By: Diane Benjamin Sharon Chung admitted the Town of Normal approached her to change Illinois law. She claims Normal went to great expense to defend themselves against citizens and doesn’t want to again. She was then asked if the Town Board approved this, of course the answer is no. A lobbyist for the Town of […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you are an insider with the Town of Normal you get deals like a place to live for $120 a year. Review this story on the “Historic” Sprague gas station: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/21/lets-revisit-the-route-66-gas-station-gift-shop/ Normal is going to spend more money on the building. They are requesting bids for asbestos removal: https://www.normalil.gov/bids.aspx?bidId=387 You can […]
By: Diane Benjamin Please continue to file Witness Slips as an opponent to HB 3337: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/22/file-witness-slips-now-hearing-is-1100-tomorrow/ Below are the Committee Members who will hear the bill at 11:00 am today. The Republican Board members are aware of the real intent of this bill, the Democrats aren’t. Sharon Chung doesn’t even know what the bill is, […]
By: Diane Benjamin You need to file 2. Then SHARE! This link is to file against Chung’s 2nd amendment to HB 3337: https://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/148499?committeeHearingId=20041&LegislationId=148499&LegislationDocumentId=186620 This link is to file against Chung’s 3rd amendment to HB 3337: https://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/148499?committeeHearingId=20041&LegislationId=148499&LegislationDocumentId=186917 Review this story if you need help: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/20/do-this-right-now-witness-slip/ Opponent – Record of Appearance Only .
By: Diane Benjamin There wasn’t a hearing on HB 3337 yesterday because Sharon Chung filed an amendment to the bill. That means it has to go back to the Rules Committee before being heard at the Counties and Townships Committee. The amendment was a stall tactic, it didn’t change anything. Maybe she saw the Witness […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thankfully Bloomington’s Monday meeting was short. Most of it was the annual report of the Public Safety and Community Relations Board. The Board only had 3 cases to review for the entire year. In one case the Board made a policy recommendation the police did adopt but in all three cases the […]
By: Diane Benjamin HB 3337 is a bill the Town of Normal wants so they can claim a permanent right to deny citizens a voice in government. Kevin McCarthy testified at the first hearing and claimed to represent Normal. The Council never voted, so McCarthy really represented Chris Koos. This bill would not be necessary […]
By: Diane Benjamin 6 people spoke during Public Comment last night. Of course they had to wait until the end of the meeting because the Town of Normal wants to make sure the plebs don’t interfere at the beginning. Luckily the agenda was short so they weren’t sitting around for hours waiting to speak. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is going to take more than one story. I have to start with proof Chemberly Harris isn’t intelligent enough to be a Trustee. The Town did vote to end the Use tax when purchasing a vehicle. The tax is .0075 of the net selling price. Obviously this wasn’t about saving taxpayer […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/11/sharon-chung-screws-normal-taxpayers/ The language of this bill was modified so it has to go back to the Counties and Townships Committee. That will at 4:30 tomorrow. If you see this bill for the sham it is, please file a Witness slip as an opponent: Use this link: https://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/148499?committeeHearingId=20004&LegislationId=148499&LegislationDocumentId=186620 Fill […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4597 PDF page 36: Normal is handing out your money to promote Uptown. More interesting is this paragraph claims Trail East and Trail West are still going to happen. Unless they aren’t telling citizens, nothing is happening with either. The latest developer backed out last November: https://blnnews.com/2023/02/22/proof-normals-staff-runs-the-town/ PDF page 66: The Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin This comment was made today to a story from November of 2019: Unit 5 indoctrinating kids with CNN. I am printing it because most people won’t see it. It breaks my heart that some Unit 5 teachers are doing this to kids. I know some schools have banned To Kill A Mockingbird. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/07/normal-buy-local-is-immaterial/ At the March 6, 2023 Council meeting the Water Director, John Burkhart, wanted to start buying parts from a company in Washington Il instead of the local supplier they have used for decades. Here’s the problem: Normal doesn’t stock a lot of parts because they claim they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Besides the fact that Weikle has known about the “structural deficit” for years and did nothing to fix it, she is either allowing illegal activity or promoting it. Anyone believe how she runs Unit 5 is perfectly legal? She is hiding what is really being taught to your kids. What did Dr. […]
The below is compiled from data on the Illinois Sate Board of Education. More in this story: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/policy-shop/the-policy-shop-how-to-fix-illinois-public-schools-falling-test-scores/ Quality of Education is going down. More money isn’t going to reverse this course. Electing the people who caused the problems won’t either. Don’t get excited about Unit 5 being above Statewide average. Illinois is BELOW the […]
Does the Normal Town Council know they are Reece’s boss? Does Reece know she works for them? Does Reece know she can’t dictate the speech of Trustees? Does Reece know she can’t bar your representatives from representing? Is Reece preventing NPD from investigating electioneering? Is she barring release of findings? Will the results be buried […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everyone endorsed by this PAC have an agenda. That agenda isn’t doing what’s right for taxpayers, it’s doing what THEY want done regardless of your opinion. Did you want a $30 million pedestrian underpass in Normal? I hope you are noticing what electing progressives means. They work for government, not you. Dave […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.unit5.org/domain/3810 Unit 5 is busy posting lots of fear porn, the above is one of two pages. This one is my favorite though: Must be Common Core Math. (anybody else see four things?) Keep what going? Is this English? 35% of students going on the college need remedial education, I think this […]
By: Diane Benjamin Your tax dollars in Normal are paying for advertising on Connect Transit buses. Connect shows advertising revenue when this is merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Maybe we can get to a point where government funds other government instead of fleecing citizens! Just keep passing around the same bucks. Connect […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/11/sharon-chung-screws-normal-taxpayers/. Normal declared war on it’s citizens and uses their money to take them out! The above story shows the people who supported Chung’s bill to legalize Normal’s illegal operation. Since you knew nothing about this bill you couldn’t object. The only reason we know about it now […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two types of people run for office. One runs for power and forcing other to submit to their vision, the other wants to serve and preserve freedom and liberty for future generations. Every Trustee in Normal does the bidding of staff and Koos except one. That one is despised for representing the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Byars has supported Wind turbines for a long time. He appeared before the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals supporting a farm in 2018. You can listen to his under oath testimony here: https://mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5719 Byars speaks about 30 minutes into the audio and again for at least 15 minutes after. Byars isn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cat Peterson from Cities 92.9 simply asked Andy Byars a question. Here’s what happened next: https://www.cities929.com/2023/03/09/39240/ Summary of the story: Lobbyist in Illinois are required to register with Springfield BEFORE lobbying. They are required to take training before being listed as “compliant”. Cat found the State lobbyist website – it showed Andy […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a screen shot from the Town of Normal website: It wasn’t that long ago Normal was against scooters. Times change, especially when Rivian is thinking of building E-scooters. Another WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/show/wglts-sound-ideas/2019-01-31/e-scooter-pilot-project-under-review-in-normal Maybe Mayor Bike Shop will start selling them! Congrats Normal! You too can be Washington DC (excessive crime […]
By: Diane Benjamin Total Revenue: Bigger loss: Not included in this loss are new electric buses: Fixed route ridership is up: Mobility ridership is up: See PDF pages 17-24 for a list of all bills pending in Springfield as reported by Cornerstone Government Affairs who was hired by Connect Transit to track them. If you […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Museum of History is owned by McLean County. That makes this Facebook post electioneering. Candace Summers is also wrong. If the referendum passes there is no guarantee field trips will be in the budget. There is no guarantee any cuts will be restored. The only guarantee if the referendum […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two things in the budget you won’t know unless you watched last night. Chemberly Harris is getting $19,000 for her Youth On A Mission. Pam Reece has a $750,000 slush fund. Of course it’s for contingencies (wasn’t needed for the previous 2 years). https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21181/Town-of-Normal-2022-23-to-2027-28-Five-Year-Operating-and-Capital-Investment-Budget PDF page 121 Nothing aggravates citizens more than […]
By: Diane Benjamin The entire meeting was a little over an hour. I suggest citizens who plan to vote watch a few meetings instead of believing campaign literature. Of course no one showed up to speak at the Public Hearing on the budget. Many of the Trustees congratulated themselves on its greatness however. Spending on […]
This is the group putting up billboards:
By: Diane Benjamin The budget isn’t called Proposed Budget, but it is on line as a 5 years budget. Good luck reading it: https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21181/Town-of-Normal-2022-23-to-2027-28-Five-Year-Operating-and-Capital-Investment-Budget Tonight – a whole 5 minutes is devoted to a Public Hearing about the Proposed budget. Even though the announcement below claims the budget is on line it isn’t. Kathleen was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5’s own data shows controlling costs isn’t happening. They have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Start with this chart complied from OpenTheBooks: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/01/unit-5-did-esser-funds-inflate-salaries/ Compared that chart with the one below compiled by Unit 5 – PDF page 15 https://www.unit5.org/cms/lib/IL01905100/Centricity/Domain/51/CAC%20Financial%20Presentation%2002-02-2022.pdf Why did PERSONNEL costs (blue line) skyrocket since 2015? The […]
A little birdie told me today the guy who removed and hid the literature at the union hall for the 4 conservative candidates was: Ben Matthews Who is Ben Matthews besides a typical leftists who doesn’t want union members to hear more than his side? (Free speech not allowed!) More Info from LinkedIn: He was […]
By: Diane Benjamin The FBI told Twitter what needed to be deleted – Twitter complied. The Russia hoax was perpetuated for years by “media”. The Covid vaccine has to be the worst example of media reporting what they are told and hiding actual facts. Wearing masks did nothing and multiple shots have produced adverse effects. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just two examples are below. I’m sure there are many more. Why would the the Superintendent and a teacher need to include their preferred pronouns on public documents unless Unit 5 students are allowed to “pick” theirs. Is this done behind the parents backs? Are students told they can pick their gender? […]
By: Diane Benjamin If Unit 5 has a deficit of $12 million in the Education Fund, why is the referendum going to give them $20 million? This is the wording on the ballot: The below is a screenshot of the now deleted Frequently Asked Questions on the Unit 5 website: There is no guarantee the […]
Vote Accordingly! More money for any government never works, they will always want more. #History The Unit 5 candidates are hand picked by the union. The Board needs to represent citizens, not the union. All the above expect you to vote YE$ on the referendum.
Charles Sila passed the afternoon of Friday February 24 at Carle Bromenn. He was a loving father and husband, navy veteran, and long-time business owner and pubic servant. Charles is survived by his wife Nadine, children Monica (Brian) Irwin and Karl Sila, brother Lee (Heidi) Sila, a niece and 6 grandchildren. He was preceded by […]
If we don’t report it didn’t happen If we don’t report it didn’t happen If we don’t report it didn’t happen If we don’t report it didn’t happen Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
By: Diane Benjamin The Peoria Journal Star reported on a study that claims Illinois is the WORST state for taxes: https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/state/2023/02/23/illinois-is-the-worst-for-taxes-study-says/69931709007/ The exodus from Illinois will continue when it is MUCH cheaper to move than stay in Illinois. Since every other level of government wants more money, CIRA is joining the party. See this story […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Biological males are using female restrooms at Normal Community. The rights of females are immaterial. Cancel culture cancelled the right to privacy for females. 2) Refer back to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/02/22/proof-normals-staff-runs-the-town/ Remember all those “community” meetings Normal had to hear what people wanted to see in Uptown South? The email Mercy […]
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