For all the warm welcomes, Smith said recently in a speech at Columbia College Chicago that he never sees the same behavior between other residents in his neighborhood.

“They give me so much love — and kill each other,” Smith said. “For all the love they have given me, what can I give them back?”

It seems that Smith has found the answer to his own question: public service. Smith has announced his run for 20^th Ward alderman. While the Grammy-award winning rapper has no experience in politics, Smith said he feels he can bring a fresh perspective to the position with his world experiences and history as a resident of the ward.

He has a tough job ahead of him. The 20^th Ward is the fifth most violent crime area in the city and includes Woodlawn, Back of the Yards, Washington Park and Englewood. Issues of drug use, gun violence and poverty have riddled many of these communities for years. Area residents also complain of inferior schools.

Smith hopes to provide the answers with “uncommon solutions to common problems,” a phrase he repeats often. Smith said it’s time to implement ideas like green technology, training programs and green villages to bring the community back to what it once was.

Smith also pointed to malnutrition, lack of access to fresh fruit and self-hate as other problems in the neighborhood.

“You don’t have to re-invent the wheel,” Smith told students. “All you have to do is reconnect the dots. This community worked at one time.”

Smith is familiar with many of the ward’s problems. It was only a few years ago that he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal recklessness over a case in which Smith fired three shots from his gun into the air.

The event stemmed from an argument with a real estate agent over the closing price of a home Smith said he had been planning to buy for his mother and sister. When he went to the closing, the home price was $1,500 higher than he had expected. Smith agreed to pay the amount set by the real estate.

Later that evening, the realtor returned to Smith’s new home, Smith said, and threatened him, punched him and pushed him. Smith said the man used racially charged language. He fired the shots into the air as a warning, he said.

Since then, he has been a changed man, he said. He gave up his career in 2007 to move back to Chicago to take primary custody of his son and daughter, who now both live with him. Smith also faced a domestic battery case in 2001 involving his former wife. In his speech at Columbia College last month, Smith derided his own violent behavior, calling his actions “unacceptable.”

Smith is running against incumbent Willie Cochran. Smith said he has invaluable experience compared to his opponent.

“I am not a candidate who is created somewhere. I’m a candidate who is a member of the community. I’m a resident,” Smith said. “I’m not saying we’re going to do everything right and solve everybody’s problems, but what I am saying is that it seems as though the status quo has left the communities to suffer.”

Preckwinkle’s win makes her the first woman board president in Cook County. “I want to say this to the residents of Cook County: For far too long you’ve seen your taxes go up with less to show for it,” Preckwinkle said to the crowd of supporters.

The Associated Press reported that Preckwinkle won with 69 percent of the vote. Her opponent, Republican Roger Keats, won 21 percent of the vote, with 78 percent of precincts reporting. The Green Party candidate, Tom Tresser, pulled in 4.1 percent of the vote.

She has said that she will post her transition website up tomorrow, and welcomes anyone to apply for a job in her office.

“I believe that it’s a new day in Cook County, and with all of your help I’m confident we can meet the challenges before us and tonight we can celebrate the opportunity given,” she said. “We will deliver a county government of which we can all be proud.”

Preckwinkle thanked her parents, who are both public servants. Shortly after Preckwinkle walked onto the stage and declared victory, supporters began chanting “Toni, Toni!”

Referring to many of the problems faced by the county, Preckwinkle added, “While the news has been disheartening, it has only strengthened my resolve to fix this broken system.” Preckwinkle ran against Republican Roger Keats and Green Party candidate Tom Tresser. She was the predicted winner when she won the Feb. 2 primary.

Preckwinkle’s campaign portrayed her as a reformer. Her signature issue has been calls for a sharp sales tax cut. She worked hard to distance herself from unpopular Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who implemented a 1 percent sales tax in Cook County in 2007, which gave Chicago the highest city sales taxes in the nation.

Preckwinkle has said that if she fails to deliver on her promise to scale back the sales tax, she will resign from as Cook County board president.

Preckwinkle campaign has focused on creating fiscal stability and tax relief, strengthening the Health Care system and fixing Cook County’s overcrowded jails.

Preckwinkle has raised more money than her opponents. Preckwinkle’s campaign raised $1.3 million in the first half of the year, and according to the Illinois State Board of Elections, as of Oct. 3 she had $637,700, while Keats reported $29,803 and Tresser had a mere $1,546.

Much of her major funding has come from unions, who were slow to warm up to her at first but soon made their support clear. In a midterm election cycle that has generated more campaign money than ever before, Preckwinkle’s biggest supporter by far has been the Services Illinois International Union (SEIU). The SEIU represents 5,500 Cook County employees, and it contributed $150,000 in cash to her campaign and $64,425 in in-kind contributions.

The Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial workers have also contributed to Preckwinkle’s campaign, contributing $25,400 and $12,000, respectively. A former history teacher, Preckwinkle has also received endorsements from many of the teachers unions in the city.

Preckwinkle claimed the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board president in February when she beat Stroger, Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District president Terrence O’Brien.

Prior to running for Cook County Board President, Preckwinkle was the 4th ward alderman on Chicago’s South Side. Preckwinkle has held the position for 19 years and is in her fifth term. Her history of voting against some of Mayor Richard Daley’s major proposals has earned her a reputation as an independent in a city where the mayor’s machine dominates. According to an analysis by the University of Chicago, from 2000 to 2007 no other alderman cast more unfavorable votes for initiatives supported by Daley.

As alderman, Preckwinkle has focused an bringing more mixed income and affordable housing to her district, and she has brought in more than 1,500 units of low- and moderate-income housing.

Before running for alderman in 1991, Preckwinkle was a high school history teacher for 10 years. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Chicago.

“People are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “They’re entitled to a day in court before they go to prison.”

Isaac has been working on behalf of detainees since the Bush administration began transferring inmates to Guantanamo in early 2002. He has lobbied Congress and urged lawmakers to vote in favor of closing the Guantanamo prison. Isaac talked about these experiences and more when he spoke to a Columbia College Chicago journalism class last week.

Isaac explained the habeas corpus rule, which is written in the body of the U.S. Constitution. Under the rule, which literally means “produce the body” in Latin, a defendant has the right to test the legality of his or her detention before a neutral judge. This is fundamental to the concept of civil rights in the United States, Isaac said.

“All of the freedoms in the Bill of Rights really rest on the notion that the police can’t throw you in jail,” said Isaac. “Or the president can’t lock you up on his own say-so without having an independent judge review it.”

These rights weren’t automatically granted to America’s enemies in the war on terror. In fact, when prisoners were first transferred to Guantanamo Bay by the Bush administration in 2002, the detainees weren’t even allowed access to attorneys. It wasn’t until 2004 that the Supreme Court ruled that detainees did have a right to file petitions of habeas corpus in federal court, Isaac said.

And even then the fight wasn’t over. Shortly after habeas corpus rights were granted, Republicans in Congress tried to change the law to take away the jurisdiction of the court to hear these cases in an attempt to overrule the Supreme Court and circumvent the Constitution.

Working closely with President Barack Obama, who was then a U.S. senator, Isaac and colleagues started lobbying Congress. Isaac and other attorneys walked the halls of the U.S. Senate office buildings, talking to anyone who would listen. Isaac said they worked out of Obama’s office, and Obama took a lead role in the fight on Capitol Hill. While he was campaigning for president, Obama frequently brought up the plight of the jailed prisoners in Guantanamo. When Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin criticized him for “protecting terrorists,” Obama called on her not to “mock the Constitution,” Isaac recalled.

“Part of what we had been dealing with all along was that the detainees’ cause is not a popular cause, or at least it hasn’t been perceived as a popular cause,” Isaac said.

But in many of the Guantanamo Bay cases, there was no basis for imprisonment at all, Isaac added.

“Most of them had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. They had nothing to do with the Taliban,” Isaac said.

Many detainees were also imprisoned based on “suspect intelligence,” Isaac said, and some prisoners were tortured to force them to offer up information that implicated others. Other prisoners were turned in for money, he added.

“The U.S. was offering bounties in Afghanistan,” Isaac said. “Literally $5,000, $10,000 – dropping fliers from planes basically saying you could become rich beyond your wildest dreams if you turn people in.”

Between 600 to 700 lawyers are working on Guantanamo cases, Isaac said. In about 75 percent of the cases that have been reviewed in courts, judges have ruled there was no evidence implicating the individuals. Soon after he became president, Obama signed an executive order to shut down the prison. That has not happened because of Congressional opposition, Isaac said. Some prisoners have had no connection with terrorist attacks on the United States, and they should be released, Isaac said.

“Each of these men, they’re individuals. They have wives and children and people who love them, and they’re entitled to have a day in court,” Isaac said. “And most of them turned out not to be who the government said they were.”

Jan. 22, 2009 – Michael Farah’s phone is buzzing again. Leaning back against his chair, he glances down quickly, looking at it vibrate on the table in front of him.  He just got off the phone with an investor, but he has to answer this next call, he explains after politely excusing himself. It’s about his trip to Israel at the end of the week, where he’s going to meet with another potential business associate. It seems everyone wants to get their hands on some Berry Chill.

Or, at the very least, be able to enjoy its light, creamy taste in their mouth.

Opened last March, Berry Chill has become one of Chicago’s most popular spots to get a sweet treat. Berry Chill sells frozen yogurt made with live, active cultures, replacing the artificial chemicals found in most frozen yogurts to help maintain a healthy digestive track and immune system. The result is a healthy indulgence that anyone can enjoy.

Especially Chicago citizens, it seems.

With three locations spread out around the city, Berry Chill’s bright, lime green walls, spotless white plastic tables and chairs and bustling business have become common around the downtown area. And, with plans to open new locations in Belmont and at the Merchandise Mart by the end of the year, that image isn’t going away any time soon.

Berry Chill’s success isn’t just all about the yogurt, though. The store has a whole business concept to match its product – promoting a fun, healthy lifestyle that’s all about making people feel good, inside and out.

It all began with 30-year-old founder and CEO Michael Farah. If it weren’t for the Berry Chill baseball cap donned on his head, you wouldn’t even be able to tell him apart from his customers half the time, because he’s always walking around in a baggy sweater with a dish of yogurt in hand.

Farah, an avid frozen yogurt fan, says it all started when he saw all of the popular frozen yogurt stands popping up on the West Coast. He thought he could do it better.

“I really wanted to do an all natural yogurt concept,” Farah said. “There’s a lot of people that are doing something similar, but they weren’t using all natural products, so it wasn’t truly healthy for you – it wasn’t real yogurt.”

In order to fall under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s official definition of yogurt, the product must be produced by mixing authorized dairy ingredients with a specialized culture that contains the bacteria lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus. This yogurt may contain other live and active cultures that are safe and healthy, as well.

Since frozen yogurt is a non-standardized food, however, it is not subject to these standards.In fact, according to the National Yogurt Association’s website, AboutYogurt.com, some “frozen yogurt” products use a heat-treated procedure to develop their yogurt. This process heats the yogurt after culturing, killing the beneficial bacteria and live and active cultures.

That’s not the case with Farah’s Berry Chill frozen yogurt, or yogurt couture, as they like to call it. With the help of local gastroenterologist Dr. Mitchell S. Kaplan, as well as other dairy and yogurt scientists, Farah created a dessert made from real frozen yogurt.It contains 12 different probiotics, microorganisms introduced into the body for all kinds of health benefits. Not only that, but Berry Chill yogurt is both gluten and lactose free.Compare that to the artificial chemicals and the two or three bacterial you’ll find in most frozen yogurts.

“You know, I didn’t want to take an article or just take some research as the fact of what we’re going to go by,” Farah said.  “I wanted an actual doctor to bounce off our information from and have an educated discussion about what people need and what people are looking for that have digestion problems.”

That weird, processed taste in your mouth, the bloated, heavy feeling you get after you’re done eating, and that slow, steady gurgling rumbling in the pit of your stomach – it’s these reactions Farah’s tried to avoid with his Berry Chill concept.

“When you go to Coldstone or a Jamba Juice or one of those places, sometimes you feel sick after eating, because they’re using artificial flavoring and artificial colors,” Farah said. “You’re body doesn’t react the right way to eating it.Our yogurt just leaves a fresh taste in your mouth.”

For many, the best part is the calorie count.Without the toppings, each ounce of Berry Chill yogurt couture is about 20 calories, or 120 calories for a small scoop.

“It’s not surprising people have heard about this,” said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian in the Chicago area and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “Nutritionally, Berry Chill has slight advantages.It tends to have less fat and more protein.”

Blatner also likes Berry Chill so much because the National Yogurt Association gave the yogurt their Live and Active Cultures seal. Frozen yogurt with this seal of approval has at least 10 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture.According to Blatner, these live, active cultures really provide the extra health benefits to your immune system and digestive track.

“Everyone’s becoming more health conscious,” Farah said. “The amount of people that are lactose intolerant is on the rise, people that have gluten allergies are becoming a lot more prevalent, so I wanted to create a product that wasn’t just treated as a dessert.”

Not to say that Berry Chill can’t be your dessert of choice, however.When ordering a scoop of Berry Chill yogurt couture, customers can choose from up to four different flavors.They can have either the light, tangy, standard original or one of the three unique flavors of the month that Berry Chill fans vote for online. What’ll be the choice this time, the sweet and spicy Pumpkin Spice? Rich Chocolate Amaretto? Or Mint Chocolate that leaves a fresh taste in your mouth and on your breath?

Each scoop of yogurt can also be ordered with as many of Berry Chill’s 42 assorted toppings as you like. Three rows of small, metal containers are displayed in the front glass casing, lined up one after another as your eyes are drawn to all the bright colors like a kid in a candy store – literally.  For your sweet tooth there’s cereal, chocolate chips, cookies, sprinkles and various candies.You can make your yogurt even healthier, too, with options like granola, assorted nuts and fresh fruit that’s cut daily.

But even after the low calorie count, fresh taste and extra health benefits, Berry Chill still tries to give you more. 

Just look at the store’s hours. Looking for somewhere quick to get a yummy bite to eat before you finally head home after a late Friday or Saturday night? Their downtown location on the corner of State and Ontario Street is open until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 a.m. on the weekends. According to Benjamin Foreman, a Berry Chill managing partner, customers appreciate it, too.

“It’s just a lot of things other companies aren’t,” Foreman said. “For example, you go to Starbucks and put money on your card, and you don’t get anything from it.With the Berry Chill Culture Club card, you get a 10 percent bonus every time you add money, and 3 percent of each sale goes to a different charity.”

Charities include Girl Scouts of America, Meals on Wheels and the American Red Cross, and Foreman said they hope to cater their charities toward individual communities as they expand.

And Berry Chill delivers via smart cars or Esynergy scooters, a three-wheel, stand-up ride that resembles a Segway. There’s no delivery charge, but orders must be a minimum of $20.

“There’s no frozen yogurt places that deliver,” Farah said. “We wanted to have something different about ours with that.”

Different – maybe that word, more than anything, describes the Berry Chill concept.

“We just kind of wing it,” Farah said. “We experiment and we find out what works and what doesn’t work.”

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