By: Diane Benjamin On January 3rd you will know why local media is the home of FAKE NEWS! Meanwhile, here’s a preview: WJBC did a year in review – listen HERE Fast forward to hear what they reported for the Coliseum at 31:00 No mention of my findings because of a lawsuit and no mention […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few weeks ago I wrote about an Open Meeting Act violation Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office was asked to review. It was filed in 2014 against the Bloomington Election Commission and evidently lost because no ruling was made until I asked for the resolution. First they claimed the number I provided […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is an update to yesterday’s story: https://blnnews.com/2016/12/29/is-past-due-now-costing-you/ Bloomington has two reports that are now past due at the Comptroller’s office. Last night a guy from that office called me after I requested information. First, one of the reports is a TIF report. If the City is trying to use the excuse […]
See UPDATE: HERE By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington is required to file the Annual Report and TIF reports with the Illinois Comptroller’s office. See this message on the Comptroller’s website for Bloomington: Source The original due date was in October, the City filed for an extension until 12/26/2016. They missed the deadline and […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the Edgar County Watchdogs told the Bloomington Election Commission their meeting was illegal BEFORE the meeting started, they started the meeting anyway. Then, when Kirk Allen, John Kraft, and I interrupted the meeting because it was illegal – they called the police! Relive great moments in Bloomington history by watching the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since the City of Bloomington wants taxpayers to fund another fire station to lower the response times, and taxpayers have already been charged for an additional ambulance crew, here’s another idea: Return to METCOM! I don’t know how calls are routed if a citizen dials 911. I do know I dialed 911 […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/5746/17?backlist=%2Fhome . For New Year’s, all employees get a day and a half off. . . . . Make sure you are sitting down, stay calm, if not – walk away now. You were warned! http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/calendar . . Yes, Virginia -Santa brought City employees all day […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here Are The 13 Most Dangerous Places In Illinois After Dark As the sun goes down, crime tends to rise, and in these Illinois towns, you’ll want to be especially cautious. In no particular order, here are 13 places in The Prairie State that are quite dangerous after dark: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/most-dangerous-towns-illinois/ East St […]
By: Diane Benjamin The taxpayers of Bloomington have no idea how much the Coliseum LOST last year because the City doesn’t want you to know. The year-end for the Coliseum was April 30th, no income and expense information has been released. (normally it is released in October) The Coliseum was a mess, so the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the numbers below are from the Illinois Report Card on public schools: https://illinoisreportcard.com/Default.aspx Now see this graph on spending since the Department of education was established by Jimmy Carter: Read the whole story HERE Obviously, the answer is NO. . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a summary of stats taken from the Illinois Report Card on schools: https://illinoisreportcard.com/search.aspx?address=Bloomington&miles=5 This is area High Schools only. All the data is from the pics below except class size, that was taken from another page. State Averages : Ready for the Next Level: 33% College Ready: 46% . […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below is from the Illinois Report Card website: https://illinoisreportcard.com/Default.aspx This report only compares area Elementary Schools. Click below to enlarge – Where does the data come from? If this doesn’t start a conversation, nothing will. Screen shots from the website are below. The chart shows the percentage of kids ready […]
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. . . . . . . . . VERY FIRST KING-SIZED BED: To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible”. ~Thomas Aquinas THANK GOD FOR THAT BED AND BABY WHO SLEPT THERE. Merry Christmas! . . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin The Central Illinois Regional Airport has their new website: CIRA.com Meeting dates, agenda’s, minutes etc can be found under “About the Airport” and then “Airport Authority”. Since I haven’t had time to follow them lately, I clicked on the November minutes and found this under Public Comments: The address is Bloomington. It’s […]
BGA Forces Release Of Mayor Rahm Emanuel Private Emails, Garners Landmark Policy Shift As a result of a BGA investigation and legal action, The City of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have agreed to release all of Emanuel’s private emails related to city business—subject to any applicable legal exemptions—and institute a new policy that will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner was back on WJBC this morning claiming the challenge to his petitions was “much ado about nothing”. Listen Here Since Tari lives in an alternate universe, I got my hands on the actual tally sheets the Bloomington Election Commission used while reviewing signatures. Many were tossed because the Signatures didn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin At the October 20, 2016 meeting this was approved: http://stanfordil.org/id529.html Notice anything strange? It doesn’t say who the contract was given to! That information had to be obtained by FOIA: Next, see who the Village Clerk for Stanford is – the person who writes the minutes: Understand now why the minutes don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sen Dickie Durbin sent me an email today claiming the Electoral College isn’t what the Founders intended. Yes, FAKE NEWS does exist! Durbin not only spreads his lies to his email list, he is allowed to spout on any media source that refuses to challenged him. The media enables his FAKE NEWS, […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have no idea why Bloomington needed a new website. The one they had worked far better than others in the area – especially the McLean County website. They built a new one anyway. Since I am a programmer, I know it’s very difficult to find all the problems when launching extensive […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader sent me screen shots of a conversation County Board member David Selzer was having on Facebook about moving the County Board meetings to 7:00 at night. If he hadn’t deleted the conversation, I probably wouldn’t be posting it here. Evidently Selzer knew he was wrong. More than one person was […]
The right video is below! By: Diane Benjamin I enjoy hearing the train whistle load and clear on the Normal Council videos. I guess when you take federal money for a new train station, then decide to put the Town offices and Council chambers above it, they deserve have the meetings interrupted by trains. Three […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local soccer people have known since at least 2013 they have to leave the airport soccer fields. Has anybody bothered to ask the FAA why the kids could still play on the fields for 5 years after they demanded they vacate because it’s too dangerous? Your government at work protecting the […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the report issued by the Bloomington Election Commission in this post: https://blnnews.com/2016/12/17/wjbc-please-stop-the-fake-news/ The document clearly shows Tari Renner submitted 785 signatures and after the line-by-line review he ended up with 581. That means 204 signatures were found to be invalid. Below is an email a citizen sent to […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few meetings ago the Council voted to release some Executive Session minutes. I FOIA’d what they agreed to release. See what I received here: foia-exec-sessions Executive Sessions are their very frequent SECRET meetings to discuss the City Manager’s Salary, land purchases, lawsuits, and contract negotiations. Discussions pertaining to TOM HAMILTON who […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why is your money going to the Chamber of Commerce? So they can buy an election when the Chamber endorses candidates? MCLEAN CO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANNUAL DUES $2,172.00 MCLEAN CO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANNUAL GALA $1,000.00 . Koos took a trip to Pittsburgh for the National League of Cities conference + […]
By: Diane Benjamin In the last two weeks I have been contacted by many people in small towns surrounding Bloomington-Normal. They are tired of being abused by their government while information on spending is hidden. The latest to contact me is Danvers. The citizens have a new FACEBOOK page to spread information since Danvers doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday Anonymous Editorial Writer at the Pantagraph urged readers to sift out FAKE NEWS and rely on them along with other main stream sources: http://www.pantagraph.com/editorial-it-s-simple-check-before-you-share Trying not to laugh, I read it. Just last Saturday, the Pantagraph ran an AP story that used Media Matter for America as a source: http://www.pantagraph.com/business/google-still-putting-ads-on-fake-news-sites Associated […]
By: Diane Benjamin On the agenda for the Bloomington City Council on Monday is approving an agreement with Health Alliance to cover fire fighters and retirees. Of course it’s on the consent agenda so nobody asks questions. See the NUMEROUS pages beginning on PDF page 87 HERE Sometimes i have to wonder if way too […]
By: Diane Benjamin The assault on Bloomington taxpayers continues at Monday’s City Council meeting. The target isn’t on citizen’s backs – it’s on their wallet and their Quality of Life. Other people need your money more than you do – the City Council will gladly hand it over and claim Economic Development! Is Kroger really […]
By: Diane Benjamin From WJBC website: Article and News Reports Tari submitted 785 signatures, the election commission found 581 valid. Not only did Tari Renner turn in over 200 fraudulent signatures, WJBC choose not to report that! See below. The reporter ignored the conclusions reached by the Bloomington Election Commission. Isn’t the conclusion the most […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been accumulating Renner quotes for a few days because they show his character. If his petitions looked legitimate they wouldn’t have been challenged. They didn’t. If Kevin appeals the Election Commission ruling to a higher court, I bet more signatures would be thrown off. They allow looking for patterns of fraud, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner still had enough signatures approved to stay on the ballot, but my sources say 204 were thrown out. That’s an invalid rate of almost 27%. Evidently gathering legitimate signatures wasn’t a high priority. My sources also say more many people were not registered to vote at the addresses them wrote […]
By: Diane Benjamin WJBC gives citizens a platform on their “Forum”. Since some individuals use this platform to spout lies, they need to be exposed. Eventually WJBC doesn’t care. The latest culprit is once again Mike Matejka. See his comments HERE Matejka claimed the challengers to Tari Renner’s petitions didn’t do the hard work: Those […]
By: Diane Benjamin I caught part of a video live stream on Facebook from the hearing of Bruce Meeks’ challenge to Diana Hauman’s petitions. It was enough to know the hearing was a lawyer’s game of procedures, not based on evidence. The Bloomington Election Commission has a lawyer and so did Diana Hauman. Bruce Meeks […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hope they aren’t done with it – because it doesn’t go where you click. Why did Bloomington need a new website? The old one was pretty good except for the missing information. What was missing? The financial statements for the year ending 4/30/16 Any reports of tax receipts since Hales quit […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in 2014 one of the guys that filed challenges to petitions for candidates in Bloomington knew the Bloomington Election Commission wasn’t following the law as required by the Open Meetings Act. Bruce Meeks filed a Request for Review with Lisa Madigan’s Public Access Office. In February 2014 the Attorney General decided […]
