By: Diane Benjamin If you still think turbines are green technology that will save the world – GROW UP. The BLACK is oil. It takes a LOT of oil to make pretend green. When not maintained, oil is thrown all over the ground beneath them. I could post many stories about wind – start […]
By: Diane Benjamin You decide if “grift” fits: Bills for approval at the Monday’s Normal Town Council meeting: Source: http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2610 Click on any picture to enlarge. .. . Paying someone to apply for grant: . Misc: . More Baseball and More Water Main break Expense . Annual Dues – Where ridiculous ideas come from . […]
Medical Update: Hubby is still in ICU in Peoria but improving everyday. I hope to have in back in Bloomington next week!
By: Diane Benjamin The number of riders in Champaign-Urbana has been declining since 2012 – see PDF page 17 https://www.cumtd.com/about-us/getfile/?fileid=7773 Below is the March snapshot – note they have MANY more riders than Bloomington-Normal, but note who they are: Taxpayers pay for the University of Illinois, then U of I gives some of that […]
By: Diane Benjamin I sent this FOIA request to the City of Bloomington on March 27th: I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act: The following documents have disappeared from the website. They consist of Agendas and Packets: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11528 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11527 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11529 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11530 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11477 10/17/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11476 10/17/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11443 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Common sense doesn’t exist when government makes decisions. They don’t have a right to your money to enact their Utopian plans of progress that does nothing but throw your money away. This country wasn’t founded for government, it was founded so individuals could chart their own course. Sadly government has taken away […]
By: Diane Benjamin The last thing the Normal Council wants to see tonight is a large number of citizens telling them to knock off the spending. Fritzen and McCarthy have made it clear that debt isn’t a problem. They consider themselves much smarter than the people who voted for Marc Tiritilli. Do they handle their […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few notes that never made the news: Those 4 parking lots the City purchased from Frontier so the BCPA has more parking: What was the cost? To find out you have to dig deep in the packet – the cost isn’t on the agenda: Page 530 of the packet: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12738 The […]
Correcting info
Writing articles at night is never a good idea for me – I’m a morning person! Spending so much time at the Peoria hospital makes writing difficult though. Hubby continues to improve slowly! I need to correct a few things in this post. Riders for March were 220,804 up for the first time I remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jim Fruin proved economics is way beyond his abilities last night. In his farewell statement Jim said he plans to attend Council meetings, but only sit by positive people. Some people are positive Bloomington needs to keep making ‘progress’. Others are positive we are witnessing the destruction of the jewel Bloomington used […]
Today’s medical update: The doctors are amazed at my husband’s progress the last 48 hours. He is wide awake, off the ventilator and only on Tylenol for pain. He knows who we are and is trying to talk – even though he isn’t suppose to yet. Three days ago the medical staff wasn’t sure he […]
By: Diane Benjamin First a medical update: Prayer does work! My husband has had people all over the globe praying for his recovery. Today he woke up, opened his eyes and responded to our voices and commands from the medical staff. He had a brain aneurysm that burst on Good Friday. The ICU neurology staff […]
Medical Update: Slight Improvement!
By: Diane Benjamin $135,743.79 + an adjustment of $130.75 got paid to IMRF so one employee can have a fabulous retirement with a spike pension! See page 130 Monday Bills and Payroll That expense was completely avoidable, but employees came before taxpayers. Page 109 – $580 for Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The government gods in Normal are upset a lowly citizen challenged them. LONG time (too long) Council member Jeff Fritzen doesn’t want people looking at the facts, he wants to explain them himself. I heard a news report saying Fritzen thinks trust in government has been broken without cause. That what every […]
“I’m mad as hell and I’m NOT going to take it anymore!” This is a quote from the movie, Newsroom. When did the use of the word NO become unacceptable in civilized society? The norms of our society include NO lying, stealing or cheating. NO infringement on the rights of others. Police D.A.R.E. officers tell […]
4/17/2017 The medical emergency was my husband. I’m assuming you read my note from last week: https://blnnews.com/2017/04/15/readers-2/ Andy had an extremely serious neurological event last Friday. A very long recovery is in his future, his condition has barely begun to improve. Since there is very little I can do for him right now, I will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Go ahead and pretend you have a mandate. 4644 people voted AGAINST Tari Renner Jamie Mathy only won by 319 votes, more than that voted against him. Close to half the people in Ward 3 voted AGAINST Mboka Mwilambwe Joni Painter only won by 97 votes The guy ineligible to serve from […]
By: Diane Benjamin One thing I’ve learned is Republicans never do what they say they will do in a campaign while Democrats lie over and over and over trying to get you to believe what they say. Just watch them for a while, you will notice it too. (Think: If you like your doctor . […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Bloomington City Council approved this: In case you forgot, the Council approved this payment at the March 27th meeting – PDF Page 253 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 The documentation for this meeting states the YWCA needs to money to continue operations until the end of their fiscal year. They are transporting people […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Normal’s Town Council was giddy over handing money to a developer for a Portillos? Normal was going to be a destination – people would drive to Normal from all over Central Illinois! People traveling the interstates would go out of their way for a Portillos hot dog! Champaign is going […]
Stevie, I received an anonymous donation today with this note: Many thanks to whoever sent it. Evidently many people are dying for real news. I will continue to investigate and write as long as people are willing to contribute. I might even be able to afford a new computer soon! Without the daily numerous crashes […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found this while looking for something else. The first time I remember writing about the Water Tower Bloomington built in Normal was August 2015: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ I have no idea how much money was spent on that project, but many MILLIONS is probably close. The only thing I knew for sure is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I will be on Cities 92.9 today at 3:30 with Ben Yount to discuss the future of BlnNews. Now for last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting: Bring in the CLOWNS! Oops, they were already there! Starting at 1:05, and ending 45 minutes later, the Council droned on about spending $300,000 at The […]
Tomorrow I’m back, for one story! The unbelievable Bloomington City Council tonight is forcing me to report. (and all you supporters!)
By: Diane Benjamin I’m only writing because I received a ruling from the Attorney General yesterday regarding the Bloomington Election Commission’s violation of the Open Meetings Act. It still stands that I am not going to work for mostly free. If everything I have exposed the last five years isn’t worth $5 or $10 a […]
To all my readers: The time has come for me to quit writing BlnNews. I simply can’t afford to do it anymore. If you thought readers contributed, you are wrong. Very few ever did. I really appreciate the THOUSANDS of readers over the past 5 years who were dying for information the rest of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sen Dick Durbin was on WJBC this morning. Listen to his interview HERE Stumbling through harsh questions from Scott Laughlin (just kidding!), Dickie attempted to justify why he is a NO vote to confirm Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. “Gorsuch is out of the mainstream”. Obama appointed Elena Kagan and Sonia […]
By: Diane Benjamin A voter in Ellsworth brought this to my attention this morning. I don’t vote in the local Ellsworth election since I don’t live in Ellsworth. One guy is running for the Village Board as an Independent AND Township Trustee as a Democrat. He probably thought he would have a challenger for Trustee, […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s ELECTION DAY! If the only race you want to vote is MAYOR: only vote Mayor. You aren’t required to vote in every race. Yes, you can same day register! Today is the day to send your message to City Hall. Either spending and taxes will continue to increase or you can […]
Who is telling the truth? Buzzing around I saw plans for a huge complex on the west side. It wasn’t only soccer fields. Some people think if they get elected it’s their ticket to do whatever they want, some don’t. Pick wrong tomorrow and you have Coliseum 2.0 . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow either big government people will dominate Bloomington-Normal for the next 4 years, or citizens will. Will the Pantagraph and the Chamber of Commerce get their picks, or will the people forced to pay for the vision of Big Spenders finally throw them out? You get the government you deserve by not […]
By: Diane Benjamin Four years ago only 9,719 voted for mayor in Bloomington http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IL/Bloomington/46028/116387/en/summary.html Four years ago only 4,403 voted for mayor in Normal http://il-mcleancounty.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/8074 Bloomington had 46,740 registered voters Normal had 57,279 registered voters Besides the obvious question about Normal having more registered voters with a smaller population, where were the voters? Local elections […]
By: Diane Benjamin All the City of Bloomington had to do to prevent paying the penalties below was change when accumulated sick and vacation got paid to employees. David Hales, Steve Stockton, and Tari Renner refused to change their policies, so the below was paid as a penalty. These employees were allowed to spike their […]
