By: Diane Benjamin To Community Players who only want vaccinated people at their shows, and Marcus Theaters who are doing shows just for the vaxed: Being vaccinated doesn’t prevent hospitalization, death, or even getting Covid: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaccine-breakthrough.html Illinois hospitalizations and deaths in fully vaccinated people: Those are only the serious breakthrough cases, many more still get […]
By: Diane Benjamin The FOIA request I received from the Town of Normal is 417 pages long. So far I’ve only read 96 pages. This is story #2 from the FOIA, I can’t believe anyone missed #1, but if you did read it first: https://blnnews.com/2022/01/21/want-to-see-what-a-scam-looks-like/ The latest revelation is National Fitness Challenge has a contract […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a clip from the January 4, 2022 Normal Council meeting where the National Fitness Campaign project was discussed. The speaker is Doug Damery, head of Parks and Recreation for Normal. Remember the $25,000 grant Normal received? Damery details how difficult the process was to get that grant: (less than 1 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Do I really need to re-tell the whole SAGA of Chris Koos and Pam Reece misleading the Council about the tax status of National Fitness Campaign? I’m not going to, WGLT finally did a story that will refresh your memory: (did they write it because of my story yesterday or because they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Rodney Davis claimed endorsements on his campaign website: https://electrodney.com/rodney-davis-announces-2022-re-election-campaign-to-congress-in-new-il-15/ In case Rodney decides to “revise” his website, below is part of the list he has on his website now: Rodney probably thought he wouldn’t be fact checked, unfortunately for him he was. Of the County Party Chairmen who were contacted either by […]
By: Diane Benjamin I FOIA’d what Chris Koos read at the January 4, 2022 Council meeting. This video is 20 seconds, it includes a little of Scott Preston before Chris Koos: The camera was not on Chris Koos when he was reading his statement, I could not tell he was reading from his phone: This […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both of these shows were re-schedules from before Covid was a thing. One is listed as a rental, the other was co-produced meaning the City of Bloomington wasn’t assuming all the risk. Co-producing also means the profit is much less, but at least both show a profit. I had to FOIA both […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Did you hear the UK will no longer require masks anywhere, including schools? https://www.india.com/news/world/uk-to-lift-additional-covid-restrictions-from-next-week-says-boris-johnson-5194531/?fbclid=IwAR0YbCYFx_sis73chTIP2kRw4Pi0unJwUNsYHLFiHP_ooIbbVE8s150920M Anybody who remotely follows the news knows Omicron has been very short lived in countries that got it first. (South Africa and UK) Some people haven’t heard being vaccinated doesn’t prevent getting Covid. Community Players […]
By: Diane Benjamim Both the WGLT reporter and I watched the same Normal Town Council meeting last night. Nothing in the story I wrote this morning was mentioned in their story. Mine: https://blnnews.com/2022/01/19/message-to-trustee-mccarthy/ Theirs: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2022-01-19/normal-new-public-data-portal-puts-more-information-at-your-fingertips Media picks and chooses what to report, obviously fraud isn’t something WGLT cares to cover if the Normal Town Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hey Kevin, did you do your homework? Sit back and watch an elected official lie on video folks. The National Fitness Campaign vote came up several times during last night’s meeting. Kevin McCarthy used his comment time to blame everybody who was defrauded by the vote, not the two people who provided […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m only using NPR as a source because leftists would think any other source is bias: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/17/713887174/after-allegations-of-toxic-culture-southern-poverty-law-center-tries-to-move-for The article is from 2019, the organization had to dispose of the founder and top people over charges of a toxic workplace, discrimination, and sexual harassment. If you Google Southern Poverty Law Center many articles […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal is taking MLK Day off, the Council meeting is Tuesday night. https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4204 Were you invited? Get your gift card? Pam Reece keeps paying the ridiculous rent at 1 Uptown Circle 2 years after the council told her to fix it: Chemberly Cummings continues to feed kids at your expense: Think Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the year around (cough cough) fitness court the Normal Council voted to proceed with? https://blnnews.com/2022/01/06/conflict-of-interest-by-mccarthy-sure-looks-like-it/ Scott Preston appears to have only voted YES because he was told the National Fitness Challenge is a nonprofit. Just hit play below to hear Pam Reece state it “appears” they are a nonprofit, then Scott […]
By: Diane Benjamin On October 29, 2021 I submitted a FOIA to McLean County pertaining to John Butler’s case. After a couple reminders about the FOIA being late (they have 5 business days), I was told it’s taking so long because of staff shortages. I was promised I would receive the information on December 8, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not only does Democrat County Board member Hannah Beer refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, she has little respect for the death of a County employee. She refused to stand while the rest of Board did. If she can’t stand for a medical reason, she needs to explain that one! […]
Barnett decided not to run again! By: Diane Benjamin That question is hard to answer since MANY voters see a familiar name and vote for them. Low information voters are a huge threat to good government. Barnett is frequently an obstruction to keeping the County government as small as possible with low taxes, he sides […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this sign in the middle of the Raab Road? This one is bolted to the road. It’s gone. Normal should be putting up stop signs on the trail, but they won’t. That would make too much sense. Was it a Town snow plow?
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington cancelled next Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. They use these meetings to soften up the Council for futured spending. Citizens are temporarily safe: (and I don’t have to watch 2 meetings in one night!) Not sure if this is good news, it depends on who is planning to run for […]
By: Diane Benjamin How’s this working for you? High taxes and corruption are driving people out of Illinois. Those who stay get to pay more because (of course) spending can’t be cut. Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Illinois_state_executive_official_elections,_2022?fbclid=IwAR3bOBB-_NDPHbvxDjtloVYKHMcQ7Nvh4hAAjxFrelVp_Q2pKGdYrtKqvGg . . . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin One of the Public Comment speakers at the Bloomington City Council Monday night was Carol Koos. She stated she was representing the ACLU and their view of the license plate reading cameras on the agenda. Just hit play below to hear her comment. Meanwhile the ACLU is suing some states for gerrymandering […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both of the pics below are from Normal’s current budget: https://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/18611/Town-of-Normal-Budget-2021-26 PDF page 92 PDF page 375: Want to know what the December 2020 to December 2021 Consumer Price Index is for all Urban Consumers? https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t01.htm 7% So, while inflation is destroying your household budget, every employee of Normal except Police and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Connect Transit Board did not vote for this, they haven’t met. If riders don’t pay – you do. Tweet:
By: Diane Benjamin The entire Bloomington City Council meeting lasted only 56 minutes, almost half of it was public comment. There was a long line of people speaking against the license plate reading cameras that were on the Consent Agenda. That item was the only one pulled for further discussion. Mayor Mboka announced at the […]
By: Diane Benjamin A lady I went to high school with experienced losing her son almost a year and half ago. He was found dead in the Ohio River. She still has no idea what happened to him. The police have no idea what happened to him. She has lived in agony since his body […]
By: Diane Benjamin Schools are receiving millions of dollars in ESSER Funds from the American Rescue Plan. They will only received these dollars if your kids are tortured in school. There are no studies that show masks work. Studies do exist kids are damaged by being forced to wear one. Young kids have no idea […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe a better question is how much have citizens been charged for Bloomington to move from the Old City Hall to the Government Center? Council meetings used to be held on Olive Street. The City website doesn’t have that address anymore, it has been changed to Washington St. See the bottom of […]
by: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27390 January’s meetings will be on Zoom, get ready for lots of “Can you hear me now?” Zoom isn’t free, but at least we don’t have to watch masks up to people’s eyes! (hopefully) Afraid of COVID, but staff is back to traveling: It would take a FOIA to find out who […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below was received as part of a much larger FOIA from District 87. This is a small part of the missing information from this page: https://www.district87.org/domain/2157 Note: The information is still missing from that page even though I received it. Why are they hiding what they are doing? See Goal 4. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda for Monday: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1150&Inline=True Bloomington wants to rehab these two water tanks off Fort Jesse. The NEVER used water tower in the same area isn’t mentioned: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ Money was budgeted for this project – WAY more than what the project will cost: PDF page 185 Monday they are already spending what they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Previous stories for reference: https://blnnews.com/2022/01/05/see-anybody-with-a-disability/ https://blnnews.com/2022/01/05/are-koos-and-mccarthy-profiting/ https://blnnews.com/2022/01/05/some-people-will-fall-for-anything/ I wonder of Brian Day, Normal’s attorney, has a copy of this book? Normal pays the Illinois Municipal League a lot of money every year, if he doesn’t have a copy he should. Does the Town hand out copies of this 216 page book to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal’s latest plan was written in 2017. It wasn’t written by Town staff or even the Council. The McLean County Regional Planning Commission wrote it. It is 389 pages long: https://mcplan.org/file/692/Full%20Plan.pdf The Town uses this plan to justify spending, they did it again last Monday night. This is likely why they claimed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night wasn’t the first time Chris Koos has used Roberts Rules of Order to cut off Stan Nord. He even claimed Monday he wasn’t “picking” on Stan, just following the RULES. The Koos comment also makes clear he despises Stan’s use of Facebook posts and videos to actually communicate with the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Appearances are very important in Normal. That’s why Koos frequently refers to the “professional staff” and claims his actions are required under Roberts Rules of Order. Appearances must have been very important for Pam Reece when Kathleen Lorenz asked about this expense: Note: the check was made out to Chemberly Cummings: Note […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are pics from the documentation provided to the Council pertaining to the National Fitness Campaign: Stan Nord asked Parks and Rec director Doug Damery if this equipment is ADA compliant. Comic relief, hear this 20 second clip: . . . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin At the Normal Town Council meeting last night Chris Koos admitted the Bike Share program Normal instituted benefits his business. People started biking and realized they needed their own bike – so go to the guy selling them: Chris Koos. Is that why Normal keeps building trails too Chris? The entire Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did the Town vote to work with shysters last night? Before proceeding Normal needs to do some due diligence! The driving factor in moving forward with the outdoor National Fitness Campaign was the company is a non-profit. RINO Republican Scott Preston voted yes, Kathleen Lorenz voted no., Karyn Smith didn’t bother to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 has had a Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) since 1948. https://www.unit5.org/Page/265 That link has a list of who the citizens are. What it lacks is what they have done! Click here: Gee, I expected to see Agendas and Minutes. Silly me. The only information available is when they met: Did they […]
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