The Mikva Challenge, a local non-profit founded by former White House Counsel, Judge and U.S. Congressman Abner Mikva and his wife Zoe to help develop the next generation of civic leaders in Chicago, recently launched a website to "give Chicago's youth a space to share with mayoral candidates their issues, their needs, their opinions, and most importantly their vision for Chicago." Dear Mayor features primarily video of Chicago youth to share their thoughts about the upcoming mayoral election, political change and civic engagement, and what it means to them. more ›

A new study released today found that 97 percent of Illinois parents don't know the state's child safety restraint laws, and 67 percent said "most parents with a young child do not have a clear understanding of how to correctly install and/or use child safety seats." For the record, Illinois law says kids in the car need to be in a "child restraint"—a car seat or booster seat—until they're 8 years old. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children under 14, according to AAA, and, and the NTSB says using proper restraints for kids could reduce injuries and deaths by 50 percent. [AAA, Seatcheck] more ›

Ah, high school, home of arbitrary rules and acting silly. Because there's nothing teenagers respond better to than things they deem unfair. Some suburban schools are considering a ban on letting students paint their chests at sporting events, saying it's a distraction, that students with painted chests tend to be too rowdy, and that it's hard to decide what dress codes should apply to male students and what should apply to female students—if it's OK for guys to go shirtless, is it OK for the girls to wear bikini tops? A handful of Illinois schools are in the throes of this debate right now, what with high school football season gearing up. [Trib]
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Alderman Bob Fioretti (2nd) introduced an ordinance yesterday that would ban metal bats from youth baseball within city limits. Metal softball bats would still be allowed under the proposed law, which would apply to players 8–18 years old. more ›

Apparently finding a summer job is not as easy as it used to be. Kids looking for part-time employment are facing a shrinking job market, and it's already difficult to land a job without experience or job history. And on July 1, the state will increase its minimum wage from $7.50 to $7.75, possibly increasing the squeeze on the number of available jobs. more ›

An Aurora teen was sentenced to 27 days in jail for posting what prosecutors called threats on his MySpace page. The 15-year-old East Aurora High School student agreed to a plea bargain today, having already served that time. He was also sentenced to 21 days of electronic home monitoring and a year of probation, during which he's only allowed to use the internet for homework. more ›

At least one Chicago teenager believes that aluminum foil is a fine substitute for a condom. more ›