WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Chicago’s runoff election is right around the corner –Tuesday, April 5, to be exact. Voters in 14 wards will decide who they want to represent them on City Council.

“I expected to find a lot of inefficiency and a lot of inappropriate behavior, and we’ve found it,” said new Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle with a laugh, speaking of her first 100 days in office. “I don’t know what to say. Am I surprised? No.

Chicago’s runoff election takes place on April 5. Voters in 14 wards will head to the polls to decide who they want representing them at City Council.To help with those decisions, Eight Forty-Eight is holding informal debates with some of the candidates.

Illinois state senators are hearing from Chicago area residents who want a say in redistricting, the once-a-decade, highly contentious and political process that determines boundaries for legislative districts.

The leader of Indiana's House Republicans says Democrats plan to return to the Statehouse after a nearly six-week boycott over Republican-backed bills.House Majority Leader Brian Bosma said Monday that he had been informed Democrats were ready to return to the Statehouse.

Security forces in Syria are reported to have fired teargas and shots in the air as anti-government protests flared again in the southern city of Daraa. The unrest follows clashes in Latakia over the weekend that killed at least 12 people.