By: Diane Benjamin The final amounts spent to win a Trustee seat on the Normal Town Council won’t be available until second quarter reporters are filed. The numbers below are through 3/31/23. There were another 4 days to campaign and expenses could have continued to come in even after the election. Normal doesn’t want Wards […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course democrats won’t care if they pass an unconstitutional law, they do it all the time. The Town of Normal sure doesn’t care either since they are behind HB 3337. Rep Sharon Chung and Sen Dave Koehler have proven they just do what they are told. https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7696/Chapter-02—Officers-Elected-and-Appointed?bidId= PDF page 10 It […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sen Dave Koehler has proven twice in recent weeks that he represents government, not the people. Even though Koehler doesn’t represent much of McLean County he wants to tax them anyway. Of course he’s doing it because CIRA wants him to, the rest of the people who will be taxed are immaterial. […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Uptown attractive! Where Normal is headed now that many residents have no representation in their government: h/t another reader In a Unit 5 classroom: What is PFLAG? Interpretation: Trans students get EQUITY, females get erased. See Lia Thomas and Riley Gaines. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/equality-not-elitism/gaslit-into-silence-swimmer-riley-gaines-explains-why-she-spoke-out-against-lia-thomas-and-trans-athletes This is Unit 5’s gender affirming care: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sen Dave Koehler should be an embarrassment to the Democrat Party. He has no co-sponsors in the Senate to HB 3337 that removes the rights of citizens in Normal to elect required offices. I wonder how he justifies a bill that ONLY affects Normal? Democracy! Next he sponsored a bill to tax […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the emails below were received by FOIA. What the 47 “trainers” Dr. Shelvin sent across the district trained is still a mystery. Unit 5 didn’t keep the Zoom training. This email means another FOIA: Parents, ask your kids about this one, it is recent: The backstory on this one looks […]
By: Diane Benjamin I did this story about Unit 5 for a reason: https://blnnews.com/2023/04/13/unit-5-doesnt-have-a-policy/ That story is dated April 13th, responding to FOIA requests accurately is not a Unit 5 strong suit. I finally received the rest of my request yesterday although I still don’t know if everything was produced as required by law. This […]
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/04/25/montana-senator-joe-biden-amtrak-board-nominees/9221682460906/ Evidently each of Biden’s nominees can’t be voted on separately. Montana Senator Jon Tester claims 5 of the 6 nominees represent the northeast corridor which leaves the rest of the country without adequate representation. He is therefore going to block all of the nominees. Koos was nominated for the 3rd time in January. This […]
Why is the pool 75 degress? Why did the steam room close for mold? Why is the unisex sauna at least 10 degrees cooler than it should be? Why is the pool water sometimes green? Why are the main hall lights out in the unisex bathroom? Why are many of the locker locks already broken? […]
By: Diane Benjamin 33:10 – Mayor Mwilambwe recognized the 4 aldermen that are leaving office April 30th. Mboka gave a short speech and presented each with a plaque. (Remember when Normal totally ignored Stan Nord’s 4 years?) Public comment starts at 44:00. Two speakers thanked their outgoing aldermen. Gary Lambert is a can’t miss at […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has wanted to destroy the Market Street Garage since at least 2018. Remember when the Downtown Task Force recommended moving the library there? https://blnnews.com/2018/10/16/library-expansion-sinks-water-park-doesnt/ Tonight documents – PDF page 246: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/258aad0d-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1682127141.pdf The documentation doesn’t say why the old Pantagraph property didn’t work. It was February of 2021 when […]
Online submission to the entire Council dated March 10, 2023 Dear Mayor Koos, Since I have not heard back from you, I am resending this letter regarding the Zoning Board vote on Wednesday. Please note, our concern is not about the legality of marijuana. It is about common sense and location. We were appalled by […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sen Dave Koehler is doing Normal’s bidding in the Illinois Senate by sponsoring HB 3337. This is the Chung bill ONLY for Normal that exempts them from complying with Municipal Code for Incorporated Towns and allows them to continue operating with a City Manager instead of a Supervisor. An elected Clerk would […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t checked the Illinois Report Card for Olympia, see the High School and some District information here: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/school.aspx?source=profile&Schoolid=170640160260009 The other schools are also available by searching. The high school is below State averages in Language and Math. They also have a 42% chronic absenteeism rate. 82% of 9th graders are […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m sure you’ve heard Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over. If you want to try it, go here for a free account: chat.openai.com Interesting AI story: https://www.theblaze.com/news/google-ceo-admits-he-doesnt-know-how-his-own-ai-works I tried typing in a few different things but the program didn’t like either, so I tried something easier. Everything below AI wrote, it is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I will continue to call the arena the Coliseum until it has a real name. One note: I was told if parents left the arena after IHSA events their child participated in they had to pay again to re-enter later. If the goal is increasing traffic downtown, this policy prevents that from […]
By: Diane Benjamin I had to file a FOIA request to get this reports posted. Some dates of performance fees don’t match any performance dates. Loss: $206.84 Loss: $7,932.72 Loss: $6,854.53 Here’s where report dates don’t match event reports: There wasn’t an event on 2/23/2023. https://www.artsblooming.org/events/calendar?cury=2023&curm=2&curd=28&curview=month Three performance fees are listed as 3/23/2023, there were […]
By: Diane Benjamin Flashback to April 15, 2019. RC McBride was voted off the Town Council and Jeff Fritzen opted to retire after serving 32 years. (Obviously the Normal voters don’t believe in term limits) Not only did Fritzen get a bike from Koos’ shop at taxpayer expense, both got proclamations for their exemplary service […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch which local media sources report this story. It will prove who is #FakeNews and who isn’t. Refer back to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/07/normal-buy-local-is-immaterial/ Chris Koos wants Uptown 2.0 built without any natural gas pipelines. Normal thinks that is “sustainable”. It’s also illegal. In Koos world laws don’t matter however. He didn’t want […]
By: Diane Benjamin This meeting was the last one for Stan Nord. NO ONE on the council thanked him for his service or made any recognition of his 4 years of representing taxpayers. Koos made sure RC McBride was put on the Planning Commission when he got voted off the Council. I remember Koos telling […]
By: Diane Benjamin I keep forgetting to mention the City has a new website. It is much more functional, content remains to be seen. The last one was impossible to search quickly for the information wanted. See 2:19:56. Bloomington already has it’s second Deputy City Manager. Corporate Council Jeff Jurgens is taking the job. Tim […]
By: Diane Benjamín Normal: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4622 Bloomington: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/30c3f027-75a9-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1681411797.pdf
By: Diane Benjamin Media is reporting this is a female who has been charges with five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault: Michelle Blessent isn’t “her” birth name. Go to the Circuit Clerk’s Public Access page: https://publicaccess.mcleancountyil.gov/PubAC_SearchCriminal.aspx Type Blessent and James in and then click Search Criminal Records. This is what appears: Most of the […]
Roads resurfacing scheduled: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/Home/Components/News/News/9524/1394?backlist=%2fdepartments%2fpublic-works%2fbloomington-streets Oakland isn’t one of them. by: Diane Benjamin Oakland and Macarthur are major roads, they both become one way streets in West Bloomington. Oakland is a disgusting mess of holes and patches long before it becomes one way. I drove the whole thing today and heading back East on Macarthur. It […]
Ours was addressed to McLean County Resident at . . . . . It is supposed to be a National Survey on Drug Use and Health. You have to be screened before being allowed to participate. If you identify as the same sex that is on your birth certificate and/or you are white – they […]
By: Diane Benjamin More to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/04/13/guess-what-caused-the-olympia-school-fire/ The March 15th School Board meeting had this on the agenda: https://www.tri-valley3.org/documents/board-meeting-agenda—minutes/2022-2023-agenda-%26-notices/402369 Since TV doesn’t Live Stream or video School Board meetings, unless you were there you have no idea what was discussed. The minutes don’t provide details of discussions, so you won’t know much more when […]
By: Diane Benjamin H/T anonymous source! You can’t tell the cause in this picture, just how bad it was – 3 Alarm. After viewing the pic below, search Solar Panel Roof Fires. This is far from the first. Celebrate Green! (your tax dollars up in smoke) Luckily no one was injured.
By: Diane Benjamin All of the emails below were received by FOIA. The redactions were rightfully done by Unit 5, I have no interest in the names of students. This is not the only email talking about “dead name”. This is yet another made-up term your kids are expected to normalize. If a student has […]
Actually they are everywhere.
By: Diane Benjamin Tax-Rates.org summarizes property taxes by state. Indiana property tax rates as a percentage of home value is less than half what Illinois is. Of course everyone knows schools drive Illinois property taxes. Indiana School Districts: The largest public school district in Indiana, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is an agile, innovative educational organization […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only reason to have TIME LIMITS for Council discussion is to limit discussion. It started under Tari Renner, Mboka is continuing it. Common Sense should tell your elected officials discussions should take as long as somebody has something to say. Instead they stop and have a vote to extend the time. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last nights meeting was over two hours long, it will take more than one story to cover. You will find out next week why the Water Park won’t open this year when 4 presentations will be heard at the Committee of the Whole. Grant Walsh revealed the Water Park during budget discussions: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Kelby Cumpston does a good job recapping Bloomington’s agenda on Facebook before meetings. I like reading his views since they can be insightful. I have no idea why Greg Koos made the comment below because the Bloomington Election Commission isn’t on the Agenda. Does Greg know BEC couldn’t tell candidates how many […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/25885a08-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1680815202.pdf PDF page 56: Police buying 3 drones. See this link recapping an early morning crime spree on 4/2/23: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/Home/Components/News/News/9507/1394 At least drones are cheaper than a helicopter! PDF page 66: The Lake Bloomington Maintenance Facility burned down in March of 2019. Now 4 years later bids are being rejected […]
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
By: Diane Benjamin March 28, 2023 meeting: https://www.connect-transit.com/file/1222/03%2028%202023_BoT%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf Connect had an operating deficit in March of $1,231,478. Every Fixed Route passenger was subsidized $5.13, celebrate though! February was $6.23. Every ride on Mobility was subsidized $34.75. Celebrate again because in February it was $34.90. Read the Congressional Update starting on page 13. It details the […]
