By: Diane Benjamin I received a tip a few days ago about layoffs at State Farm. Employees were blindsighted in another department, not claims. It doesn’t matter how long they have been with the company, State Farm is picking who stays and who goes by skillsets. Retaining jobs in McLean County hasn’t been mentioned much […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Unit 5 School Board did nothing to control costs, they just want you to pay more. They are putting the exact same referendum back on the April ballot. That is the same referendum that was defeated in November. The only way it passes in April is if supporters vote and you […]
By: Diane Benjamin Citizens of Normal should find out today if the Town of Normal is required to elect offices stated in the law for Incorporated Towns or if they get a pass. 3 people filed petitions for the offices of Supervisor, Clerk, and Collector. All three are listed as SHALL be elected in Illinois […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/11/05/how-a-county-election-in-rural-illinois-became-a-referendum-on-wind-energy/ Excerpt: Some question whether Hartke is being paid by or is otherwise involved with national groups with ties to the fossil fuel industry. At a hearing in McLean County, resident Andy Byars raised that question, calling Hartke a “carpet-bagging wind opponent” using “fear-mongering tactics” to spark local opposition to wind energy. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The State of Illinois has taken local control of Wind Farms away from counties. This is a summary of the bill from Rep. Dan Caulkins: Wind Farm developers want to pack as many turbines as they can on the available land. 150 feet from a home is detrimental to Quality of Life […]
I hear lots of highly paid people lost their jobs yesterday at State Farm. Worse, a foreign company is going to run the networks that links 17,000 agents across the United States. What can go wrong?
https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/638722548-il-dems-change-law-to-allow-vote-by-mail-ballots-to-be-counted-in-a-way-judge-had-said-would-be-obvious-way-to-commit-fraud#.Y77Ogln5dV8.mailto Excerpts: Illinois lawmakers have changed the state’s election laws to explicitly allow county clerks and other election authorities to verify mail-in ballots using a process a judge had ruled was illegal, as it “would be an obvious way to commit ballot fraud.” Previously, under the law, Illinois lawmakers had required vote counters to ensure […]
By: Diane Benjamin I despise Vote By Mail because it leads to fraud. It has been used locally to get out the vote from the uniformed. The evidence lies in people who NEVER vote in local elections suddenly voted by mail. Those ballots put certain people back in office that would have lost without those […]
If you didn’t read the decision, both objections were dismissed because the objectors didn’t include their addresses on the documents filed. The actual merits of their cases were never heard since not including their addresses violated state law. By: Diane Benjamin No one was kicked off the ballot. Details are in the File below. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin I didn’t remember this so I bet you don’t either. A question was on the 2014 PRIMARY ballot to add a 1% Sales tax to be used only for McLean County school facilities. I did this story about the tax: https://blnnews.com/2014/03/13/just-how-desperate-is-unit-5/ Voters were promised property taxes would go down if the tax […]
This event had been scheduled for last Thursday: Casper Brewing Company: Located in SE Bloomington IL. next to the Pony Fields, across from the soccer fields. 3807 Ballybunion Learn more about Veterans Maintenance Solutions here: https://servingvets.net/ These are the good guys folks! . .
By: Diane Benjamin McLean County handed out presents to their employees, picture here: https://blnnews.com/2022/12/22/county-present-to-employees/ Government only exists because of money it takes from taxpayers. Government doesn’t create or manufacture goods and services. It taxes and spends the money collected. That is why the Illinois Constitution states: , What public purpose did Christmas gifts to employees […]
By: Diane Benjamin Kathy Michael was notified over the weekend of water damage to her office. The office is open today, the front part and vital records did not sustain damage. Most of the damage is confined to election rooms toward the rear. Crews are in the offices now assessing the damage. Desktop computers are […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not only did Jason Barickman win his election last November and then quit, so did Keith Sommers. Sommers isn’t sticking around long enough to finish his term. GOP Chairs from McLean and Tazwell County are picking his replacement. They met on December 22nd to review applications. GOP chairs from all of these […]
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible”. ~Thomas Aquinas . .
h/t a reader Evidently they couldn’t find a place that makes coffee cups in America. Buying from a company that manufactures in this country is too hard? In case you can’t quite make that out, the coffee cups were made in China Mote to tipsters: Send better pics! Next year if the County must buy […]
See update below By: Diane Benjamin At the end of September Dan Brady was sitting on $438,947.66. https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/7645/ Jason Barickman was sitting on $835,282.52. https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/23150/ We won’t know the actual balances now until both file 4th Quarter reports. Both will no longer hold elected office in January. Many states require closing campaign accounts 60 days […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Uptown TIF report was not published with the other 4 TIF reports on the Comptroller’s website because it had errors and was returned to Normal for corrections. That information comes directly from an employee at the Comptroller’s office, she didn’t tell me what errors. You can see the report here: https://files.illinoiscomptroller.gov/LocGovTIF/FY2022/06409531/22TIF06409531Downtown_volpment_1.pdf […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in 2018 Tri-Valley got voters to approve a referendum: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/29/tri-valley-referendum/ The property tax rate would have gone down because bonds were paid off. Work was essential at the High School, some classrooms had been created with temporary walls. Instead of asking for money just to fix essentials, Tri-Valley asked for the […]
The American Legion Honor/Color Guard will have a tribute to Pearl Harbor Day on December 7th Wednesday at 10:30 at the Old Court House Downtown Bloomington,(the Historical Society) Also remember December 17th (Saturday) at 12:00 Noon we will be at Evergreen Cemetery Mausoleum to distribute wreaths for Wreaths Across America. We will have a speaker, […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) ISU has announced the speaker for their annual MLK Cultural Dinner: Yusef Salaam. He was one of the five convicted of a rape and murder in New York City decades ago. After many years in prison all 5 were exonerated thanks to DNA technology that wasn’t available in 1989. Read more […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch the fresh meat tossed in the water – it’s YOU. City of Bloomington, District 87, and Unit 5 are all holding property tax hearings because they want more of your money! What do all 3 of these have in common? Easy. The people who represent the citizens for all 3 are […]
By: Diane Benjamin Wind farm developers have been targeting Logan County recently. The meeting below happened on 11/22. The video was taped from the Young Conservatives of Logan County Facebook page which has the entire video of the over 3 hour meeting. The part below happened very close to the end of the meeting. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www3.forbes.com/leadership/the-u-s-states-people-are-fleeing-and-the-ones-they-are-moving-to-version-5-ifs-vue-mn-wnb/ Forbes has a new list of the top 12 States people are moving from, I will save you the trouble of reading it: 1. Illinois Total Moves: 8,157Percentage Moving Out: 63.4%Population: 12,802,000Median Household Income: $62,881Job Growth (2018): 0.9% Projected population growth is negative. Illinois is ahead of New Jersey and New […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you are one of the MANY people who contacted me about 4-H and the funding of the Extension office you need to watch at least Public Comment from the 11/10/22 County Board Board meeting. I think 7 people commented, 6 of them are intimately involved with Extension and all wanted the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I heard one of the biggest opponents to the McLean County GOP Accountability committee was George Wendt. He needs to reconsider, the latest RINO Republican to turn on the party is Kathleen Lorenz. 4 years ago she campaigned door-to-door calling herself a Republican. Does George Wendt know Lorenz campaigned for his Democrat […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only slightly over 60% of registered voters in McLean County bothered to vote. (35,980 out of 59,448) Evidently 40 year high inflation and Pritzker tax increases weren’t enough pain for the other 40% I can’t tell you how many registered voters in Bloomington bothered to show up. Not only did it take […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pritzker won McLean County because of Bloomington: Pritzker: 15,620 Bailey: 11,863 County: Pritzker: 15,752 Bailey: 19,035 Totals: Pritzker: 31,372 Bailey: 30,898 The GOP needs to take lessons on how to govern from Ron DeSantis. Personally I’m tired of Trump antics, DeSantis needs to be the 2024 nominee. Most GOP leadership in Illinois […]
By: Diane Benjamin The chart below was posted on the Cities 92.9 Facebook page. Couple of notes:
Sample ballots for McLean County: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/1600/Ballots Sample ballots for Bloomington: https://bloomingtonelectionsil.gov/november-8-2022-general-election/specimen-ballot/
By: Diane Benjamin County Board: The Safe-T Act is going to be a disaster January 1st for your family, criminals get all the benefits. If you don’t want Democrats to take over the County Board and defund the Sheriff’s office, vote Republican. You MUST vote for TWO candidates or you are helping a democrat get […]
By: Diane Benjamin Check your kids classroom library. From the Unit 5 Education Association website: https://ufea.org/from-the-president-october-28/ Books available start at ages 0-5 and go through high school. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXbGxgNoFVpBj35JFUQr33PvLKHUo6VBs_nWX4f-iACJcTpQ/viewform Kids are very impressionable. Is that the goal of Prairie Pride Coalition? Are some Unit 5 teachers replacing the values of parents with their own? Bloomington probably […]
By: Diane Benjamin On November 1st Dave Koehler spoke to the West Side Neighbors group. He spilled the beans on why Amendment 1 is on the ballot. It is to make sure Illinois can never be a Right To Work state. Public Sector unions in Illinois fund democrats, this amendment assures the union money never […]
By: Diane Benjamin Think of anything you have ever received free. Advertising magnets? Pencils? Ink pens? How much value did they have? Probably not much. JB wants to give away college education Who is going to pay these salaries? That would be every taxpayer in Illinois who already paid for their college education or never […]
From Truth in Accounting – each of you owes $49,500 because the wrong Constitutional Amendment is on the ballot. Fixing unfunded pension liability isn’t as important as giving unions more taxing power. Vote NO to Amendment 1 and NO to the people who did this to you:
by: Diane Benjamin Hudson Il on Sunday: 20 miles north of the Illinois border – Clinton Wisconsin Friday: Belvidere Il – Sunday. Unleaded $3.95 (south of the above) Costco was by far the winner: Other area stations were at $3.389. We didn’t see any gas over $3.60 anywhere in Wisconsin. Both the Wisconsin Sales Tax […]
I think I will pretend there is no news this weekend. But then again, maybe not. Try to have a good weekend!
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 […]
Look for it on South Veterans Parkway: #3 of 3 tomorrow . . . . .
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