By: Diane Benjamin From last Monday night at City Hall: The Bloomington City Council wouldn’t need to meet at 5:00 pm if they weren’t trying to control every aspect of your life. Meetings would be a lot shorter! You wouldn’t need to feed them either. Monday was pizza, I wonder where the leftovers went? Does […]
More Media fail
August 16, 2017 by 23 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner has been making the media tour to justify the use of government funds on his girlfriend’s plane ticket to Japan. It’s amazing how WJBC and WGLT can let Renner spout anything and never challenge his statements. This morning Tari was on WJBC. He claimed his girlfriend’s ticket was bought as […]
Preston investigated, but not Renner?
August 16, 2017 by 6 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Proving once again the law is a weapon in the hands of those in power who choose to use it: Jason Chambers referred the Town of Normal’s case against Scott Preston for expense reports he turned in, and Normal paid – to the Appellate Prosecutors Office. Normal failed to enforce policies of turning […]
More Lies Tari?
August 15, 2017 by 16 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Since last night Tari called comments made by citizens about the Japan trip lies, I have no problem calling his statement lies. Just hit play below to hear him. First, he claims the Chief Legal Officer said he did nothing wrong. Who is the Chief Legal Officer Tari? Jeff Jurgens or somebody […]
Ideology means no choices for you
August 15, 2017 by 14 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council spent almost an hour discussing why citizens shouldn’t be allowed to choose the lowest cost electricity under Municipal Aggregation. The final vote was 7-2 with Aldermen Sage and Mathy against limiting your rights. The rest of the Council voted with one finger pointed directly at you. Even with […]
Bloomington: Your Mayor
August 14, 2017 by 14 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin If you question Mayor Renner or publicly disagree with his actions on any subject – YOU will get attacked. I’m sure you remember when he attacked me: https://blnnews.com/2015/02/11/tari-attacks-me-again-not-in-our-town/ I talked to a reporter tonight who told me about another vile email Tari sent a couple of weeks ago, but he didn’t know […]
How many LIES will you tolerate?
August 14, 2017 by 10 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” –Thomas Jefferson “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” –William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783 Just this year the City of Bloomington created a Transportation Committee, a […]
More Travel-did Margot ride? pay it?
August 12, 2017 by 13 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin If you’ve been following the Japan Sister Cities saga, you already know about this expense: That was only a partial payment! That’s a total of $5,365.00. Tari hasn’t said a word about this one, but at the Open House last night he and Margot floated that she should get a refund because […]
MONDAY: Come support the POLICE!
August 12, 2017 by 2 Comments
The first Bloomington City Council meeting starts at 5:00 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14456 Public comment will start a little after 5:00. The Council is then holding a secret meeting (Executive Session), so come outside and show your support for the Bloomington police: Link to Facebook Event
Welcome Tyranny to Bloomington
August 11, 2017 by 10 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Normal came really close to ending their tyranny when Chris Koos was almost defeated in April. Renner didn’t get Modified Wards, but now that he’s reelected, nothing is going to stand in his way. The Council certainly won’t – gee they approved his girlfriend’s ticket to Japan! No, nobody is looking out […]
UPDATE #2: Tari feeling heat?
August 11, 2017 by 18 Comments
Tari pretended he didn’t know Parker at the Open House. David Parker: Not a good way to start your career as a politician. Do we have nothing but Democrat lies to look forward to until November of 2018? David Parker is running for the McLean County Board District 9 – no surprise: As a Democrat! […]
Japan: What we don’t know
August 10, 2017 by 11 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin We have no idea how many people went on the Japan trip. We’ve heard numbers as low as 19 to over 35. The names of those on this trip have not been produced under FOIA. We have no idea who paid and what the total cost was – other than the bills […]
Normal’s Tyranny
August 10, 2017 by 16 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal used to have their tax history on their website, they no longer do. Luckily I copied it back in 2012: https://blnnews.com/2012/05/30/normal-il-what-is-up-with-the-debt/ Rates were raised last Monday: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2689 To translate their Greek: April 1, 2017 – $1.27 per 1,000 gal, plus $2.50 per month August 7, 2017 – […]
It’s still illegal Tari
August 9, 2017 by 11 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Not only illegal, it’s breaks the City PCard policy. AND – more than one City employee (which Tari is) broke the policy. Note the date – May 12th. From documents obtained by FOIA, this purchase was on the PCard held by Beth Oakley, Executive Assistant to somebody. She violated State law and […]
Maybe THIS is Tari’s excuse:
August 9, 2017 by 13 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin The following Press Release was sent today by the City of Bloomington. It has a couple of problems though! Who gave Tari the award? Did he award himself in his hotel room? I predict a GLOWING Pantagraph article! ___________________________________________________ From: Nora Dukowitz <ndukowitz@cityblm.org>Date: Wed, Aug 9, 2017 at 11:19 AMSubject: Press Release: MAYOR RECEIVES […]
Maybe this is Tari’s defense:
August 9, 2017 by 17 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin We know who the liar is Tari.
Is this Renner’s defense?
August 9, 2017 by 2 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin The conversation below is from Mayor Tari Renner Facebook page. Krista Vogel Cardona was Renner’s campaign manager twice and the daughter of Steve Vogel. John Kraft is one of the Edgar County Watchdogs. The two names I redacted are private citizens and not the same person. If you have a Facebook account, […]
UPDATED: MUST see video
August 8, 2017 by 3 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin The media used to be the government watchdogs. They no longer are. It is now the job of citizens to hold their government accountable. If we don’t, government will destroy us with taxes, regulations, and tyranny. The video below is from the Village of Wheeling. One resident has taken it upon herself […]
Ready to be OUTRAGED?
August 8, 2017 by 16 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin By now you know about Tari Renner putting his girlfriends Sister Cities flight on a City PCard. Since the City extended the FOIA request for repayment, we don’t know if it was repaid or not. The charge violates both State law and the City’s PCard policy. Every other FOIA concerning this trip […]
More Bloomington stalling:
August 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment
By: Diane Benjamin Another extension by the City of Bloomington: Maybe the people the City hires just get paid a lot but aren’t very smart. Maybe somebody at the City is micromanaging everything that happens – even following the law! Link to the FOIA law: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=85&ChapterID=2 There are no exceptions for redacting who got their […]
Looks like Renner/Ehrlich didn’t pay
August 7, 2017 by 12 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin The following FOIA request was due today. How difficult is it to look up who paid the City? Browse the General Ledger! Remember, Tari claimed from Japan that I was lying and he was going to sue me for stating the truth – the City paid for his girlfriend’s ticket: Got […]
Failed Downtown Bloomington Assoc
August 7, 2017 by 12 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin I hope Tari’s handpicked stacked Downtown Bloomington Committee is having fun dreaming of how to spend your money. At the end of this month they will enlighten the public with ideas for getting people downtown. Just because somebody builds it, it doesn’t mean anybody will come. How many decades has taxpayer money […]
Do Laws, Codes, Regulations Matter?
August 6, 2017 by 11 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin If you violated any of the above you would be prosecuted? Would the City ignore ordinance violations? Does this regulation matter? Page 14: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=274 […]
The silence is deafening
August 6, 2017 by 19 Comments
By: Anonymous All over Bloomington-Normal, no one is talking about the worst kept secret. It seems almost everyone knows, but no one is talking. State Farm is planning to downsize, likely before year-end. This is no secret. In fact, it’s echoing throughout the halls of the insurance giant, as well as the local business community […]
Normal raising taxes on Monday!
August 4, 2017 by 4 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Of course, Normal is calling it “fee increases” or “user fee increases”. Regardless of the terminology, Normal needs money and you have it until they take more of it. Standard procedure for sailing these past the Council is: Comparing rates with surrounding cities (PDF page 167) Burying the Council docs with technical […]
UPDATE: PCard Fraud and CITY Policy
August 4, 2017 by 11 Comments
Tari Renner signed the form agreeing to comply with the PCard policy: Renner PCard forms Is he going to turn in his PCard voluntarily since he has violated the policy numerous times? Is the Council going to let him get by with it? Are rules just for everybody but Tari? __________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin Did […]
Imagine how many Lifeguards . . .
August 3, 2017 by 4 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Would you prefer an adequate number of Lifeguards on duty when you take your kids to the pool, or a historic building benefiting one lady? If the taxpayers in Normal knew all the facts concerning the “historic” property at 305 Pine St, they might consider it a waste of their money. Let’s […]
Normal Pools: The rest of the story
August 3, 2017 by 7 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin I knew there was more to the pool story than Mark Peterson reported. My source tells me Peterson might not even know since he is probably relying on Angela Malone, head of aquatics. See Peterson’s version in this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/08/01/4-things-one-story/ I received an email from someone with intimate knowledge of the situation, […]
Proof Bloomington taxpayers fleeced
August 2, 2017 by 6 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin I was just checking media reports from Topeka Kansas to see if the Council had picked a City Manager yet. Nothing so far. Something else interesting did pop up though: They paid their last City Manager $175.134. The population is 126,808 Supposedly the population of Bloomington in 2016 was 78,005 Note: one […]
Reprobate Renner
August 2, 2017 by 27 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin It’s time to review Tari Renner’s history as Mayor: Tari is the only mayor in Bloomington’s history censured for his foul language on this site. See the comments to this story: https://blnnews.com/2015/02/10/does-tari-know-that-judy-isnt-running/ Tari has an extensive history of attacking anyone who doesn’t agree with him – especially women. See this story for […]
What Few Realize + More Tari
August 1, 2017 by 9 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Police: Police Officers have a LOT of discretion in who gets a ticket, who gets their car searched, and who gets hauled off to jail. You respect their authority under the law and they will respect you. You act like a jerk and you will be treated like a jerk if you […]
4 Things – One Story
August 1, 2017 by 11 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin In the interest of sustainability and providing you with time-saving instant news – this is a FOUR IN ONE story. 1) When your news comes from mornings with WJBC, don’t believe what you hear. Scott Laughlin has a problem with facts. Hey Scott: The Democrats lost their super majority in the Springfield […]
IML on what Tari did
July 31, 2017 by 8 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ https://blnnews.com/2017/07/31/tari-responds/ The City of Bloomington pays a small fortune to be members of the IML (Illinois Municipal League) and attend their conferences. Tari and Jeff Jurgens even spoke last year about the “new media and watchdogs”. I’m sure they have seen this the below. It isn’t me accusing Tari […]
Watchdogs respond
July 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment
By: Diane Benjamin This is the original post by the Edgar County Watchdogs: Bloomingtons Mayor Renner Has City Pay For Girlfriends Japan Trip This morning they posted another story – after Tari Renner left his comment on my site. ( See Tari Responds ) Remember the Pekin Mayor who was convicted of credit card fraud? Read the […]
Tari responds
July 31, 2017 by 30 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently Tari is still reading this site contrary to his claims. Or maybe one of his minions contacted him about last night’s story: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ He couldn’t stop himself from calling me a liar and threatening to sue: He fails to explain how the charge for Margot’s ticket got on the PCard statement […]
Do we have a Prosecutor?
July 30, 2017 by 28 Comments
This story has been updated several times. See BlnNews.com for more By: Diane Benjamin The biggest obstacle to cleaning up the corruption in Illinois is finding a prosecutor. The Good ‘Ole Boys club is alive and well at all levels. See this story from the Edgar County Watchdogs: More Govt Gun Running-We Need Outside Prosecutors […]
Jewel No Longer
July 28, 2017 by 25 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin Occasionally the Bloomington elected are still pretending Bloomington is the Jewel of the Midwest. Ask them why 56.72% of the students in District 87 qualify for free or reduced lunches? https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/libraries/pdfs/il-nslp-eligibility.pdf What income qualifies? SOURCE Obviously way too many people in Bloomington aren’t able to participate in the Quality of Life they […]
Wind Energy caused White Oak Twp Tax Increase
July 28, 2017 by 4 Comments
By: Diane Benjamin White Oak Township met to raise taxes last night. They voted by referendum because the Township needs more money. The Agenda lists the increase “not to exceed” .167%: The reason given for the tax increase is: Wind farm revenue is decreasing! The State is also late paying Motor Fuel Tax. Not surprising, […]
From Outrage to Action:
July 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment
If you have had it with Illinois, if you are thinking of running for office, if you are ready to do something: IllinoisConservativesUnited.ORG (Obviously Republicans aren’t going to save the State!) . . .
