April showers hit southern Illinois hard – earlier this week Gov. Quinn issued a disaster proclamation for parts of the state. Meanwhile, Chicago has faced a different sort of deluge. There was turnover at City Council, rafter-shaking excitement at the United Center and some jockeying for position down in Springfield.

To sort out all of the news that was – the most significant stories, the winners, the losers and more – Eight Forty-Eight was joined by a panel of most excellent local journalists: Mary Ann Ahern is a political reporter for NBC Channel 5 News, Mick Dumke is a senior writer for The Chicago Reader and Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times.

Music Button: Kraddy, “Let’s Go”, from the CD Labyrinth, (Minotaur)