By: Diane Benjamin Good News for most residents of Arrowsmith, Bloomington, Dale, Dawson, and Old Town Townships who are served by Golden Prairie Public Library District: Your property taxes will not be going up if the Bloomington Library property tax increase is approved! These township residents have full access to the Bloomington Public Library without paying […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found two articles yesterday on kids wearing masks. There are no studies that prove wearing a mask reduces COVID transmission. That is ZERO studies! There are studies that show kids wearing masks hurt their development. This is one: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10247315/Face-masks-harm-childrens-development-Study-blames-significantly-reduced-development.html?ito=native_share_article-top Exceprt: One more quote from the story proves “Equity” is just a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and a lot of Normal got removed from McLean County in the congressional map Pritzker signed: The green is the new 16th district – it goes all the way to Wisconsin. The grey is the new 17th. See where it goes by clicking here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1qfnRiuOZ3yok6WGvBHZ9P6u3EMy_LwRv&ll=41.54370261051701%2C-89.3487176103724&z=8 See the Legislative map passed: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1L7I2r4gat9nRWx9wfaizpn7XkA7i1qL4&ll=39.20533781461243%2C-90.51902473426051&z=6 […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/i-feel-very-dark-all-is-not-well-in-normal-america-20211125-p59c3e.html Yes folks, the Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney AUSTRALIA) had a reporter in Normal Il. The story features some people you might know like dairy farmer Ken Ropp. Also interviewed was Mitzi Bell who voted for Biden, a quote from her: Also in the story is Chris Bradley, owner […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2021/11/26/unit-5s-equity-audit-waste/ As reported, the Urbana School District has and Equity Task Force. That group recommended hiring Systemic Educational Equity LLC. The two people pushing for that hire were Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Ivory-Tatum and their very first director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The Urbana DEI director is none […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 jumped on the Equity bandwagon before looking at where they were jumping to. They hired a company called Systemic Educational Equity, LLC, I don’t have the date they were hired. I do have some of the payments Unit 5 made to them, I’m betting their are more: Unit 5’s payments […]
It has been 400 years since the Pilgrims first celebrated as a covenant people of God in 1621. This Thanksgiving remember the Pilgrims and why George Washington established a national day of thanks to God Almighty. America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Those principles have guided America since it’s founding. We can not help but […]
By: Diane Benjamin Former Mayor Tari Renner often said Bloomington is down 100 employees. The City isn’t down 100 employees as the below shows. Starting in 2013 they changed how they count employees – see the note at the bottom of the page. Ignore the 2012 number because employees weren’t counted the same. Since 2013 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Meeting schedules frequently change during the holidays, but Connect Transit is taking a holiday schedule to a new level: Just skip two months. Connect has reduced service because of a driver shortage. Now they are skipping November and December meetings. https://www.connect-transit.com/documents/Meetings/2021%20-%20Calendar%20of%20Mtgs%20-%20CT%20Board%20FINAL.pdf The Board is planning a two day retreat in December however: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Let’s start with the City finally releasing the financial statements: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27129/637709284831130000 This note was written by the auditors: Proving yet again laws are immaterial, November 22, 2021 is past SIX MONTHS. The City has now used the same auditor for 6 years. Since the audits aren’t looking for fraud, using the same […]
By: Diane Benjamin THREE real live communists showed up at Public Comment last night. They must be readers since they made a point of saying they aren’t socialists they are communists. (I called them socialists in a previous story) They were at the last meeting too and they plan to keep attending. I hope they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Council meeting last night – comment at the end of the meeting from small business owner Alderman Jamie Mathy: Jamie ran down some stats for how much money stays in the local community if you buy from a local business, a chain store, or on-line. He ended with buying on line […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the announcement here: https://www.district87.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=48&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=15650&PageID=1 I purposely stayed out of the discussion because I know there are people at Tri-Valley that wanted David Mouser to get the job. He’s perfect for them since he is a master at keeping bad news a secret. Since the test scores of students are much higher […]
By: Diane Benjamin Three more Performance Fees at the BCPA are on Bills and Payroll tonight: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27250/637727480979430000 On 11/12/21 there was only 1 show: The Brubeck Brothers Quartet The 11/17/21 was Shake & Holla Only two items are on the Regular Agenda: FY2021 ended 4/30/2021. Seven months later the Financial Statements are released. I wonder […]
By: Diane Benjamin People who read the law, watched the case, and listened to Constitutional lawyers knew Kyle Rittenhouse would be acquitted. Those who listen to fake media believe the lies they were told. How can Kyle be a white nationalist/supremist when everyone involved was WHITE. This had nothing to do with race except in […]
By: Diane Benjamin I FOIA’d the City of Bloomington for communication about the John Butler/CIAM case. That FOIA I have, I also FOIA’d the County. I haven’t received that one yet. I found some interesting emails, the City was thrilled the case was over. I’m not thrilled because no one employed or representing the citizens […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below are screen shots from the Illinois Comptroller’s website. Bloomington data is from 4/30 of 2019, 2020, and 2021. Normal is from 3/31 of the same years. To see the data yourself, start here: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-data/local-government-division/local-government-data/ From Select Report Name choose Annual Financial Report. Type the government unit you want to see. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Awhile back Unit 5 sent me a list of approved resources. The list is extensive and problematic: https://sdpc.a4l.org/district_search.php?state=IL&districtID=6034 I knew Unit 5 didn’t buy every resource on the list, so I FOIA’d which ones they did buy. The good news is Panorama is on the list but it isn’t on the list […]
By Diane Benjamin District 87 School Board may have already made their choice to replace Barry Reilly, the timeline for making a final decisions shows this week. Here are two of the qualifications they were looking for: The consultant surveyed administration, teachers, students, non-parent community members, support staff, and the Board of Education and then […]
By: Diane Benjamin The new Bloomington Police Chief announced he wants 30% female officers by 2030. Does that mean white males or even black males shouldn’t bother to apply? Ditto Hispanics and any other people that aren’t the right gender? Will transgender females qualify under the 30 by 30 plan? I have zero problem with […]
By: Diane Benjamin I heard a rumor about fire hydrants not working at this apartment fire, so I FOIA’d documents. I will label that rumor untrue, one hydrant broke during the fire and could not be turned off, but that is the only reference to a broken hydrant I found. Keep in mind it was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Your property taxes were raised last night with the consent of the two Republicans on the Normal Town Council. The rate was kept the same (for now) but with rising property values the Town will collect over $300,000 more than last year. The vote last night was sold as “statutory”, another vote […]
By: Diane Benjamin There were two public comments last night – both worth listening to. The radicals stayed home. See 1:40. The presentation by the Western Avenue Community Center starts at 11:00. This organization has been doing good work for 95 years on the west side. If you know nothing about them, the presentation is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I had to FOIA the event reports for all BCPA shows, they still aren’t posted to the City website. Below are 6 shows, every one of them lost money. The performance fee is not on the reports because the BCPA thinks other acts will want more money if they see what some […]
By: Diane Benjamin DON’T buy a vehicle now if your trade-in is worth more than $10,000. Update to this 2019 story: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/19/new-illinois-vehicle-tax-is-class-warfare/ As of January 1, 2020 most vehicles traded in worth more than $10,000 didn’t get to use the entire trade value to reduces sales tax on the purchased vehicle. On January 1, 2022 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Department of Public Health updated their numbers: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaccine-breakthrough.html Since they don’t report in a way that shows reality, I created and updated this spreadsheet: These numbers don’t include deaths soon after getting the vaccine or booster shot. See the US data here: http://vaersanalysis.info/2021/10/29/vaers-summary-for-covid-19-vaccines-through-10-22-2021/ *Note that the total number of deaths associated […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1143&Inline=True After a presentation concerning the Western Avenue Community Center, Bloomington will discuss how to spend the $13.3 million they received under the American Rescue Plan. It’s not real money, the feds just printed it and pretend it isn’t causing inflation. Watch for lists of dream items some aldermen might produce. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hope the people around Lexington weren’t told their taxes would go down if a wind farm is built. They won’t, the letter below proves plans are already being made to spend the additional $1.3 million in new taxes. I wonder if the writers know that wind farm money decreases over time. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since many of you contributed to get copies of the court documents before John Butler had a chance to get them sealed – I’m posting them below. I’ve got 9 PDF files, the latest information is in PDF #1. Here is what I do know, I haven’t read every page yet: Kelly […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is Uptown a success? The successful buildings on the circle so far are government owned, Children’s Discovery Museum and Amtrak/Town offices. The third building still has an empty first floor and the taxpayers are renting the entire second floor for the Town. (Remember when the Council told Pam it was a high […]
A good sized crowd gathered outside American Legion Post 79 in Leroy to honor Veterans Day. Thank you for preserving freedom Veterans!
By: Diane Benjamin Interesting Excerpts: A Saudi family that built its business on gasoline-fueled cars is sitting on an almost $11.5 billion fortune after electric truck maker Rivian Automative Inc. surged on its trading debut in 2021’s biggest initial public offering. Abdul Latif Jameel, a Jeddah-based group named after its founder and today run by his sons, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Roser is the chair of the Unit 5 School Board. Before Public comment she read HER list of rules which is immaterial since the law provides citizens Free Speech. Hear her rules at 1:23:00. Next review this story, Urbana wouldn’t have settled the case before going to court if they thought they […]
If you are on Facebook you might have seen this video. If not, enjoy it now. Note: He isn’t reading his speech. The fake race war is not going to end until people get tired of being used by politicians. This is from a School Board meeting.
By: Diane Benjamin Climate Change nonsense is about one thing: Taking your money. Why was the country energy independent just a few months ago and now gas prices are robbing you? Why is the Obama history repeating itself with Biden? That one is easy: Going green is unaffordable when traditional fuels are cheap and plentiful. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why would any organization willing comply with tyranny? Follow the money! We used to be a country where individuals were allowed to make decisions for themselves, government is using COVID to forever change that to: Do What I Say. The City of Bloomington issued the below: When were HIPAA Laws repealed? Why […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve done numerous stories about Connect Transit buses destroying the infrastructure at the north west corner of Portillos. It is impossible for the huge buses to make that turn without running over the curb and sidewalk. That of course crushes the concrete. The corner has been fixed but the bus route was […]
