I wonder if Bloomington will mention this tonight?
h/t a reader Of course if the Council is still at the BCPA in October the public won’t be able to see the speaker(s) or presentation. Rejoice! Did the Water Park ever get finished?
Author: Diane Benjamin - editor
Bloomington needs this:
By: Diane Benjamin Below is what Bloomington’s downtown needs: This is a man-made canal through the heart of downtown Indianapolis. It is complete with gondolas and singing gondoliers. Paddle boats are available for rent. There is very little retail on the wide walking paths but there is a lot of expensive condos. I think water […]
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Why is local unemployment up?
By: Diane Benjamin The below is from the downloaded document on this website: https://ides.illinois.gov/newsroom/2023/sept/jobs-up-in-most-metro-areas-in-august.html Bloomington means Bloomington-Normal. Almost every metro is showing higher unemployment now than 1 year ago. If you download the document you will see the number of jobs is higher. More jobs but more unemployment. Makes perfect sense.
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Weekend Exuberance
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October 4th FEMA/FCC test
By: Diane Benjamin FYI: I’m not impressed with how many people clicked this link yesterday and watched the video. Life demands more than memes folks. It’s the weekend, take 5 minutes! https://www.thefp.com/p/video-the-free-press-meets-democratic-socialists?r=2d31np#play When we are constantly lied to by government it is difficult to believe anything. Many so called conspiracy theories turned out to be […]
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Democratic Socialist of America met in Chicago
By: Diane Benjamin This previous story proves why Illinois is the perfect place for a DSA convention: https://blnnews.com/2023/09/21/socialism-enshrined-in-the-illinois-constitution/ I stumbled on The Free Press some time ago. I’m sure you know old media isn’t going to cover important news or they are going to make up their own facts when they do. Alternative media is […]
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Socialism enshrined in the Illinois Constitution
By: Diane Benjamin This was the Preamble to the Illinois Constitution before it was changed in 1970: https://archive.org/details/constitutionof00illi/page/n7/mode/2up . Below is the current Preamble: https://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/conp.htm . As Bloomington goes full on socialist know that Illinois enshrined socialism in the State Constitution way back in 1970. (Bloomington is considering tiered water rates, requiring private investment to […]
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A couple of things to know:
By: Diane Benjamin The National League of Cities created a searchable database showing where the Infrastructure Bill money is being spent. Look at Illinois – lots of money went to Public Transportation and electric buses. I wonder how many were bought from the bankrupt Proterra? Keep in mind all this money was printed and increased […]
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Rivian’s new Assessed Value for Property Taxes
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind voters were scared into giving Unit 5 the right to increase tax rates. The below is using the rate Unit 5 charged property owners in 2022. They now have the right to charge you much more regardless of how much the assessed value of your property increased. The below […]
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Truths we used to know, hook up the Uhaul
By: Diane Benjamin In case you missed this story in the media: https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_bc96b2e2-5338-11ee-a876-73caeb277433.html Clever Real Estate teamed up with moving company Allied Van Lines and found that Illinois has had more outbound moves than any other state in the past six months. Why would people continue to flee Illinois? The Bloomington City Council is encouraging out-migration. 5 of […]
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County Administrator Cassy Taylor salary
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently your McLean County representatives don’t want you to know how much Cassy Taylor is paid. A salary increase was approved last Thursday with no mention of how much it was. The agenda said: A. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE – Elizabeth Johnston The only transparency here is the County answered my FOIA request within […]
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Celebrate Constitution Day!
By: Diane Benjamin Since the actual Constitution was signed 236 years ago yesterday and it fell on a weekend, the National Constitution Center is celebrating today. See their website: https://constitutioncenter.org/education/constitution-day-resources Most of the problems we face today are because the Constitution is immaterial. Restoring the principles that made America the shining city on the hill […]
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New Alderman Jenna Kearns is Jenn Carrillo 2.0
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks to no one else running in Ward 1 last April a socialists walked on to the Bloomington City Council without a fight. Nice folks. You should know Jenna Kearns does not say the Pledge of Allegiance which means her oath of office to the Constitution of both the US and State […]
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The final Hershey Weed Patch story
By: Diane Benjamin Previous: https://blnnews.com/2023/09/02/the-hershey-road-weeds-again/ https://blnnews.com/2023/08/23/update-to-the-hershey-road-island/ The weed island at the crosswalk to nowhere got mowed: That isn’t grass and it wasn’t mowed well, likely because a small mower wasn’t used: I found out the City of Bloomington also did the island at the corner of Towanda Barnes and Ireland Grove. In order to “maintain” […]
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Announcement:
It is impossible for me to cover all local units of government myself, therefore I am going to quit covering Normal. If anyone actually cares about schools, I need help there too. Your part-time mayor driving a vehicle taxpayers paid almost $74,000 for and putting regular plates on it instead of government plates didn’t make […]
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Weekend Oh you Know the Thing
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Unwad your panties Democrats
By: Diane Benjamin It was the Democrats who wanted to change the agreement made when a 10-10 Board was elected and a Republican was picked as chair. Last night changed nothing. In October the last empty seat will be filled restoring the 10-10 board. A Republican will still be in charge, what the Republicans did […]
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After County Administrator gets an unknown raise – she wants your money!
By: Diane Benjamin This is the only mention in the agenda attachments of the raise the County Board awarded to Cassy Taylor last night: Board member Chuck Erickson tried to stop it because salaries of Administrators are out of control. He couldn’t muster enough Republican votes to stop it. So, how much is it? I […]
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Republicans outflanked Democrats for County Board chair
By: Diane Benjamin One Democrat was denied the right to attend the meeting tonight remotely which meant 9 Republicans were present and voting to 8 Democrats present and voting. The rules were changed by the Republican majority to elect a chair based on the majority present instead of a majority of the total. On a […]
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Boomers who fought for legalization have no idea how dangerous it is
You Can Be Addicted to Weed. I Was When I Was 12. I’m not printing excerpts of this one – you need to read it yourself: https://www.thefp.com/p/legal-weed-destroying-my-generation?publication_id=260347&post_id=137019148&action=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=2d31np h/t a reader Next: https://redbirdlife.illinoisstate.edu/organization/cannabisclubredbirds Cannabis is illegal at ISU however: https://wellness.illinoisstate.edu/living/cannabis/
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Affordable housing myths
By: Diane Benjamin Read this WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-09-12/group-looks-to-rally-support-for-a-community-land-trust-in-bloomington-normal-aimed-at-housing-affordability Local housing is a problem that the free market will self-correct. Interference in the process is why housing is unaffordable. One thing is certain: Additional housing can’t be created next month. It takes time and creating a Community Land Trust isn’t going to fix anything quickly. They […]
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Update: Editorial: Don’t Vote County Board
I’m told the established rules require 10 votes for a chair regardless of who is present. By: Diane Benjamin The County Board now has two vacancies. Since every District has two elected officials everyone still has representation. The only District that doesn’t have the same representation is 5, it used to have a Democrats and […]
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Chicken Time again in Bloomington
By: Diane Benjamin The Special Use Permit for chicken keeping on Durham Dr was back on the Consent Agenda: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/a66201e455c5f8574bd36e9daacfb3d60.pdf Only one item was pulled from the Consent Agenda and this wasn’t it. When the vote was taken to approve the rest of the Consent Agenda, including the chickens, Donna Boelen and Sheila Montney voted […]
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Why wasn’t this on the agenda Bloomington?
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington will take 2 stories to cover, this is Part 1. Check the Agenda, the below isn’t there: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/259d37a5-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1694194607.pdf In lieu of declaring Bloomington a Sanctuary City a few years ago the Council opted to join “Welcoming America”. Bloomington has a website dedicated to Welcoming Week activities coming up : https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28356/637982477484661849 Last […]
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Hey Connect Transit: One of your buses is leaking
H/T a reader West side Walmart, red is normal?
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Tonight Gleason gets a raise
By: Diane Benjamin Unlike Normal that tried to hide Pam Reece’s raise on the Omnibus Agenda, Bloomington has Tim Gleason’s as the only item on the Regular Agenda: See the entire agenda here – should be a short meeting: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/259d37a5-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1694194607.pdf Still no report on the $750,000 downtown study last August that was projected to take […]
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Letter to the Editor that wasn’t acknowledged or printed
See if you can figure out why: The author is Carl Hinshaw.
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Schools aren’t parents
By: Diane Benjamin We know the District 87 teacher’s union told teachers they aren’t allowed to discuss gender identity with parents unless the child gives written approval. I bet other public schools are the same. Schools: Kids do not belong to you. You aren’t the village raising them. You aren’t allowed to parent kids. Your […]
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Weekend Education in Comics
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Bloomington hires a booker for Arena and BCPA
By: Diane Benjamin Nick Leroy had a short-lived venue called The Stable in downtown Bloomington. Hopefully he knows shows that make money instead of subsidized entertaining for the elites. When is the City going to admit the Coliseum isn’t The Grossinger Motors Arena anymore? Too hard to take the sign down? In case you missed […]
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ACLU calls Bloomington Police racist without using the word
By: Diane Benjamin See this WEEK story: https://www.25newsnow.com/2023/09/07/idot-report-black-latinx-drivers-stopped-by-bloomington-police-disproportionately-higher-rate/ Quote: “McLean County has unfortunately had a history of disproportionally stopping people of color, so this is ongoing. What’s alarming is that the 2022 traffic data showed an uptick,” explains Karla Bailey-Smith, the Central Illinois Chapter of ACLU Illinois which covers McLean, DeWitt and Livingston Counties. I’m […]
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Update to Normal’s Dump story
By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/09/06/normal-operating-the-way-citizens-want-it/ Normal garbage fees: Bloomington garbage fees: Bloomington makes garbage and recycling pickup as complicated as possible, they also include discounts for low income: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/public-works/resident-community/solid-waste/garbage-recycling Bloomington offers bulk pickup twice a year and for a fee the rest of the year. The 95 gallon can in Bloomington is […]
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County going Blue
By: Diane Benjamin The County Board now has two vacant seats with the resignation of John McIntyre – District 5. The seat vacated by Jeannie Biles – District 8 – hasn’t been filled yet after her resignation in August. Democrat Elizabeth Johnston, currently vice-chair, will be acting chairman until a new election by the Board. […]
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Normal: Operating the way citizens want it
By: Diane Benjamin Ever wonder why people keep voting for leftists in cities being destroyed by progressives? See Chicago. Normal is well on their way to defeating all opposition – just like Chicago. The meeting video which includes a short Liquor Commission meeting was 34 minutes long. There was a Public Comment at the beginning […]
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Update: Watch NONE of the Trustees gag tonight!
By: Diane Benjamin Population of Bloomington as of 7/1/2022: 78,864 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/bloomingtoncityillinois/PST045222 Population of Normal as of 7/1/2022: 52,838 (Many ISU kids who don’t stay all year) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/normaltownillinois,US/PST045222 Bloomington reported 645 Full Time employees to the Comptroller last year (They want many more) https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/constituent-services/local-government/local-government-warehouse/processsearchresults/?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Population,%20EAV,%20and%20Employees&Code=064/025/30&CFY=2022&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No Normal reported 369 Full Time employees https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/constituent-services/local-government/local-government-warehouse/processsearchresults/?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Population,%20EAV,%20and%20Employees&Code=064/095/31&CFY=2022&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No Bloomington population is 39.5% bigger […]
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Your tax money abused!
By: Diane Benjamin Connect transit is tired of people noticing the empty or close to empty buses roaming Bloomington-Normal so they fixed the problem. Check out of the new electric buses. h/t a reader They’ve gone from darkened windows to covering them completely. We still know the bus is mostly empty. CT didn’t have a […]
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The Hershey Road weeds – again
By: Diane Benjamin Let’s call the weeds prairie grass. Of course this is in the middle of Hershey road. I hope the seeds weren’t expensive. I could have given them seeds for free from the garden. Yes, they are now even taller than the last pics.
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Weekend comedy – a Few Just For Golfers
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Incompetent Controlled Burn?
By: Diane Benjamin I drove back out to where the huge fire was yesterday. The pics below are from the south side of the property. The turbines are across Route 9, there are none south of Route 9 in the this area. If this was a controlled burn the intent wasn’t to burn off the […]
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See the smoke East of Bloomington yesterday?
By: Diane Benjamin The fire was on CRP land – Conservation Reserve Program. The Federal government pays farmers not to plant crops, supposedly on environmentally sensitive land. The land the fire was on looks just like every other field except for no crops other than what I call weeds. This land has been CRP for […]
