By: Diane Benjamin
1)
From a reader, I will just use his words. He was mailing a birthday card:
I was driving to the post office in Morton to make the early Saturday cutoff. A mailman was delivering so I stopped on the road and gave him the letter, asking if it will go out when he gets back to the office. He said no, then explained.
The evening pickups have stopped. He’s not sure if it’s nationwide, but is happening in central IL. Mail only gets picked up really early in the morning when they are making the deliveries to the local post office. So…if you want it to go out on any given day, it must be dropped at the post office one day earlier.
2)
Remember the North Main property the City “invested” $1.4 million in? https://blnnews.com/2025/07/16/flashback-to-2016/
Bloomington only bought part of that property. The City trucks that used to park there don’t anymore.
IWU owns the rest including a building that should be used or taken down. It has turning into a squatters paradise and graffiti wonderland:
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Quote from the reader who sent this information to me:
Unfortunately squatters have started to occupy the building. They have even broken into the roof access! I talked to a couple IWU grounds guys who were there boarding it up. I guess the squatters break in through first floor windows and they now have to come through weekly to “fix” IWU has refused to put bars on the windows. They confirmed no electricity or running water. Also mentioned they tried to collapse an underground passage linking the wings and squatters have gotten around that too!
The newest entry point is on the second floor north side of the building clearly visible just by driving on Walnut.
BPD said “it’s private property nothing we can do”
IWU knows all this, it’s a huge liability. It’s not a matter of if but when….
3)
Another reader with a student in Unit 5 sent this:
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Readers? Possibly expensive? Is this a good use of resources?
4)
AI is rapidly changing job prospects. Make sure your kids know that AI lies, they should never use AI as a research tool without verifying the results. Before sending a child to college, make sure their area of study will have jobs available.
Top 65 jobs AI won’t replace: https://www.uscareerinstitute.edu/blog/65-jobs-with-the-lowest-risk-of-automation-by-ai-and-robots
This article has both good and bad news on jobs and AI: https://www.eweek.com/artificial-intelligence/jobs-ai-will-replace/
Right now it is important to remain flexible and have skills that can transfer as opportunities arise. The biggest danger is letting AI think for you. It will be very happy to mislead you.
People do not rely on the postal service as they once did. The need for daily mail service has passed. I would like to see them cut the delivery cycle in half, as long as they cut their personnel and expenses in half.
Unfortunately most of these are unionized positions and no government official will touch them.
I still use the US Mail alot and will continue to do so. Old fashioned I guess. Something about giving every utility company etc. access to my bank account just doesn’t work for me. I send checks. Once in awhile checks don’t get to where they are supposed to go. The conspiracy theorist (information analyst) in me, suggests that all experiencing issues with the US Mail is a plot to hold up late mail in ballot counting.
If your bank sends the checks nobody has access to your account. I don’t allow any payments to be taken out of my account, only credit cards for those
If no nightly pickup by the post office then the signs need changing on the blue boxes. People count on those times. I can’t believe how badly their service has fallen and the rates keep increasing.
I think stamps are 74 cents now
They are 78 cents
On #4 – So True, don’t necessarily trust your AI source. I once asked an AI to give me the sources for the information it showed. I clicked on the links and they either didn’t go to that source or didn’t exist. It made them up. I alerted the AI. It gave me new links that didn’t exist. We went back and forth and each time it apologized profusely. I finally told it I didn’t trust it anymore. It’s final excuse was that it’s cut off date for new data was 12 months ago. BS again. I will still use AI but cautiously.
Nope, just Illinois again. Nothing like that happening where I live and the service desks stay open on Saturdays until mid afternoon if you need them. Boy, you people are so lucky. I’m so sorry I left.
I didn’t know any local schools did the “fake baby” thing, I’ve only ever seen it on TV. My first thought is that the high school students who could be trusted with something that costs 1200 dollars probably AREN’T the ones who need the lesson that babies are difficult. Doesn’t seem like it would be worth whatever the school is paying
The story about mailing a letter is absolutely true. A couple of months ago the USPS stopped picking up mail in the afternoon in Anchor, Colfax, Cropsey, Saybrook, Arrowsmith, and Cooksville (presumably other small towns). They deliver mail in the morning and pick up anything mailed the day before, where they used to deliver in the morning and pick up in the afternoon. A couple of years ago they cut these rural post offices to half-day (8-12). On Saturday the Anchor post office is only open 8-10.