By: Diane Benjamin
1)
I was notified by a reader the BNWRD owns the tent city property in Normal. That’s the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District. Illinois law prevents them from removing the campers. It doesn’t prevent them from demanding they CLEAN up their mess.
2)
I was also notified that ISU is planning for a faculty strike. They are holding meetings with non-tenure track employees asking if they will cover for the union strikers. Their answers are a secret so they don’t face retaliation. It will be fun to watch however!
3)
Connect Transit had a scheduled meeting on March 25th. It was delayed until today. They are holding an Annual meeting today to elect officers at 4:20 before holding a regular meeting at 4:30.
Maybe they didn’t want voters to know before the election they lost $1,479,192 in February while ridership is down year-to-date by 4.97%.
Flex is the only ridership that is up. Who wouldn’t want their own cheap taxi?
Meeting packet: https://connect-transit.com/file/3430/2025_04%2003_BoT%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf
This note is also in the packet:
Agencies expected the massive extra COVID payments to continue. Reality has hit.
4)
Rivian reported for the 1st Qtr producing 14,611 vehicles. Only 8,640 were delivered. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rivian-stock-rivn-drops-alongside-dismal-q1-deliveries-1034543896
If you like roll coasters, invest in Rivian. The stock price was down yesterday and down again today.
Last 6 months: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/RIVN/?p=RIVN
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Hopefully Rivian won’t be affected (much or at all) by the “tariffs” and they will keep, Keepin’ On.
Do we like tarrifs? Are these a good idea?
The massive debt will destroy us. Trump was elected to stop it. He deserves a chance. They might be difficult for a while or other countries might quit tariffs on us.
Either is a better option than burying future generations in our debt.
“Amen”!
What’s the purpose of a tariff?
Protecting Domestic Industries: Many US industries have been nearly eliminated by unfair trade practices. We can no longer rely on domestic Steel, Aluminum, Medical, Electronics industries.
Raising Government Revenue: Tariffs were a major income source for governments before income taxes became widespread.
Encouraging Local Production: By making imported goods pricier, tariffs support buying domestic alternatives.
Countering Unfair Trade Practices: If another country is dumping their products (selling below cost to kill competition) or heavily subsidizing its exporters, tariffs can be used to fight back.
National Security: Tariffs can protect industries critical to defense—like rare earth metals or tech components. Relying too much on foreign sources for these could leave us vulnerable in a crisis, so tariffs help keep production domestic.
Punish Countries that abuse their citizens: Those that use slave labor for instance.
Another “Amen”!!
I never could stand to listen to Pelosi but I listened to this speech on tariffs she made all the way through.
https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1907836058005295612?s=46
Isn’t that tent city area in a flood zone?
Due respect the markets worldwide are massively down after the tariffs
Of course! The gravy train expired. It will reset
Explaining this market drop.
https://x.com/bungarsargon/status/1907782102134706458?s=46
For #2, their answer is a hard no. It’s gonna be interesting if they strike….
I hope parents demand a refund
Tariffs are a good thing. Unfortunately, the public schools we attended have portrayed Tariffs as bad.
🙄
Good point! The tent city in a flood zone should be shut down. Can’t rent a house without a functional toilet. This state is so screwed up. It is seriously a war on the middle class, er what’s left of it anyway.
I do know that the pizza place there is in a flood zone but it was built (the very first Steak & Shake in the world) before the restriction.
Remember when Jelly Bean took the toilets out of his mansion so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes? I find it interesting that landlords have to keep their properties habitable but yet this filthy tent city is perfectly fine with no plumbing, electric, or upkeep. The rest of us are also held to those standards both inside and outside.
So as you look at the pile of trash surrounding the tent city can you picture what the living facilities would look like when you move these individuals into a house or apartment
I don’t care what circumstances caused you to live in a tent there is no excuse to dump your trash all over the place
It’s called accountability clean up your filthy mess or you are going to go to jail period!
Call me cold hearted but in my America you don’t have to live like a pig
I wish all the bleeding hearts on nextdoor and Facebook would understand that!
Agreed!! Can you imagine these individuals trashing apartments. You wonder why rents are so high.