By: Diane Benjamin MANY people have sent this to me. I feel there is more to add to this conversation, hence this story. This I believe was originally posted by the McLean County Republicans, I edited the photo to only show the comments made by Unit 5 Board Chair Alex Williams: . I will address […]
By: Diane Benjamin . Relatively new Facebook page that evidently has something to do with me: Biane Denjamine https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577196614971 This isn’t the first page like this, I’m honored to evidently be over the target. By the way, Benjamin doesn’t have an “e” at the end. I don’t know what the purpose of this page is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was heartened yesterday when I saw this from the McLean County Democrats: . Then I read the comments. Some of them set the tone people should have when a political assassination occurs. However some of them reflect the fact that evil does exist in this world. Evil has infected some those […]
By: Diane Benjamin Obviously the City of Bloomington is not going to hold elected officials or the City Manager accountable for violating City code. In case you forgot: https://blnnews.com/2025/07/11/the-latest-people-bloomington-prosecuted-for-violating-city-code/ Add City Manager Jeff Jurgens to that story. He is allowed by code to spend $50,000 (needs reduced!) without Council approval. He exceeded that amount with […]
By: Diane Benjamin . I am not speaking about anything on the agenda. I will post a story before 6:00 tonight with details. Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1009/files/agenda/6790 Missing Middle Housing and zoning changes are back again. The agenda doesn’t mention the City Manager exceeding his $50,000 spending limit by hiring Opticos. Did you know Chicago has Missing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Surely next year’s elections is not why the website was changed! Right?https://www.illinoisworknet.com/LayoffRecovery/Pages/ArchivedWARNReports.aspx It no longer lists layoffs as they happen. You now have to wait for a monthly report. This is the August report – it has to be downloaded from the website in order to read it: I deleted many columns […]
By: Diane Benjamin How the Normal Township Supervisor, Krystle Able, self identifies on her Facebook page: . Posted this week: . Keep in mind she is a County Board member, Executive Director at Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, and Normal Township Supervisor. Yesterday Able posted this, if the office hasn’t been fully staffed for years did […]
By: Diane Benjamin Equalization Factors are still not available for City of Bloomington, Bloomington Township, Downs, and Old Town: https://mcleancountyil.gov/109/Filing-an-Assessment-Complaint See if you agree with this statement: https://mcleancountyil.gov/110/Equalization-Adjustment-Process . I don’t! People move outside of Bloomington and Normal to small towns because the Cost of Living is less. It is less because less government than […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was contacted by 3 people yesterday who got assessment notices for properties they don’t own. Here’s the explanation, this isn’t a County Clerk error. Kathy is just forwarding information: . Printing error? Hum. Who is going to pay to mail new ones. Guess.
By: Diane Benjamin See the agenda, financial information is crossed off for both June and July because of year end: https://connect-transit.com/file/3810/2025%2008%2026_Meeting%20Packet.pdf Every other year this data has only been delayed 1 month. The Managing Director, David Braun, claimed they are still collecting June bills. When Flex replaces vehicles, the new ones will be electric! Meanwhile […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1021/files/agenda/6725 Justin Boyd is getting a Proclamation for serving 9 years on the Planning Commission. The documentation doesn’t say if he’s leaving or if he’s just being celebrated. My question: Is Bloomington better now because of his ‘Planning” than it was 9 years ago? Guess what’s back! . TEN YEARS ago […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1482?meeting=702240 . Remember when they promised to use 33% of the new Sales Tax Revenue to reduce property taxes? https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/WebViewer/1482?file=094c40a2-40b3-4c72-913f-21da99d1f3c1
By: Diane Benjamin . Illegal aliens will get student financial aid: https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/gov-pritzker-signs-illinois-law-granting-financial-aid-access-to-undocumented-students/ Total spent on illegals: $2.5 billion! https://www.illinoispolicy.org/think-illinois-spends-millions-on-migrants-wrong-it-spends-billions/ Enjoy your tax increases – Illinois has illegals to take care of.
Only people who don’t learn from history, even recent history, would support Mamdani. That includes Krystle Alble who now has 3 jobs. She evidently is still the Executive Director of Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans. Her elected position as Normal Township Supervisor is a full time time job with full time pay, but without oversight […]
By: Diane Benjamin This one only made headlines because the victims daughter used to play in the WNBA. How many other Illinois citizens are killed by illegal immigrants and we never hear about them? https://www.wkrn.com/news/national/former-wnba-players-mother-killed-in-crash-illinois-officials . The story I wrote yesterday is very applicable: https://blnnews.com/2025/08/13/why-does-illinois-love-criminals/ When Corey Cottrell was hit and killed on his motorcycle […]
By: Diane Benjamin Law enforcement is forced by the Illinois government to release criminal illegal aliens, what does that tell you? It should shout citizens and their safety are immaterial. Illinois loves criminals, especially if they are in the country illegally. They will obstruct ICE efforts to deport them. https://cis.org/Vaughan/Which-Sanctuary-Jurisdictions-Have-Released-Most-Criminals That story recaps the top […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington meeting was 15 minutes last night. Brady, Mosley, and Straza were together somewhere and attended remotely. The only interesting thing was 1 public comment by Diana Hauman on behalf of the League of Women Voters. They claim to be non-partisan but aren’t. The City Council is supposed to be non-partisan […]
By: Diane Benjamin Go to the bottom of this page: https://mcleancountyil.gov/109/Filing-an-Assessment-Complaint I believe the State of Illinois is behind raising local assessed values. In their brilliance they thought McLean County properties were undervalued. When you see numbers like 1.0918 it means your assessed value is going up 9.18%. I explained in this story how property […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Teacher’s Unions don’t need money to get their candidates elected to local school boards. They didn’t have to spend a dime last April because only their candidates ran. Unions now control the schools. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/august-is-teacher-union-opt-out-time-what-you-need-to-know/ Excerpts: Illinois teachers’ unions spend little on representing teachers, what should be their core focus. So why should teachers […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unless “Chad” is now a female name, the local League of Women Voters have let men conquer their spaces. Maybe they can’t find enough women to fill roles in the organization. Maybe they should change their name to reflect who they really are. The League is going to study the two local […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m seeing lots of posts on social media like this one: Rent is becoming unaffordable: https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/rent-is-becoming-unaffordable-to-illinoisan-according-to-new-report/ Water rates in Bloomington have now increased 66% in less than 2 years. Next May 1st the 100% increase will be in effect to fund “generational investment”: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/water/resident-community/water-rate-increase-and-capital-project-updates Items on the same Bloomington bill, like garbage, […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the township multipliers will be posted here soon: https://mcleancountyil.gov/109/Filing-an-Assessment-Complaint I hear Randolph Township has the highest annual property tax multiplier: 10.70 That does NOT mean your property taxes are going up. It means the people picked in local elections (that few people bother to vote for) will be deciding to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion requires discrimination. CEI is an Illinois government Commission on Equity and Inclusion. This quote is from a document produced as a result of a survey on procurement in the private sector: By addressing these challenges head-on, CEI will help pave the way for a more inclusive, equitable, and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s meeting will take at least one more story. I don’t know when I will get to another story, so stay tuned. Bloomington voted unanimously to suspend payment of the 0.25% sales tax to the county for at least one year, intended for mental health services—primarily because the county holds more […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/cityblm/334d59458cb7051d070970f18fdb52b10.pdf A Public Hearing and vote are on the agenda to annex 74.5 acres on Lutz Road for a solar farm. Under state law the solar farm can’t be stopped, so opposition isn’t possible. Once built this farm will be using city water to clean the panels. Unless they buy trucked […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader for the video Monday night Bloomington will consider the same pause in funding to the County for mental health that Normal did: https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/cityblm/334d59458cb7051d070970f18fdb52b10.pdf The Behavior Health Coordinating Council (BHCC) was changed to a secret group in 2024. Advising on spending millions of dollars in secret is a huge part […]
By: Diane Benjamin Locally we still haven’t been told when the airport is going to start taxing the county. If you forgot, Democrats got that passed in Springfield with members that don’t represent rural McLean County. That used to be called Taxation Without Representation. Assessed values are about to go up again. Since the area […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Planning Commission starts with a flawed assumption: PDF page 7 This plan is designed to guide growth, ensure the efficient use of resources, and maintain a balance between urban and rural areas for the next 20 years. McLean County isn’t growing. Numerous websites show the same as below. Pretending […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois is going to lose the AI war because of the Democratic Party’s war on fossil fuels. AI takes MASSIVE amounts of energy, wind and solar can never produce enough and it’s too expensive. Of course citizens are already seeing the electricity price increases because of these failed policies. Under Illinois law […]
By: Diane Benjamin Wonder why all local governments need ever increasing amounts of your money? The County, Bloomington, and Normal all have 3 top Administrators. Budgets keep increasing because all these people need things to “administer”. If problems were ever solved they wouldn’t have jobs, so nothing is ever solved. . Which administrator created an […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Bloomington canceled the Committee of the Whole meeting last night, I watched the Normal meeting only because suspending contributions to the County Intergovernmental Agreement was on the agenda. Funding for Mental Health was the reason since that fund has $20 million plus. (Why-the-county-is-sitting-on-20-million-for-mental-health/) The discussion was lengthy. I can’t say any […]
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently the media wasn’t listening to public comment at the 7/14/25 County Executive Board meeting. Former Board member Susan Schafer was heavily involved with the mental health funding and spending. She spoke about the expense involved implementing EGIS. It is some replacement 911 system that is going to cost $20 million over […]
By: Diane Benjamin The State of Illinois stole the ability of downstate counties to deny green energy projects for any reason. If Chicago needs electricity, the state authorizes the raping of prime farmland downstate. The developer of the proposed eastside solar farm can not be stopped unless a lawsuit against the State of Illinois for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the 1% Sales Tax approved by voters last March? Remember the investigation into election interference by the school districts? https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/mclean-county-sheriff-investigating-alleged-election-interference The sheriffs office completed their investigation – the report has been sitting in the State’s Attorneys office for awhile now. Does Ericka Reynolds think people are going to forget about it? […]
Printed below is what reader sent to me. The writer wants to remain anonymous. Yes, the power generated, just like the wind turbines, will be sent to Chicago. The quality of life in McLean County suffers because Chicago is raping local farmland for electricity they aren’t allowed to generate themselves. In my opinion the County […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.dhs.state.il.us/2024 Healing Grants 184 organizations across Illinois received grants to engage in racial healing activities: This description is on the grant award: Anti-racism is racism. It requires discrimination in order to promote others who haven’t earned it. My original FOIA was to the Comptroller’s Office. After playing games with extensions for 3 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Someday when I have time I’m going to look for my ISU graduation certificate so I can burn it. It has to do with stories like this: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-07-14/isu-scholar-expects-birthright-citizenship-will-be-upheld-after-confusion-and-harm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook Missing from the story is the background of why the 14th Amendment was passed. It’s not easy to add an amendment, so why it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Does anyone truly believe a consultant from California can offer advice to Bloomington on missing “middle housing”? Many people can no longer afford homes in California. I will only care about what Opticos Design says after they solve California’s housing problems where they are located. https://blnnews.com/2025/05/28/bloomington-part-2-missing-middle-housing/ Computers are rapidly becoming over 100 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The country is a dirty place. My vehicle parked in the garage with no doors open gets covered with fine dirt. Tilling and planting creates blowing dirt, harvesting does too. Sometimes it gets really bad – May 16, 2025 filmed looking out my garage door window: . Did you know dirty solar […]
By: Diane Benjamin Attacks on ICE agents, including shooting them, is up 700%. Is this guy instigating the same attacks on law enforcement personnel here? The job of ICE is to enforce federal law. Looks like Sonny needs investigated. . His girlfriend “liked” his post and then posted this: . Laws are immaterial to these […]
