Chicago and Illinois politicians stumping for Candidate Obama, including the ladies of the Obama family. Amongst the Chicago politicians who spoke yesterday (though you wouldn't know it given the way Wolf......

While several of his rivals have been given speaking engagements at next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver, it seems there's no room for Governor Blagojevich on stage. We already know Mayor Mumbles is speaking and new speakers recently added to list include state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Comptroller Dan Hynes, and Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan. But is Balgo's exclusion that big of a surprise? Given that Obama's campaign gets final say-so in choosing speakers, it......

Former art teacher Dave Beckham was sick of “traditional liberal bastion coffeehouses” so he opened Conservative Café an uber-conservative, "pro-American" coffee house in Crown Point, Indiana Things found in Conservative Café include: Stacks of Ann Coulter books, Fox News playing on every television, T-shirts for sale that say, “Peace through Superior Firepower” and “Silly liberal...Paychecks are for Workers,” extended hours to accommodate Hannity & Colmes fans, and a “Radical Right” brew. Beckham was certain his......

If the $1.4 billion in budget cuts to social programs stand, the blame falls squarely on the House, said Senate President (and Blago buddy) Emil Jones. "We have to have a balanced budget," Jones said Thursday. "I'm not going to get involved in playing silly games and giving false hopes to people when the money isn’t there. I support many of the programs that got cut. But we in the Senate also supported the revenue......

She's the woman who could have been Governor. But in 2006, Judy Baar Topinka, longtime Illinois politician and State Treasurer under Jim Edgar and the not-convicted-yet George Ryan, was defeated in the Gubernatorial race by incumbent Rod Blagojevich. And just look where that's gotten us. While most of our day-to-day political thoughts right now are focused on the presidential election, we're also in the beginning of the race for Illinois Governor in 2010. So what......

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is suing Countrywide Financial and its CEO Angelo Mozilo, alleging that the financial institution intentionally defrauded borrowers by selling them mortgages they could not afford. The suit, expected to be filed Wednesday morning in Cook County Circuit Court, charges both Countrywide and Mozilo with deceptive business practices and violating the Illinois Fairness in Lending Act, alleging that the company "engaged in unfair and deceptive practices including the loosening of underwriting......

Five people were injured, three seriously, when a car plowed into a crowd in a West Side alley last night. "The incident was sparked when someone in the crowd sprayed mace at the motorist, who then drove through the crowd, possibly twice." [S-T] Oh, no. Now that we know the New York Times has the game Set online we may be capable of waisting Chain Factor-levels of time in all new ways. Speaking of oh,......

A Cook County judge removed a private law firm that has been representing the Department of Children and Family Services in a criminal case involving a friend of Governor Rod Blagojevich. Attorney General Lisa Madigan had asked the court to remove the firm of Meckler, Bulger and Tilson in the case of Anita Mahajan, who is accused of billing the state for $2 million worth of drug testing that was never performed. Mahajan and her......

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and her husband Pat Byrnes welcomed a baby girl this morning. Lucy Lillian Madigan Byrnes weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces. Lucy joins older sister Rebecca, 3. Lucy was the 152nd most popular girl's name in the US in 2006, but it's on the upswing after bottoming out at 589th in 1978. The most popular name for baby girls in Illinois is Emily (at least it was in 2005,......

The Cook County State's Attorney race has been contentious, with Democratic candidates taking plenty of shots at each other in a televised debate and myriad endorsements. [Ed note: I love when there's a usage note in the dictionary.] Now Jesse Jackson's candidate Larry Suffredin is under renewed scrutiny for his work as a corporate lobbyist. According to the Sun Times, Suffredin, a Cook County commissioner from Evanston lobbied on behalf of Kankakee Regional Landfill LLC.......

A few weeks ago we wondered where our Obey/Obama posters were. Behold this poster, from Shepard Fairey, he of the Obey Giant creation: More Obama street art from local outfit CRO.... In additional to cool design endorsements, and the Kennedy stamp of approval, Obama is also enjoying the support of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.......

We're feeling punchy here at Chicagoist HQ today--blame the cabin fever, the extra coffee, whatever you like. But writing about Steve Dahl this morning, all we could think about was Dhalsim from Street Fighter. After the jump, Lisa Madigan and Mayor Daley go head-to-head.......

Everyone knows Bratz dolls cause cancer of the AIDS. But Jammin' Jenna dolls, a slightly softer-seeming knock-off from Ty, are also poisonous. Her vinyl shoes contain an amount of lead that's illegal in Illinois, but Ty refuses to recall the toys, saying they'll stop selling new dolls to Illinois distributors but won't pull the dolls already on shelves. We guess we're not that surprised by a business wanting to sell its (dangerous) wares. But the......

Photo by Joseph P Oprah is getting her a cable network, OWN ("Oprah Winfrey Network"), which will--gasp--replace the Discovery Health Network. Noooo! We all know what Oprah wants, Oprah gets, but we freaking love the Discovery Health Network. [Trib] Lisa Madigan and 48 other attorneys general--minus just Texas--announced an agreement with MySpace today. They say the resolution will better protect kids from online predators. We say we're still digging through the report. [IL AG's......

In what what was quite possibly the most anti-climactic letter ever, Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office announced yesterday that it would stay out of the legal dispute between her dad, House Speaker Mike Madigan, and the Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board. In July, the Board, headed by Blagojevich ally Ron Messina, asked her office to rule on the possibility that the Speaker's second job as a property-tax appeals lawyer might disqualify him from taking a......

Working Mother magazine's annual Top 100 companies for, yes, working mothers includes eight Illinois businesses. Speaking of working mothers, congratulations to Lisa Madigan and her husband Pat, who are expecting their second child. The Pacific Garden Mission is leaving its spot on S. State and moving to 1458 S. Canal. Archdiocese of Chicago has to pay $19 million to a family whose son sustained permanent cognitive injuries after a TV set fell on his......

In a report published Monday, the Chicago Reporter found that Chicago is the the nation's capital for "high-cost" home loans. The study, looking at three years' worth of federal home-loan data, showed that in 2006, "the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metropolitan statistical area, which includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McHenry and Will counties" led the nation, with 88,315 “high-cost” mortgages. "High-cost" mortgages are defined as first-lien home loans that are at least three percentage points above......

The Illinois State Budget Fight just got weirder. Governor Rod Blagojevich quietly filed suit in Sangamon County Friday against House Speaker Michael Madigan, attempting to force the Speaker to hold special sessions when he calls them. "It is imperative that (the governor's authority to call special sessions) is preserved and honored," Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for the governor wrote in an e-mail to the State Journal Register. "After lawmakers failed to follow the governor's special......

Chicagoist has a saying among friends, "no good night ever started with Sparks." While we are totally in favor of beer (obviously), we aren't totally on board with beer that tastes like orange candy and changes the color of your teeth and tongue. Apparently, neither is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Attorneys General from 28 other states. Madigan and the other Attorneys General claim that the drinks and the marketing behind them are......

As the rest of the media fawned over the new city council, and reminisced on the follies of councils past, other silliness was going on in the realm of politics in the City by the Lake. Let's take a look at what's up here in town: The Old Council Does One Last Thing. Following up on an issue that we wrote about a while back, it seems that the City Council's zoning committee has held......

Lots of rain in the spring has slowed corn planting in Illinois. Don't worry about farmers not cashing in, though. They're getting top dollar for corn because of the growing demand for ethanol. Remember the lady bartender who was beat up by the off-duty cop? She's suing now. And another woman has come forth to say that police beat her up at the intersection of Ashland and Irving Park. She's also suing. Time for......

You've seen them before. You can't help but notice them as you crawl out to the suburbs for whatever reason, a constant reminder that you still haven't sucked it up and bought an I-Pass. And for those of you who did make the investment, those bright blue signs winking out "Open Road Tolling - Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor" seem to say, "This is for you, buddy. Wasn't it worth it to play into my hands......

Plans for the Olympic stadium and village have been unveiled. Illinois is one of a bunch of states that have reached an $8 million settlement with Bayer, who they say didn't properly warn people about the risks of taking the drug. Local tech company Itellext is teaming up with AOL to make a free customized version of their search tool Watson available for K-12 students. The CTA is putting a new northbound platform and......

It seems that another battle is brewing with Rod Blagojevich. In a last-minute press release Friday evening, G-Rod announced he was suspending a program designed to stop predatory lending in the Chicago area, claiming that it hurt development in those areas. The five-month-old Illinois Predatory Lending Database Pilot Program set up rules for people that wanted to buy a home in 10 ZIP codes on Chicago's west and southwest sides. These rules required residents who......

Oprah urges each and every one of her viewers to “live your best life.” And whether she’s making like an angel or giving out free cars, she often helps to facilitate that in any way she can. But we’re pretty sure she’s not happy about people using her Oprahness to scam people out of money via e-mail phishing schemes. Illinois’ own angel Attorney General Lisa Madigan says not to fall for it. In other less......

As former Gov. George Ryan waits to get shipped off to prison on Jan. 4, another former governor, James R. Thompson, has asked a state board to restore part of Ryan’s pension, claiming that Ryan was entitled to the benefits he accrued prior to any of his conviction-related activities. Ryan’s $197,000-a-year pension was suspended as a result of his conviction and a formal recommendation from Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan. The General Assembly Retirement System board......