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 […]
More information is available – see the bottom of this page. With higher rates demand is increasing. . More information:
By: Diane Benjamin
C. Steven Tucker has worked in the health insurance industry for many years. The entire story has to be read to understand Medicaid. Excerpts: Firstly, the OBBBA reduces Medicaid spending by about $1 Trillion over the next ten years. That seems like a lot but not when compared to the $1.9. Trillion the federal government spent on health care […]
By: Diane Benjamin Do people making laws, like completely eliminating fossil fuels by 2025, ever bother with facts? Wind turbines don’t work without fossil fuels. If the goal was to decrease the temperature, solar farms aren’t the answer. They actually increase the temperature. This link is highly scientific, like using photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy production […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is a great story for Independence Day: I’m Finally Hanging My American Flag (hint: read that link – I can tell how many do!) Growing up, I was taught to dislike the American flag and all that it represented. This year, for the first time, I hung one outside my house. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I don’t know how this group, including both City Managers, sits in a room and thinks any of this is an efficient use of tax dollars. Connect Transit held a Board Meeting on June 24th. See 2:30 on the video below. CT built a gravel lot to park all the buses that […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you have swallowed “Climate Change” propaganda, you aren’t looking at facts. Try this one: . Prefer a list? Here it is, a few states don’t match because the above is newer than this list: https://www.factmonster.com/math-science/weather/record-highest-temperatures-by-state In case you forgot, remember when another Ice Age was imminent because of global cooling? When […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is the first post of what might be many. The County and Tri-Valley are only seeing dollar signs. Tri-Valley will get used to the property tax increases and then, as the farm depreciates which decreases property values, district taxpayers will be taxed more. The same thing happened with wind turbines. Will […]
By: Diane benjamin McLean isn’t the only County, they are one of 62 being sued for selling property seized for non-payment of property taxes. The Edgar County Watchdogs reported the story: https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2025/06/62-counties-clerks-and-treasures-named-in-lawusit-filed-in-federal-court-alleged-property-tax-sale-violations “The Fifth Amendment to the United State Constitution bars the State of Illinois, or any county therein, from seizing property from its owners […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) See all Boards and Commission here along with a link to apply: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/boards-commissions Some diversity and new blood on Boards and Commission is badly needed. 2) I recently looked up a house that just went under contract. This was on Redfin, progressives want you to be too afraid of the weather […]
By: Diane Benjamin Connect Transit owns a property they don’t need in downtown Bloomington – PIN #21-04-389-006. Connect held a special meeting on June 13th. This information is from the packet for that meeting: https://connect-transit.com/file/3675/06%2013%202025_BoT_Special%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf Connect Transit’s Oakland Avenue property is the former site of Connect Transit’s operations and maintenance facility prior to our current […]
By: Diane Benjamin What is government speak? It’s elected officials or staff who use terms you’ve never heard of before. One example: Road Diet That one was big a few years ago. It means narrowing the roads to slow down traffic. East Washington was put on a road diet so bike lanes could be added. […]
Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2025/06/18/olympia-school-district-facts-part-1/ By: Diane Benjamin The Olympia Schools superintendent sent 2 emails about the property tax error: . From Part 1 – enrollment is decreasing. According to this story the District has been deficit spending for a decade: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-05-21/olympia-school-district-frustrated-by-error-that-led-to-incorrect-mclean-county-tax-bills With 110 fewer students since 2018, why do they have deficits? According to Illinois Report […]
Part 2: https://blnnews.com/2025/06/18/olympia-schools-district-facts-part-2/ By: Diane Benjamin This story has facts needed for the NEXT story. If you want the best possible chance of fleecing taxpayers you put a referendum to increase taxes on the Primary ballot where few people bother to vote. The Mclean County schools did that on April 1st to get a 1% […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Biden illegals are dangerous because they weren’t vetted. Estimated are 500,000 have criminal warrants or convictions in the country they came from. Illegals weren’t given health exams. They weren’t forced to take the COVID vaccine like many citizens were, many have no vaccinations. Why does the left want to keep everyone […]
By: Diane Benjamin Federal law explicitly states that obstructing or otherwise interfering with an ICE arrest is a crime, and anyone involved can be subject to prosecution under federal law, including 18 U.S.C. § 111 for assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer and 18 U.S.C. § 1546 for using fake documents to enter or […]
Since many people have asked me what happened to Cat, I asked her to write an explanation. This is it! I left Cities 92.9 because management and I did not see eye-to-eye at all. However, God has been tapping on my shoulder to start my own podcast and media company for quite some time. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is the new list of people being prosecuted by the City of Bloomington for breaking City Code: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showdocument?id=28541&t=638139539977443234 . Note your elected officials who violated the same code are not on this list. The next consolidated election will be extremely partisan because there are no penalties for violating that part of […]
