By: Diane Benjamin The email below proves the Town staff knows the Council will pass whatever is brought to them. All but one Trustee doesn’t make independent votes on what is best for the citizens, they vote for “progress” as defined by staff. Just last Monday Doug Farr presented the Uptown South project as he […]
By: Diane Benjamin I had another meeting to attend last night so I didn’t watch either Normal or Bloomington live. Normal’s was only around 1/2 hour so I did watch it. I heard 2 media outlets showed up with video cameras, maybe they were expecting fireworks that didn’t happen. Mayor Koos wasn’t there, maybe not […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did anyone notice calamity because the Federal Government has now been shut down for the third day in a row? It shuts down every weekend, today is just a bonus day off for MLK day. Remember this shutdown when media starts screaming about DEFAULT if the debt ceiling isn’t increased. Tax dollars […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t readers Sonja was at the candidates forum yesterday. She made clear who her favorite Normal candidates are on her Facebook page, keep in mind she is the Normal City Manager’s mother-in-law and lives in a $4000+ a month subsidized apartment at 1 Uptown Circle. If you had any doubt who Koos […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Steve Suess is no longer at Cities 92.9. He’s exploring other opportunities. BIG LOSS to Sunday afternoons, guest host spots, and election coverage. 😲 2) State Farm is selling employees: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230112005620/en/HCLTech-to-Modernize-IT-Operations-for-State-Farm%C2%AE Sources tell me these are 1st and 2nd level support and claims help desk staff. Most are already working remotely. […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Unit 5 is counting on low voter turnout to pass yet another attempt to raise your taxes – that’s after they already raised property taxes. These current School Board members want re-elected: Kelly Pyle Amy Roser Both were appointed in 2018, they are part of the problem. Unions will be running […]
. Answer: I’m ready to delete comments from those who don’t care about truth.
By: Diane Benjamin Obviously Charlie Schlenker and WGLT can’t hold hold impartial campaign forums: https://blnnews.com/2023/01/06/wglt-does-political-comedy-again/ Another opportunity to get to know the candidates is below. Bloomington is electing Ward 1 for 2 years to replace Jamie Mathy. Wards 2 and 8 have no choices. Bloomington: Ward 1: Jenna L Kearns Ward 2: Donna Boelen Ward […]
By: Diane Benjamin Judge Kording ruled in September that Normal is an Incorporated Town even though they don’t act like it. In his ruling he stated he knows his decision could: . The “parade of horribles” has only just begun. The Normal elites ignored the ruling while celebrating the defeat of the citizen led referendum […]
By: Diane Benjamin Notice anything wrong with the picture accompanying the story they posted to Facebook an hour ago? I can think of at least 7 things wrong the pic, how many do you count? I bet WJBC has press credentials! I wonder why?
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2022-12-09/normal-mayor-wants-town-to-draft-rules-to-allow-auxiliary-housing Title of the story: Normal mayor wants town to draft rules to allow auxiliary housing At least half of the story is Koos condemning Stan Nord. Here’s what Koos ignored in the interview: The clerk would not have posted the petitions for Supervisor, Collector and Clerk on the website if Stan […]
By: Diane Benjamin The petitions submitted for Supervisor, Clerk, and Collector have been challenged by TWO people. The challenges are identical. Were they afraid the Normal Electoral Board couldn’t read the first one so they filed two? Guess who is back challenging again? The guy who got Normal into this mess: Patrick Dullard He is […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/11/28/three-file-for-offices-in-normal-that-dont-exist-yet/ Media has decided these 3 filed for office in Normal because the referendum to elect Trustees by district was not allowed on the ballot. They missed one fact: TWO of these three didn’t sign the petition. One told me watching a Normal Town Council meeting made the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/10/24/judges-up-for-retention/ Of course all the judges were retained. People claim to want term limits but when given the chance to actually term limit an elected official they don’t. This story however is about press credentials. It took over a month (the day after the election to be exact) […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Washington Post, or as Mark Levin calls them – the Washington Compost, printed a story about Cities 92.9: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/26/right-wing-radio-station/ Everything you need to know about the Washington Post can be summed up by looking at the top stories on their website this morning: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ The Washington Post if obviously a mouthpiece […]
By: Diane Benjamin 3 judges are on the ballot for retention. Probably all 3 will be retained because voters really don’t believe in term limits even though they say they do: Mark Fellheimer is the Chief judge. Close to a month ago I asked the Circuit Clerk Don Everhart to approve press credentials for me, […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader I updated this story from yesterday, a CO2 pipeline in Mississippi did break, a small town had to be evacuated. Capturing CO2 with no place to store it is STUPID. https://blnnews.com/2022/10/13/ever-heard-of-co2-pipelines/ Below is what happens when Climate Change clowns close coal fired power plants with no way to replace […]
By: Diane Benjamin With Democrats in complete control of Illinois, they need to answer for what they did. Screeching about a women’s right to choose is only because they have nothing else to run on. Read below and then ask Sharon Chung where she stands! Your minor child can get an abortion without you knowing: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Note: Petitions are still being collected. See the website to help: https://betternormal-il.com/why-district-normal%3F-1 Before you read the extensive story WGLT wrote about the petitions being circulated to ask Normal voters if they want to switch to Wards, some points WGLT didn’t make: Most of the current Trustees think they are a Board of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Correction: this was his hearing the last time he was appointed. No hearings are scheduled yet for his current appointment. If he isn’t confirmed by the end of this Congress this year the process starts over. If you were wondering about Chris Koos’ appointment to the Amtrak Board, hearings are scheduled for […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2022-06-01/in-the-wake-of-uvalde-b-n-teachers-want-change-not-guns Corey Beirne needs to report the WGLT article as a campaign contribution. He is running for the McLean County Board and WGLT just happened to pick him for an interview him from all the teachers in the Unit 5 School District. Beirne proves he isn’t qualified to hold an elected office […]
By: Diane Benjamin Recap: Grant Walch was appointed Ward 1 Alderman – Jeff Crabill and Julie Emig voted against him. Evidently they didn’t like replacing a self-identified progressive alderman with a more conservative one. Road funding isn’t close to what it needs to be. The $7 million was increased to $9 million, factor in inflation […]
By: Diane Benjamin There is a “lady” running for judge in Kane County who claims to be Richard Irvin’s baby-momma. She has two kids with him – and she HATES Republicans: https://kanecountyreporter.com/stories/624076695-khouri-irvin-s-self-described-baby-momma-kane-county-judicial-candidate-brittany-pedersen-says-she-hates-all-republicans#.Ym7kJgDOdbg.facebook Excerpts: Former Republican State Representative candidate Tonia Khouri says Aurora Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin’s former law partner described herself as his […]
By: Diane Benjamin Don’t feel sorry for the Pantagraph if Connect Transit decides to use Bloomington’s parking garage on West Market for their new downtown transfer station. They sold it in 2016. Feel sorry for Oak LLC, they own it: From the Recorder’s website: Bloomington is tired of repairing the Market Street garage and they […]
April 12th is the 10th anniversary of BlnNews. Seriously, 10 years of writing! I only started writing because local media was already failing 10 years ago. If local politics can’t be fixed, nothing can be fixed. That’s why MOST of what I write is about local issues. I don’t expect people to agree with me, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every number in this story comes from the same place – the Illinois Department of Public Health website (IDPH) The chart below shows COIVD deaths per day as reported to IDPH. These are daily deaths from 2/17/2022 through 3/16/2022. If you go to the link, hovering over each bar will show you […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is Equity better at Unit 5 schools since Dr. Shelvin was hired for the 2021-2022 School year? Question: What happened to the kids who participated in the restroom destruction challenge they saw on TikTok? Did they get Equity? Did the taxpayers get Equity? Did the kids that didn’t participate see Equity and […]
By: Diane Benjamin More than one citizen is questioning the integrity and ethics in the Town of Normal. Below is a letter from a citizen with the name illegally redacted. Writing an email to the Council is no different than Public Comment at a meeting. Normal redacted the name in violation of the FOIA law. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Community Meeting on the Future Uptown Connector / Underpass Project PLEASE TAKE NOTICE a public meeting on the future Uptown Connector/Underpass Project will be held at Normal City Hall, Room 409, 11 Uptown Circle, Normal, McLean County, Illinois at 5 p.m., prevailing time, on the 16th day of February, 2022. The meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Do I really need to re-tell the whole SAGA of Chris Koos and Pam Reece misleading the Council about the tax status of National Fitness Campaign? I’m not going to, WGLT finally did a story that will refresh your memory: (did they write it because of my story yesterday or because they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the year around (cough cough) fitness court the Normal Council voted to proceed with? https://blnnews.com/2022/01/06/conflict-of-interest-by-mccarthy-sure-looks-like-it/ Scott Preston appears to have only voted YES because he was told the National Fitness Challenge is a nonprofit. Just hit play below to hear Pam Reece state it “appears” they are a nonprofit, then Scott […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2021/12/16/yesterday-was-bill-of-rights-day-except-in-district-87-part-1/ Barry Reilly tried to get Fitzgerald Sameday to withdraw from the School Board election, some of the email exchanges are already public like the one below. Reilly went so far as to send Fitzgerald the forms he needed to get his name removed from the ballot: Last April […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was planning on posting this yesterday, it fit in well with Bill of Rights Day! I wasn’t able to when the Internet went out. This story started out really long! Instead of one long story it will be in 2 parts. The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution were ratified on […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal is well known for making their own rules. Some developers are charged sewer tap-on fees, some aren’t. If you are Stan Nord and they “forgot” to charge the owner at the time the sewer connection was made, you get charged. Being 4 owners ago when they “forgot” is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda for tonight: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4163 From the current Budget: https://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/18611/Town-of-Normal-Budget-2021-26 The Town of Normal collects taxes from you supposedly to amass money that allows them replace vehicles with cash. They are sitting on more than $12 million dollars. Remember the fire truck they took out a loan to buy instead of paying cash? […]
I’ve been with WordPress since 2012. WordPress prides itself on customer service and has always responded quickly every time I contacted them. They call their support staff Happiness Engineers. They have ALWAYS sent a 1 click survey to see if their customers were happy with the Happiness Engineers assistance. Note: When this site was restored […]
By: Diane Benjamin District 87 doesn’t live stream school board meetings. They don’t post video on their website either. They should do both is they care about transparency. Barry Reilly already resigned (retiring), Board Members should follow if they are intimated by Shane McCurdy. Reilly has no grounds to ban McCurdy from school board meetings […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow the money. The link to the information below is available from the McLean County Health Department website. Clicking on the COVID-19 Vaccine tab takes you to the IDPH website – Illinois Department of Public Health. I have been tracking breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths in Illinois which proves the vaccinated can still […]
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 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 […]
