By: Diane Benjamin Lots of local media was in the Council Chambers for Monday night’s meeting. Not one member of the media requested copies of what Jackie Beyer showed at Public comment. City Code is law in Bloomington, allowing violations means more violations will occur in the future. https://blnnews.com/2025/04/15/too-chicken-mboka/ Did media cover any violations? WGLT […]
By: Diane Benjamin Barickman still has a campaign fund even though he quit the Illinois Senate right after being re-elected in 2022. WJBC reported his retirement in December of 2022 but failed to mention he was re-elected in November of 2022. Here’s election proof: https://mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/22469/OFFICIAL-election-summary?bidId= WJBC story: https://www.wjbc.com/2022/12/05/bloomington-republican-announces-retirement-from-illinois-senate/ I call that a con job by […]
By: Diane Benjamin It is likely your public school didn’t tell you the Pilgrims tried socialism/collectivism and found out it didn’t work. https://www.aier.org/article/the-pilgrims-tried-socialism-and-it-failed/ McLean County used to be a beacon of freedom, after the November elections the county will probably have a County Board control by socialists/collectivists, also called Democrats. Lucky you! Your tax dollars […]
By: Diane Benjamin Many running for local offices are claiming they will solve the housing crisis. If elected they could be throwing your money at projects that won’t work, trap people in substandard housing, or buy them votes with your money. WJBC reported Home Sweet Home Ministries is considering buying a hotel and turning it […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council held an Executive Session last night, the mayor stated it was to discuss Tim Gleason. Considering he told WGLT he wanted the opportunity to counter the Arizona offer, that’s likely what was discussed. Gleason just got a 5% raise in September: https://blnnews.com/2023/09/11/tonight-gleason-gets-a-raise/ The mayor also stated Bloomington has momentum. “Momentum” […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) In April I will have been writing for TWELVE YEARS. Actually page views went over 10,000,000 a few years ago, but lots of views aren’t officially counted because many of you are Following BlnNews.com and getting an email for every story written. All of those reads aren’t included in the totals. […]
By: Diane Benjamin This question was asked: So far there are 99 comments. Many pertain to the crappy roads and nowhere to shop. This one is my favorite, I’d like to know where to find it: . Many pertained to Connect Transit, nobody mentioned it costs taxpayers now $1.3 million a month to not take […]
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 See update to this story here: https://blnnews.com/2022/03/18/more-on-the-foia-normal-denied/ This statement is in Normal’s just passed budget under “City Manager accomplishments FY 2021-2022”, PDF page 118: https://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/19729/2022-23-Final-Budget A couple things to note from the above: Completion – normally means the report is complete Results will be used – infers there are results I FOIA’d […]
The Edgar County Watchdogs did a video in response to Tari’s tirade. You can see it hear: https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2021/02/video-ecwd-response-to-bloomington-mayor-renners-explosive-comments/ Watch the whole video, it just keeps getting better.
Excerpt: BY KIRK ALLEN & JOHN KRAFT FEBRUARY 24, 2021 Bloomington, IL (ECWd) – After publishing this article, numerous outlets focused on the Mayor’s response to a public comment made during the last city council meeting. We will provide a video update to those comments in an upcoming article. The following day the city manager was […]
Tari Renner on WJBC this morning: https://post.futurimedia.com/wjbcam/playlist/26/listen-1273.html?cb=1614188824.212135&fbclid=IwAR2bkJ0Mt5rUvXFk1H0qILFjNK_Uzw9XZvqqh4fxq08IVJnyR54s8YyUZfs By: Diane Benjamin Numerous media outlet have covered Tari Renner’s rant at Monday’s City Council meeting. Not ONE has bothered to look at the evidence presented by the Edgar County Watchdogs. Not ONE has asked how the story got started. If any of you had bothered to investigate […]
By: Diane Benajmin Something I found while looking for something else, this is dated in December of 2017: https://www.wjbc.com/2017/12/13/renner-bloomington-wont-be-sanctuary-city-mayor-sees-need-to-cut-personnel-costs-to-reduce-spending/ Excerpt: Monday night Jenn Carrillo’s Welcoming City Ordinance is on the agenda: Are you going to tell the Council not to approve this Tari? Change your mind? You now want Bloomington to be a sanctuary City […]
By: Diane Benjamin Videos of the looting at Target are all over Facebook. Obviously most of the people involved have not been arrested, but worse the videos show police did little to stop it. A resident of Normal had questions – note he sent this email to the entire Council, Mayor and City Manager: Doug […]
By: Diane Benjamin Somewhere I heard it stated: Illinois will open when the people want it to open. Your elected officials aren’t going to help, they are bowing before Pritzker’s tyrannical rule. The County Board debated for two hours last night. Peoria and the other cities who put together the HOI plan have all backed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Think all the way back to March 16, 2020. That was pre-shutdown and the Normal Town Council was still meeting in person. The staff got raises at this meeting and the Council was forced to approve a site plan for Stan Nord’s property. It isn’t in Uptown so different rules apply – […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Twitter can be a great place to express your true feelings thinking nobody will notice, especially when you respond to a Donald Trump tweet. A reader of mine did notice. WJBC has always been at least suspected of leaning left, maybe it was really FAR left: Former morning host […]
By: Diane Benjamin Previous story based on the Budget Session documents: https://blnnews.com/2020/01/28/normal-expect-property-tax-increases-to-continue/ It has always annoyed me when Koos and company claim Normal’s debt isn’t a problem. They think it isn’t because they are NOT looking at the big picture, they only look at what payments will be required every year. They don’t care about […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story could go 1000 different ways. Most readers here know Fake News when they see it. The local media doesn’t. This morning two women on a local radio station were discussing how distressing it is to be called Fake News since they are in the media. A month or so ago […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Live Stream of the Council meeting had no sound last night. Today a video is posted with no sound until around 12:00. When there is sound it wasn’t recorded from the microphones, people whispering, shuffling papers, and footsteps can be heard in numerous places. At 8:10 a lady spoke during public […]
By: Diane Benjamin You will probably remember Matejka as a former Bloomington Alderman. During his tenure he voted FOR the Coliseum and FOR the never used fire station. If he could get your money to fork over to union members with a government project he was all in. Now he is at it again. It […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the celebrations when VenuWorks announced they ONLY lost $276,367? They budgeted a loss of $495,514, so everybody happily reported they lost less than expected. See PDF page 27: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23151 Long time readers won’t be surprised to learn the auditors didn’t agree with the VenuWorks accounting. The audited financial report has appeared […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you listened to Tari Renner’s WJBC interview yesterday, you heard him mention “real journalists” not following up on what bloggers report. WMDB TV was at the council meeting when both Kirk Allen and I spoke. Yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2019/10/16/tari-on-wjbc-3/ See these redacted emails received by FOIA. What is Nora telling the POLICE CHIEF concerning […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ol’ Mayor Renner called “bloggers” liars this morning on the Scott Miller show. So far I haven’t been able to find a podcast. If somebody sees it please let me know! This link was posted in the comments: https://post.futurimedia.com/wjbcam/playlist/2/listen-233.html?cb=1571239016.737804 Tari also complained about negative reporting by bloggers. I thought I would do […]
By: Diane Benjamin I received a lot of information from a FOIA filed with the City of Bloomington. Almost everything is redacted including discussion of Holiday Decorations for downtown. That must be a state secret! This is what you get when you pay a law firm in Springfield almost $60,000 every month! (pre Tari the […]
By: Diane Benjamin My greatest hope is that someday people in the media realize when Tari’s lips are moving most likely he is lying. Scott Miller is the latest to let him spew his own set of facts without challenge. This morning Tari was on WJBC with him: http://www.wjbc.com/podcasts/ (Go to the bottom of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin You can watch Public Comment on the City website, but I filmed Kirk’s comments from a different perspective. Kirk spoke to Council several years ago and his comments were mysteriously cut – just him – the video worked fine for all the other people. That was one reason I filmed him. Another […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner was on WJBC this morning. Since Scott did a lot of the talking, it’s was hard to tell who was interviewing who. Miller is upset the Kimberly Bray didn’t use the Spanish pronunciation of Jenn’s last name last Monday. Maybe Kim just Americanized it since we are in America. Jenn […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everything below was received by FOIA. I received another treasure trove of emails – stay tuned. Remember this note Mayor Koos sent to Bloomington and leaked to the media? This note was in the Pantagraph on July 17th. https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ On July 26th, Stan Nord sent proof to the Mayor and the entire […]
I know most of you aren’t listening! Just an FYI By: Diane Benjamin I have never been a big Rodney Davis fan. At times he does the right thing and at times he’s part of the swamp. He does know a few things about mass shootings though since he was in one on a Virginia […]
By: Diane Benjamin WJBC has reported Tari Renner wants to end the moratorium on new video gaming machines: http://www.wjbc.com/2019/07/29/renner-sides-with-businesses-seeking-to-end-bloomingtons-video-gaming-freeze/ I remember when the moratorium was put in place, Tari was outraged that $50 million a year went into the machines. It sounds like he changed his mind. Back in 2016 Tari was on WJBC talking […]
By. Diane Benjamin This sage started with a planted story at WGLT, it needed 3 reporters to write it: koos-says-nord-went-lone-wolf-fire-department-merger-uptown-recruitment Then it got funnier when the Pantagraph decided it was news: koos-nord-acted-alone-to-poach-bloomington-business Somebody please check on Chris. Make sure he isn’t suicidal or buying a gun. He’s obviously lost his mind over Stan Nord. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Original story: https://blnnews.com/2019/05/23/the-lake-bloomington-fire/ I filed this FOIA request for additional information on the Lake Bloomington fire: Below are answers to two of the three questions: Four months after the fire the City has received zero from insurance. I believe they have bought everything they plan to replace except the building. I have […]
Audio below By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington’s mayor is having a bad couple of weeks. Tari was on WJBC this morning talking about his Clarence Thomas comment, of course social media is to blame. The WJBC reporter who was at the meeting asked Tari for a comment but he refused. Howard Packowitz should have included it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jenn Carrillo had her “pride” flag at the beginning of the meeting. She sits right next to the mayor, he said nothing. Maybe he doesn’t know displaying a personal flag that is larger than the American flag is offensive and violates the US Flag Code. If you missed last night’s story, see […]
By: Diane Benjamin Before I get to Billy, did you know Robert Brady Sr filed bankruptcy? This discharge report lists everyone who got taken by Brady: Brady Discharge – with creditor list What’s Billy up to? Every wonder how politicians earn a paycheck and somehow end up rich after they have been in office awhile? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord was on WJBC this morning with Scott Miller. The article below only recaps the conversation they had about Connect Transit. Nord also explained why he paid the tap-on fees instead of filing a lawsuit. The conversation ended with Stan asking both Bloomington and Normal to eliminate their Local Motor Fuel […]
By: Diane Benjamin I still haven’t seen any media coverage of the fire at Lake Bloomington. That would make sense if the loss was inconsequential, but it wasn’t: Source: Fire Inventory by Category Note: The above document contains $6,300 for personal items. The worksheet does not include replacing the building. The City paid $11,500 to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Step back to last Friday – Tari Renner’s Open House. Both WJBC and the Pantagraph had reporters there, they failed to do a story on what happened or Tari’s racist comment. They have now allowed time for Tari to formulate a response. Lost in this conversation are the people who attended to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner and his supporters are trying to claim the video I posted of him was taken out of context. Actually, with more context it is worse. Watch the video and listen to the reaction of those present. Tari was smiling, nobody else was.
