Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Who do you believe?

By: Diane Benjamin If Illinois really wanted to “spur developments and create jobs”, most laws regulating and taxing businesses and their owners would be repealed. The Illinois exodus isn’t for better weather. Since everything is a secret, start connecting dots: 2023 Megasite Investment Press Release: https://www.chicagowestbusinesscenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/26898-_Governor_Pritzker_Announces_Recipients_of_Megasites_Investment_Program.pdf Excepts: What company agreed to provide $1,736,501? It’s a […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

New Illinois Convention Ticket Information

New Illinois’ Ninth Constitutional Convention will be held on April 10 & 11 at the Chateau Hotel and Conference Center, 1621 Jumer Drive in Bloomington. The event will be open to the public. If you are a member of a New Illinois County committee, or if you are interested in helping to start one in […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Ever Heard Of the Illinois Migrant Council?

By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t, you probably don’t know you are funding it. This tip came from a reader. Their website: https://illinoismigrant.org/history Even though they claim to have been around since 1966, Propublica states they became a non-profit in 2024: You can see numerous tax returns at this link: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/362597070 One thing to note: […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington Pulled it – Plus the Rest of the Meeting

By: Diane Benjamin The item that should never have been on the Consent Agenda as mentioned yesterday got pulled: https://blnnews.com/2026/03/23/bloomington-tonight-3-23-26/ The Clerk read the names of email public comments and many others showed up at Public Comment. Some were opposed to the City paying Flock cameras bills. The documentation claims those charges were for work […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

The Real County Budget Story

By: Diane Benjamin Budgeting low for optics is how government works. That is why many “budget amendments” happen throughout the year. It isn’t departments that budget low, it’s administration cutting budgets to make themselves look good. Since the 2025 County financial statement haven’t been issued yet, look at 2024: https://mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/30155/ACFR-123120240001 PDF page 122 and following […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

My Nomination for Comment of the Year

By: Diane Benjamin Krystle Able is requiring people attending her April Normal Township meeting to “verify their eligibility to participate”. https://blnnews.com/2026/03/21/krystle-able-uses-township-for-her-agenda/ Meanwhile, the Democrat Party doesn’t want to pass the Save America Act—or just Voter ID—to ensure election integrity. The comment left overnight: Do you have to present ID to prove you are a voter […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington tonight – 3/23/26

By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4114/files/agenda/12519 1) Guess what’s back? 2) Since the PUBLIC isn’t paying attention, few if any will show up to speak: 3) The City of Bloomington will be tracking people using YOUR cell phone data. See 8G. Add that to Flock cameras. 4) This one should NOT be on the Consent Agenda […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Krystle Able Uses Township for Her Agenda

By: Diane Benjamin Everyone know diplomatic relations is a federal issue because they have access to a lot more information – it’s their job. Krystle Able thinks it’s her job. She also doesn’t understand to participate in any public meeting does not require being eligible to participate. Is she going to ban the press if […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Fly on the Wall: Mason City High School Sex

Illini Central High School is a public school located in MASON CITY, IL. It has 190 students in grades 9-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 10 to 1. According to state test scores, 10% of students are at least proficient in math and 25% in reading. Each teacher has 10 kids and that’s called education? […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Weekend Exuberance

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Early votes and Mail-In ballot counts prove why this nonsense exist

By: Diane Benjamin 40 days of early voting is ridiculous unless you understand why this waste of time and resources exists. It isn’t to allow more people to vote. One party wants to bank as many early votes as possible so they know how many more votes they need by election day. It’s going to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Stop the Lies

By: Diane Benjamin I love when attack dogs show how they think by leaving comments here. This one was last night while I was sound asleep at almost 11:00pm: Yes totally ignore the total corruption coming out of the McLean County Clerk office. Missing money, A guy that worked for the Clerks office had porn […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

District 87 to students: Being American doesn’t matter

By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader See what District 87 wants to take out of the BHS Student Handbook: https://district87.community.diligentoneplatform.com/document/efa9682b-a2e4-467a-ae98-88d95f946fc3/ First page: “Productive citizens” is crossed out in favor of this: . District 87 doesn’t want your kids to know about freedom and liberty. They don’t want your kids to know about American exceptionalism. They […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington’s Road Resurfacing: New Solutions Ahead

By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington has MANY short roads badly in need of resurfacing. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2024/05/10/road-ratings-part-4/ The major roads that have been resurfaced, like GE Road, were contracted. It would be close to impossible to contract fixing all those short roads. Bloomington solved that problem and I don’t think they have made a big […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Area Demographics

By: Diane Benjamin What these 2 charts are saying: FIVE of the area top 10 employers are government while the population isn’t growing. Since government only has money they take from the population, other employers can’t grow. School test scores aren’t stellar while schools are “educating” fewer students with a lot more employees. Remember when […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Paid Consultants: INCCRRA

By: Diane Benjamin Definition: Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA). This is an NGO located in Towanda Plaza. If this organization wasn’t shoveling Federal and State money to consultants and illegal aliens, I wouldn’t be spending nearly as much time on them. The 2024 INCCRRA tax return showed they spent $17,000,000 on […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Some things I found in the budget:

By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and Normal used to have an understanding both cities needed to have the same tax rates (except property tax). Bloomington Budget – Book 1 PDF page 90: I blacked out the other cities so you only see Bloomington and Normal: This chart is already updated for the Normal increases going into […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington Last Night

By: Diane Benjamin One public comment at 11:05 was by a guy calling for the City to quit burning the brush in parks every spring. He claimed it destroys wildlife habitat. It probably does but it is also the opposite of “being green” because it pollutes. Citizens aren’t allowed to burn brush inside the city, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Election Day!

You won’t have to wait in lines! County sample ballots: https://mcleancountyil.gov/1600/Ballots Bloomington sample ballots: https://bloomingtonelectionsil.gov/march-17-2026-general-primary-election/specimen-ballot/ Anyone going to prove the Bloomington Election Commission needs abolished soon? 2 election authorities are a waste of money and BEC can’t be held responsible for any problems by the people paying their bills: County citizens, not Bloomington. It’s already […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington Special Meeting Tonight

By: Diane Benjamin Committee of the Whole was switched to special meeting because one item needs a vote: Remember when BNWRD tried to buy 3 properties and one showed it was owned by the City of Bloomington and not the guy BNWRD thought they were buying it from? https://blnnews.com/2025/12/31/bnwrd-story-6/ Tonight: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4376/files/attachment/8566 Bloomington is Quit Claiming […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Meet Krystle Able’s hand picked replacement

By: Diane Benjamin Krystle didn’t have to time to perform two 40-hour a week jobs plus meeting with union rabblerousers all over the state, so she resigned from the County Board months ago. William Bessler is on the far right in this picture, politically he’s a far left tax and spend democrat. Ask him about […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Weekend Top Picks

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

New Illinois Convention back in Bloomington

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Update: Randolph Township pulls the Unit 5 primary scam

By: Diane Benjamin The Randolph Township Fire Protection District put this on the PRIMARY ballot for the same reason Unit 5 put the 1% Sales Tax increase on a primary ballot. They know voter turnout in primaries is low – it’s easy to get what you want when few people vote. You can choose a […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Another Underpass Vote:

By: Diane Benjamin Below was the original vote where the contractor was awarded the contract and later backed out: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5441 . WGLT reported the Town is now going to consider spending $33.7 million to lure the other original bidder to take the project: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-03-11/new-underpass-draft-bid-in-normal-is-higher-than-the-one-approved-in-november More “wants” will probably be cut to lower that price. In […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Five things you need to know

By: Diane Benjamin 1) City of Bloomington has been doing a lot of surveys. The results are dependents on who completes the survey. In the past, surveys had low participation and therefore did not reflect real citizen values. Remember Bring It On Bloomington? https://blnnews.com/2016/10/13/bloomingtons-award-good/ If you live in Bloomington, this is the link: https://engage.thinkconfluence.com/miller-park-plan 2) […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Spiked pensions-IMRF and the Coliseum

By: Diane Benjamin This payment was approved at last Monday’s Bloomington City Council meeting: If you still don’t understand what Accelerated IMRF Payments are: SOME Bloomington employees are still allowed to SPIKE their pensions. Sick Days (possibly others too) are accumulated and then the employee is compensated for unused days when they retire. That compensation […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Fly on the Wall: Underpass

If you thought Chris Koos would abandon the way-to-expensive underpass, you’d be wrong. The cost will be even higher.

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington Recap – Molly tirade

By: Diane Benjamin The Proclamation – https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4101/files/attachment/8470 – was postponed to sometime in the future – See 12:25. How about ending ALL proclamations? The department heads talking about their budgets was delayed until next Monday. Instead of a Committee of the Whole, it will be a Special meeting because they have something they need to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Proclamation postponed! Bloomington tonight – 3/9/26

By: Diane Benjamin Separation of Church and State is immaterial tonight. Do Christians ever get a Proclamation? The Islamic faith will: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4101/files/attachment/8470 I dare you to name any Islamic country where Freedom and Liberty prevail and women aren’t second class citizens. Don’t even ask about LGBTQ rights, they don’t exist. Nice job Administration Department. Is […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More on Normal’s Underpass

By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday’s story was updated with a few things I found in the FOIA request: https://blnnews.com/2026/03/06/normal-doesnt-have-an-underpass-contractor/ Did you know Normal originally stated taxpayers were funding 9% of the project and now it’s 37%? Click the above story! WGLT finally did their own underpass story. On Facebook it has over 100 comments, most want […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Weekend Laughs

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Updated: Normal Doesn’t Have an Underpass Contractor

By: Diane Benjamin If you could read between the lines, this story told you: https://blnnews.com/2026/02/24/where-is-the-underpass-normal/ Last October the Normal Council awarded the construction contract to a company in Missouri instead of a local bidder: https://www.millstoneweber.com/ Millstone Weber backed out of the contract early this year. I have a FOIA pending for the emails. Since their […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Illinois Wins: Highest Tax Rates in the Country

By: Diane Benjamin https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-be-a-taxpayer/2416 Illinois has the highest tax rates in the COUNTRY! Taxes are high but the ruling party always wants more money. People will continue to leave Illinois for lower tax states. Click the link above for a lot more details. Next, vote your interests instead of re-electing people who will never have […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Glenn Elementary – Report Card

By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council meeting last Monday had parents of students at Glenn Elementary show up for Public Comment. The parents know Unit 5 might vote to close Glenn, they want Town officials to intervene to keep their neighborhood school open. I wonder how many of them voted in the last consolidated […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Why did Unit 5 just post this?

By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Is the current principal quitting at the end of the school year? Is Mariana Nicasio is there? What’s going on at Chiddix? I just heard Mariana has resigned as of the end of the school year. It’s not nice to keep secrets from parents Unit 5. See this link […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

CIRA – Part 2

By: Diane Benjamin This story and the last one about CIRA are because a reader contacted me. Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2026/03/03/cira-part-1-2/ That reader left a voicemail at CIRA on February 5, 2026: . The name is redacted because it isn’t important to the story. Based on what this reader was told, I FOIA’d CIRA for what […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Well, well Chris Koos cares about partisan Elections, Bloomington doesn’t

By: Diane Benjamin I found this while looking for who went on the One Voice trip to Washington DC: . The Lorenz donation was a pass-thru from someone who wanted to remain anonymous, it wasn’t from the Republican Party. Smart? Nope. Bloomington is beholding to the Democrat Party thanks to Cody Hendricks and Jenna Kearns. […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

CIRA – Part 1

By: Diane Benjamin Taxation without representation: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-02-13/cira-cruises-along-at-a-stable-altitude Springfield allowed CIRA to tax the County thanks to Sen Dave Koehler https://blnnews.com/2023/04/27/cira-doesnt-need-money-they-just-want-it/ Your property tax bills this year will reflect that. County property owners get yet another line item added to their bill. Bloomington-Normal gets a decrease. One of the dumbest parts of the WGLT article: “The Airport […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

CT Losses and Subsidies

By: Diane Benjamin Connect Transit – February meeting: https://connect-transit.com/file/4079/2026%2002%2024_BoT%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf The January loss: Yes, that’s the loss for ONE MONTH. Your tax dollars at work subsidizing every passenger: