By: Diane Benjamin Instead of going to the Unit 5 School Board meeting last night I was at the Libertarian’s meeting. They had 10 candidates confirmed to appear, most of them didn’t. Jim Fisher, running against Scott Preston for the 91st Legislative District was there, Preston wasn’t. Preston had a friend speak on his behalf, […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Unit 5 School Board is meeting tonight at Normal West – 6:30. Comprehensive Sexual Education is on the Agenda: https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1482?meeting=531212 I watched most of the Phase II Community Engagement virtual meeting last night. Way too much of the presentation consisted of what Unit 5 could do if they had more money […]
Of course Richard Irvin won’t be there because he isn’t a Republican. Darren Bailey, Gary Rabine, and Jesse Sullivan will meet for one hour starting at 7 p.m. WGN-TV is broadcasting the debate, but so are local stations. See how to watch here: https://wibqam.com/2022/05/23/bailey-rabine-sullivan-to-face-off-tuesday-in-illinois-republican-primary-governor-debate/ I predict these three will split the vote which allows Irvin […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chung is running as a democrat for the 91st District. She is currently on the County Board. The video below proves Chung is unfit to serve in any capacity. Sheriff Sandage addressed her personally at yesterday’s Justice Committee meeting. He read a long list of Chung communicating with and advising inmates in […]
By: Diane Benjamin There is a “lady” running for judge in Kane County who claims to be Richard Irvin’s baby-momma. She has two kids with him – and she HATES Republicans: https://kanecountyreporter.com/stories/624076695-khouri-irvin-s-self-described-baby-momma-kane-county-judicial-candidate-brittany-pedersen-says-she-hates-all-republicans#.Ym7kJgDOdbg.facebook Excerpts: Former Republican State Representative candidate Tonia Khouri says Aurora Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin’s former law partner described herself as his […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yes folks, the Bloomington Council meeting was 4 hours last night. I heard a radio person say something astounding yesterday: We have never been a nation of laws, we are a nation of wills. That explains why some people get away with crimes the rest of us would get life sentences or […]
By: Diane Benjamin March reports for tomorrow’s meeting: https://www.connect-transit.com/file/571/04%2026%202022_Board%20of%20Trustees%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf . Revenue: $115,067.82 Expenses: $1,131,101.01 Operating loss: $1,016,033.19 .Revenue Revenue didn’t even cover Group Health Insurance for the month: $123,949.81 Fixed Route: We don’t know how many people were counted twice because they had to change buses. Connect Mobility: Remember when I reported on “microtransit” from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Local GOP leadership: Remember when this group voted FOR a Candidate Assessment and Accountability Review Committee? https://blnnews.com/2022/02/08/gop-accountability-your-questions-are-needed/ That new committee was flooded with volunteers because grassroot Republicans are tired of democrats running as Republicans. See the ILGOP, at a Lincoln dinner in Sangamon County the only representative allowed to speak was Richard […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you browse the Illinois Board of Education website, they have plans for your kids FROM BIRTH. The below shows the kids belong to them, the parents do not have a right to know anything that happens at school. One things is clear however. Kids struggling with any identity issues are much […]
By: Diane Benjamin I contacted Sen Tammy Duckworth when the left was pushing for legislation enshrining Roe v Wade in Law. This was her response – she wants abortion decisions to remain between a woman and her doctor: I email her again a few weeks later about mandatory vaccines enforced by OSHA. Unlike abortion, she […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 story: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/01/unit-5-did-esser-funds-inflate-salaries/ The numbers on the graph again come from Open The Books and from the ISBE School Report Card website: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=studentcharacteristics&source2=enrollment&Districtid=17064087025 Enrollment decreased in 2020 and 2021. Employees increased a lot in 2021, but the average salary crashed. District 87 also needs to report where ESSER Funds were spent. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The chart below came from Open The Books. The number of employees and total payroll reported to Teachers Retirement Fund also came from Open The Books. The number of students each year came from this story – note enrollment DECREASED: https://blnnews.com/2022/03/04/unit-5-enrollment-is-decreasing/ Average salary is just Math. Even with enrollment down, salaries saw […]
By: Diane Benjamin School Board meetings operate under 2 different statutes in the Illinois code. First they must comply with the Open Meetings Act which requires agendas be posted 48 hours in advance of meetings. OMA also requires time allotted at every meeting for Public Comment. Most units of government do not respond to people […]
The hard part is over – getting on the ballot! Jim now has a website: https://jamesfisher91st.com/ He also has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079458038412 (James Fisher – Freedom for Illinois) Invite Jim to speak to your group. Look over his website and ask him questions! [email protected] Now it is up to Primary voters in the 91st […]
By: Diane Benjamin School Boards exists because they are elected by THE PEOPLE to watch and control what happens in government run schools. In Illinois many elected school board members are told “Let the professionals handle running the schools”. Sound familiar, as in “professional staff”? New Board members are indoctrinated with a trip to Chicago […]
By: Diane Benjamin WalletHub is out with a new report as of 3/7/2022. It shows Illinois is #1 with an effective State and Local tax rate of 15.01%. The lowest overall tax state is Alaska – 5.84%. Click below and page down. https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-be-a-taxpayer/2416 Keep clicking down and you will see this: This proves why people […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every number in this story comes from the same place – the Illinois Department of Public Health website (IDPH) The chart below shows COIVD deaths per day as reported to IDPH. These are daily deaths from 2/17/2022 through 3/16/2022. If you go to the link, hovering over each bar will show you […]
By: Diane Benjamin Term limits for Congress is one of the few nonpartisan issues in the country, career politicians are despised by both parties. This is a 2018 survey: https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/408781-americans-tend-to-be-in-favor-of-term-limits-for-most 82% of Americans want a Constitutional Amendment to make term limits in law. So, Scott Preston sent out a press release yesterday with a list […]
By: Diane Benjamin These bills were mentioned in a newsletter Rep Dan Caukins sent this week. The red are my comments. HB4205 – Loan Repayment Assistance – THIS IS REALLY STUDENT LOAN BAILOUT (Are they hoping borrowers vote democrat in November to get bailed out? You didn’t borrow the money for a college degree, but […]
By: Diane Benjamin Start with this story: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/il-house-expels-9-members-from-chambers-over-masks/ar-AAU1B8Y The House had been meeting for THREE DAYS before Democrat Lakesha Collins decided to make an issue of GOP members not wearing masks. Anybody in the House drop dead in those THREE DAYS Democrats? Jump to this story that lists the names of the Republican who were kicked […]
By: Diane Bernjamin Don’t ever forget what Illinois’s own Justin Trudeau called attorney Tom DeVore: Pritzker calls DeVore a ‘grifter,’ attorney helping parents sue 145 school districts over COVID mandates https://www.week.com/2021/10/21/pritzker-calls-devore-grifter-attorney-helping-parents-sue-145-school-districts-over-covid-mandates/ All DeVore did is read the law and represent parents who wanted their children’s rights respected under the law. Parents Won Children Won Tom […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) The “professional staff” in the Town of Normal cancelled National Fitness Campaign after the Council voted to proceed. Your representatives passed it but are not allowed to un-pass it after learning the vote was under fraudulent circumstances. Staff decided all on their own. 2) Governor Pritzker issued illegal executive orders for […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Illinois State University demands the students are masked at all times! You can’t attend a basketball game without a mask. You can however attend the Chamber of Commerce gala without a mask – in the Bone Ballroom on the campus: From the Pantagraph: Random selfie with a huge crowd of no […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just re-elected Normal Trustee Scott Preston has announced he wants to dump Normal for a higher office: He doesn’t live in the District now: Preston didn’t bother to tell voters last April he wasn’t planning on staying around if he wins. Worse, Preston claims to be a Republican while voting at least […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this link on the Unit 5 website: https://www.unit5.org/domain/3645 Go to the bottom of that page: Recognizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work in our Schools Formerly some of the links inside the recognitions didn’t work – they said request access. I FOIA’d that information, the links now work. What were they hiding? […]
By: Diane Benjamin To Community Players who only want vaccinated people at their shows, and Marcus Theaters who are doing shows just for the vaxed: Being vaccinated doesn’t prevent hospitalization, death, or even getting Covid: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaccine-breakthrough.html Illinois hospitalizations and deaths in fully vaccinated people: Those are only the serious breakthrough cases, many more still get […]
By: Diane Benjamin How’s this working for you? High taxes and corruption are driving people out of Illinois. Those who stay get to pay more because (of course) spending can’t be cut. Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Illinois_state_executive_official_elections,_2022?fbclid=IwAR3bOBB-_NDPHbvxDjtloVYKHMcQ7Nvh4hAAjxFrelVp_Q2pKGdYrtKqvGg . . . . . .
I was all set to write at least one story today, that is until my daughter texted me a pic of Dad with my son. Dad’s obituary is printed today in the Decatur paper: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/herald-review/name/walter-sroka-obituary?n=walter-sroka&pid=200993241 One of my brothers found a voicemail from dad on a old phone this week. It was a wonderful message, […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaccine-breakthrough.html As of 12/29/21: See the last line – this data could be weeks old. Breakthrough cases that did not require hospitalization are not included in the above. Obviously the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection, doesn’t prevent hospitalizations, and doesn’t prevent deaths. The number hospitalized has doubled since early November. Deaths have doubled […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Public Schools are required by law to use Social and Emotional Learning. You can see the current plan on the Illinois State Board of Education website: https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Social-Emotional-Learning-Standards.aspx Social and Emotional Learning can easily be summed up with this quote for the document I linked in the Critical race Theory story is […]
https://www.capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/new-state-laws-taking-effect-jan-1 Over 300 new laws take effect on 1/1/2022. The article details just a few. Minimum wage goes up to $12 an hour, but buying a car from an individual will cost you more in sales taxes. A link inside the story has a list of all the bills, it was compiled by Illinois Senate […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been updating and posting the chart below for months. One reader told me he doesn’t understand it, so I will explain it again. The Illinois Department of Public Health used to claim they don’t track hospitalizations and deaths in fully vaccinated people, but then they started posting it. The problem is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and a lot of Normal got removed from McLean County in the congressional map Pritzker signed: The green is the new 16th district – it goes all the way to Wisconsin. The grey is the new 17th. See where it goes by clicking here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1qfnRiuOZ3yok6WGvBHZ9P6u3EMy_LwRv&ll=41.54370261051701%2C-89.3487176103724&z=8 See the Legislative map passed: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1L7I2r4gat9nRWx9wfaizpn7XkA7i1qL4&ll=39.20533781461243%2C-90.51902473426051&z=6 […]
By: Diane Benjamin DON’T buy a vehicle now if your trade-in is worth more than $10,000. Update to this 2019 story: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/19/new-illinois-vehicle-tax-is-class-warfare/ As of January 1, 2020 most vehicles traded in worth more than $10,000 didn’t get to use the entire trade value to reduces sales tax on the purchased vehicle. On January 1, 2022 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Department of Public Health updated their numbers: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaccine-breakthrough.html Since they don’t report in a way that shows reality, I created and updated this spreadsheet: These numbers don’t include deaths soon after getting the vaccine or booster shot. See the US data here: http://vaersanalysis.info/2021/10/29/vaers-summary-for-covid-19-vaccines-through-10-22-2021/ *Note that the total number of deaths associated […]
By: Diane Benjamin It took a long time for the Bloomington Election Commission to name a new Executive Director, the last one quit in May. I’d still like to know why Tim Mitchell quit suddenly and why it took so long to replace him. Did they have trouble finding a qualified applicant? The new Executive […]
By: Diane Benjamin The web page where the Illinois Department of Public Health reports breakthrough COVID hospitalizations and deaths has been down again for many days. The numbers are supposed to be updated every Wednesday. Don’t bother calling the number on the screen, they will provide a number in Chicago. That office in Chicago will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington’s year end was 4/30/2021. The financial statements have yet to be released. If they were a corporation with investors they would all be fired, but they are government so it’s fine. Luckily they also have to submit information to the Illinois Comptroller’s office. Bloomington’s information is available there! […]
By: Diane Benjamin One reason: https://illinoisavengers1.wixsite.com/savederek/post/covid-cash That link has a BUNCH of questions school districts MUST answer. You can access all the payouts Illinois forked over to schools in emergency relief funds from that link too. I pulled out McLean County. Here’s your homework: Start sending FOIA’s. Blind copy me please, [email protected] Since lots of […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the information below came from the Illinois State Board of Education website: https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Annual-Statistical-Report.aspx During the 1969-1970 school year 2,324,516 students were enrolled in Public Schools. During the 2018-2019 school year 1,984,519 students were enrolled in Public Schools. That’s a 14.63% decrease. Note the increase in bilingual education, see if you […]
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