Cook County has dropped its effort to collect nearly $17 million in damages from the retailers who challenged its sweetened beverage tax in court last month.The filing requested that Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel J. Kubasiak award the county $16.89 million in damages so it can recoup the anticipated revenue it could not collect while the penny-an-ounce tax on certain sweetened beverages was temporarily restrained between July 1 and July 28.The retailers and other critics of the tax said the bid seemed more like a …