By: Diane Benjamin I’m not talking about the fight between Bloomington, Normal, and the County over spending mental health dollars. That story will be tomorrow, you won’t want to miss it! These pictures were taken at the recycle bins behind Walmart on Greenbriar. The paper bin clearly says NO BAGS and NO CARDBOARD: . Inside […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the NEVER used water tower? If not review this 2015 story: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ The below is from the water plan presented at the Bloomington City Council meeting last night: . That elevated tank is over 11 years old. Spending $60 million to finally use it is questionable, but at least it won’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course Beirne wants you to believe he isn’t raising your property taxes. He posted this on his official Facebook page: HAPPY BUDGET SEASON TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE! McLean County’s FY2027 Recommended Budget is a BALANCED $150.42 million plan focused on maintaining core services while controlling discretionary spending and making targeted long-term […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4120/files/agenda/15111 Another retiree was allowed to spike the lavish pension non-government employees will never see. This is on Bills and Payroll for tonight: PDF page 8 https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/33157/639256856095570000 Bloomington taxpayers will be paying the retirement fund (IMRF) a penalty to fund this. . Only one item is on the Regular Agenda: . […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader who obtained the below from a person who filed a FOIA BEFORE Ty Carlton filed a lawsuit. When I filed a FOIA for it I didn’t get it. Review the Carlton case if you forgot: https://blnnews.com/2026/08/13/remember-ty-carlton/ Defendants in this case are: City of Bloomington Chief Simington Chad Wamsley – […]
By: Diane Benjamin I can’t wait to see how many anti-semites will be voting against Israel in Bloomington and Normal. I’m sure the local Jewish community will want to see how many enemies they have locally. Where is Not In Our Town? MIA. I bet the YES voters would be happy living in Gaza where […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/109/Filing-an-Assessment-Complaint I copied and sorted the Equalization Factors from that page. They are listed from highest to lowest. Some townships are getting hit really hard. This website has a good explanation of what is happening: https://www.cutmytaxes.com/what-is-illinois-equalization/ The Illinois Department of Revenue conducts their own sales ratio tests on all 101 counties […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader If you live in Bloomington or Normal and haven’t opted out of electric aggregation, you are pay more. Winter will be even worse – Ameren just lowered their winter rates: . The aggregation rate both cities opted you into is: Direct Energy will be the new supplier starting with […]
By: Diane Benjamin On Facebook Beirne is accusing McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael of being deceptive about the number of employees in her office. HR has told him and others how many full time employees are in that office, he evidently is having trouble reading. He really wants a democrat running local elections – anything […]
By: Diane Benjamin Campaign signs are being stolen, the only ones I’m aware of are Republican signs. I suggest candidates attach an Apple Air Tag on one likely to be stolen and track it’s demise. 😊 Far left radicals found out they can get Advisory questions on the ballot by going through Township Annual Meetings. […]
By: Diane Benajmin I know people who regretted voting early. The next month will produce a lot of information that isn’t yet available. Foreign governments will be interfering in national elections. 40 days is ridiculous and only meant to bank votes so one side knows how many votes they need to produce before election day. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The video below was sent to me by a reader. Comments that reader included: This is video from my dashcam on Locust in Bloomington at the trail crossing. A car stopped in front of me and waves the runners on. The other lane of traffic had no idea of what was going […]
By: Diane Benjamin What was learned at the Committee of the Whole meeting: The State usurped local control over regulating E-Mobility. A local consortium will develop rules so people don’t have to worry about inconsistent laws anywhere in the County. E-bikes etc are allowed on Constitution Trail, probably subject to speed limits that no one […]
By: Diane Benjamin Krystle proudly declares she is a progressive. She knows most people think that means she wants to make life better for you. It doesn’t. It means redistributing taxes to who she deems are worthy. If that means everyone else needs to pay more, she doesn’t care because the collective good is essential. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4133/files/agenda/15090 Two items are on the Agenda: Both presentations are scheduled for 10 minute presentations and 15 minutes Council discussion. Isn’t it nice the people’s business has a time limit? Of course they can always vote for more time if needed. Of course they can vote to not allow more time […]
By: Diane Benjamin In case you saw some on-line geniuses claims the $2,000,000 BNWRD gave to the Children’s Discovery Museum wasn’t really $2,000,000 – the real story is worse. BNWRD borrowed that $2,000,000 so with interest the real cost is higher: PDF page 37: https://blnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/September-2026-Board-Packet-reduced-size-1.pdf . You probably know the local Boys and Girls Club […]
By: Diane Benjamin How many students did Unit 5 have last year? I don’t know because the Illinois Report Card website hasn’t been updated since the 2024-2025 school year. Once again, government transparency doesn’t exist. I do know 2 years ago the district had 12,219 students: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/district.aspx?source=studentcharacteristics&Districtid=17064005026 I FOIA’d Unit 5 for how many they […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://illinoisroute66.org/2026/09/mclean-county-visitor-spending-reaches-549-million-in-2025 Celebrating? Excerpt from that story: The report found that direct visitor activity in McLean County supported 4,006 jobs, generated $124.4 million in labor income and produced $41 million in state tax revenue and $15.8 million in local tax revenue in 2025. McLean County’s 5.8% increase outpaced Illinois’ statewide visitor-spending growth of […]
By: Diane Benjamin If Bloomington wanted to be transparent, ALL costs pertaining to shows would be on the event reports. They believe booking future shows would be affected if bookers knew how much was paid for previous shows. Therefore, if any of the below is incorrect – blame the City. A new fiscal year started […]
By: Diane Benjamin Read this story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-09-15/bnwrd-steps-in-to-solve-colonial-meadows-water-woes The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District (BNWRD) charges monthly and on property tax bills. Both will go up because they need your money. Meanwhile, BNWRD is giving the Children’s Discovery Museum $2 million for an exhibit. Slick move! One unit of government taxes you more so another unit of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Bernie Sanders could have been the Democrat nominee for president before the process was “fixed” against him? Democrats used to know he could never win. Krystle Able would vote for him. . Labor didn’t create a 40 hour work week, Henry Ford did 12 years before the Fair Labor Standards […]
By: Diane Benjamin Please note that Not In Our Town doesn’t care about hate speech from the left. It is a fraudulent organization created to stifle the right’s free speech. NIOT has said nothing about this. I have reason to believe the author is a local elected official. If he thinks I’m offended by this […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4107/files/agenda/15071 Nothing is on the Regular Agenda. Upcoming elections have a way of stopping nonsense spending and tax increases which might affect the outcome. The Council will be meeting in private however: , The Council only has one employee – City Manager Jeff Jurgens. Is he due for another raise […]
By: Diane Benjamin Review this story: https://blnnews.com/2026/09/10/normal-locks-people-up-for-ordinance-violations/ Obviously Derek Riggs was booked into the McLean County jail after his arrest by the Normal Police Department because that story has his booking photo and info. When I did that story all I knew was he was charged with an ordinance violation. Now I know what that […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Township Supervisor has two 40 hour a week jobs. This is Krystle Able’s other job: . The lesson Krystle Able never learned: . Anyone who attends didn’t either. Why? Look at who has 45 minutes at 2:00. . This is the ISU communist: . From the 2025 tax return for […]
. Property Tax Crisis in Illinois Like a fierce thunderstorm with tornado-force winds, the property tax system in Illinois forces tax payers to take cover wherever they can. Insurance companies scramble to avoid paying claims after a major storm is like JB and his super-majority refusing any and all discussion of property tax reform. In […]
Maybe because he doesn’t want asked about his vote against this: Only 2 Democrats voted for it and are facing consequences of not voting NO as ordered. Map of the 17th Congressional district – obviously gerrymandered. A small part is in McLean County: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Press Contact: Blake delCarmen 334.590.2524 blake@strategymanagementllc.com Sorensen’s 1,437-Day Debate […]
By: Diane Benjamin The population of the McLean County jail has been higher that usual for about the last week. The increase wasn’t related to a long holiday weekend. This morning it shows 251 inmates, it had been closer to 120. If you download the McLean County Sheriff’s Office App, you can see who is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is an update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/12/08/id-love-to-hear-how-normal-police-explain-this-one/ I don’t believe the Normal police have ever apologized for arresting the victim, Chad Berck, who was stabbed 19 times by a neighbor who was and never arrested. Think an Order of Protection is going to protect you? It didn’t protect Normal resident Amy […]
By: Diane Benjamin We have AI—Grok, ChatGPT, etc. Ask them any question and you will get a far better answer than Google. Ask more than one if you have a complex question. Compare the results; the difference might surprise you. Many think we now have AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).AGI is generally understood as AI capable […]
By: Diane Benjamin This Labor Day celebrate local governments stealing your hard earned dollars. A home in Bloomington property tax history: . In 10 years, 2016 to 2025, property taxes increased 47.2%. The assessed value in 2016 was $75,995, in 2025 it was $119,493. That is an increase of 57.24%. The left side is taxes […]
By: Diane Benjamin The first class by Carl Hinshaw teaching homeowners how to protest assessed values was well attended. Carl is doing it again. Whoever set your property value doesn’t get the last word. You can object and win. Carl will show you how. Wednesday October 7th 6-8 pm GOP office – 202 S. Eldorado, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thursday a reckless driver hit a Bloomington fireman directing traffic at an accident scene. Gratefully, he wasn’t seriously injured. The driver was identified because of Flock Cameras. https://www.25newsnow.com/2026/09/03/bloomington-man-arrested-after-allegedly-hitting-firefighter-with-vehicle/ No, we don’t want to live under constant surveillance. Yes, we want crimes like this solved. There has to be someway of regulating use […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Unitarian Universalists Church website: https://uubn.org/wp They call themselves “progressive”. Keep reading, I think the below shows Progressive is the same thing as communist. I was sent this recently: . I wrote about this flyer in April: https://blnnews.com/2026/04/07/who-is-the-arbitrator-of-hate/ Note: The church abbreviation (UUBN) and their address is on the flyer. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Does ISP think FOIA laws don’t apply to them? You decide. If records can’t be found for a recent local investigation, does that mean the investigation was closed? You decide. If it is closed, shouldn’t they announce there is no investigation since it was VERY likely initiated for use as a campaign […]
By: Diane Benjamin This post was made by Unit 5 music teacher and County Board member Corey Beirne who is running for reelection: . A music teacher is teaching kids about sexual identity? Why Corey? Because behind closed doors you can? A US Court of Appeals issued their ruling on August 30th on a case […]
