A biofuel startup in Illinois can make ethanol from just about anything organic for less than $1 per gallon, and it wouldn't interfere with food supplies, company officials said.

Real estate developer and fast-food magnate Antoin "Tony" Rezko spent years pouring thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into Barack Obama's climb from the Illinois legislature to Capitol Hill — and helped him raise tens of thousands more.

A biofuel startup in Illinois can make ethanol from just about anything organic for less than $1 per gallon, and it wouldn't interfere with food supplies, company officials said.

The four plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the American Beverage Association,Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Food Retailers Association andthe International Bottled Water Association. The suit was filed in CircuitCourt of Cook County

Hungry shoppers at the Gurnee Mills outlet mall can now get a name-brand lunch at a bargain-basement price, thanks to the Monday opening of McDonald's first "Not Quite Perfect" outlet store, offering imperfect and irregular items from the fast-food giant's menu.

Welfare Queen is the term that refers to a woman who collects welfare checks (or excess amounts) through fraud or manipulation. OriginThe first attributed use of the term "welfare queen" is by Ronald Reagan in 1976 during a campaign:"She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran's benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. And she is collecting Social Security on her cards. She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names."Despite claims that the woman never existed, or that Reagan's story was "bogus,", it seems to have been drawn from newspaper reports at the time. For instance, as the New York Times reported, Linda Taylor of Chicago was charged with using 4 aliases and of cheating the government out of $8,000. Ms. Taylor again appeared as the investigation of her case by the Illinois state Attorney General continued. She was ultimately found guilty of "welfare fraud and perjury" in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. In addition, the Associated Press reported on March 8, 1977 that "Joel Edelman, executive director of the Illinois Legislative Advisory Committee on Public Aid, has said his committee found that from early 1973 until mid-1974, Miss Taylor 'used 14 aliases to obtain $150,000 for medical assistance, cash assistance and bonus cash food stamps.' Edelman said, 'She went from district to district. She had a collection of wigs and was a master of disguise. She organized people and upwards of 100 aliases were used.'" Whether Edelman's accusations were true or not, they show that Reagan did not simply invent the story.Other cases of welfare fraud include Barbara Williams, who was sentenced to eight years for defrauding Los Angeles County out of $239,000; Dorothy Woods, who claimed 38 non-existent children; Queen Esther Johnson, who was sentenced to four years in state prison when accused of "collecting $240,000 for more than 60 fictitious children"; and Arlens Otis, who was indicted in Cook County, Illinois for "613 counts of illegally receiving $150,839 in welfare funds between July 1972 and February 1978." See alsoPoverty pimp