By: Diane Benjamin Charlie Kirk didn’t hate anyone. Social media is full of lies about what he believed. The people spewing that hate are obviously repeating what they have been told instead of doing their own research. It is particularly hard to see teachers who are shaping young minds write vile comments. 18,000 requests to […]
By: Diane Benjamin By now readers should know laws only apply to peons. Aldermen can violate City Code while campaigning for office and nothing happens to them. The City Manager can violate his $50,000 spending limit and nothing happens to him. The latest: A Planning Commision meeting was held last week. Since it was held […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a comment made on my site about Charlie Kirk. The writer is employed by Illinois State University. I thought this comment deserved attention, it was made to the Evil Hates Love story: Did I agree with most of what he said? Nope. Did he deserve to die for what he […]
By: Diane Benjamin Words like racist now have no meaning. Other words are rapidly suffering the same fate: Nazi, White Supremacist, Democracy, and Fascist. Throwing out labels where they don’t apply makes them immaterial and it proves those who use them are incapable of independent thought. Example: . Many people today have no idea what […]
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 Public Education has led to this: . Socialism doesn’t produce liberation, it enslaves. No Nazis were ever going to march in Bloomington. PSL has no idea what Fascism is, they have been taught it is the extreme right wing. It isn’t. Ending capitalism means freedom disappears with it. Education needs a reset […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Council meeting was ridiculously long – over 3 hours. I left after about 1 1/2 hours and watched the rest on YouTube. Public Comment was still happening when I got home. My comment is at 26:13. The room started off packed. Many people were there to witness the introduction of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Details for my Public Comment at the 9/8/2025 City Council meeting: Criminal Damage to Property because of political ideology is a HATE CRIME. Where is Not In Our Town? I am not going to identify where this property is to prevent further harm to the homeowner. It is on a major Bloomington […]
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 Charlie Schlenker, WGLT, wrote what was really close to a good story about Krystle Able: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-09-05/normal-township-supervisor-draws-two-paychecks Read the story if you haven’t yet, because this was Krystle’s response to it – posted on her Facebook page: . Since she tries hard to ignore my stories, I doubt that comment was directed at […]
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 1) The zoning change for the property in this story was delayed by the Planning Commission until October: https://blnnews.com/2025/09/03/homeless-shelter-in-single-family-neighborhood-at-planning-commission-today/ I have no idea why. 2) h/t a reader The cabins for the downtown homeless village Home Sweet Home Ministries is building are being assembled where Clay Dooley used to be located: .
By: Diane Benjamin Missing Middle Housing is supposed to be on the September 8th Bloomington City Council Agenda. There are some things the City and the Council either don’t know or do and aren’t telling you. No wonder some on the Council wanted a fast vote. Opticos has been using the same canned program for […]
By: Diane Benjamin See PDF page 20: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1087/files/agenda/6753 The documentation doesn’t make it clear what the owner of the vacant property wants to build: . The only way to understand what is happening is to read this story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-06-02/long-term-plan-to-help-the-homeless-lives-short-life-on-bloomingtons-northwest-side Excepts: Chris Collins said he invited people to sleep on land he owned in a Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) From a reader, I will just use his words. He was mailing a birthday card: I was driving to the post office in Morton to make the early Saturday cutoff. A mailman was delivering so I stopped on the road and gave him the letter, asking if it will go out […]
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 1) The Nazi march was obviously fake. It was hilarious see the local media and activists organizing protests. I wonder if a Not In Our Town member created it since their relevance is diminishing without visible proof of activity they can rouse the leftists to rally against? How did I know it […]
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 Opticos Designs is the California based consultant who is recommending zoning changes to single family neighborhoods in Bloomington. Note that Normal isn’t doing anything close. Guess what? Opticos is pushing the same talking points in Maryland: https://montgomeryplanning.org/events/what-is-missing-middle-housing-presentation-to-the-silver-spring-community-from-opticos-design/ This event will feature Tony Perez from Opticos Design who is a Missing Middle Housing expert in […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Since Krystle Able calls herself a Democratic Socialist, she of course supports the far left guy running for mayor of New York. She doesn’t know history, most socialists are elected using talking points that sound nice but don’t work. Meanwhile, people who know history are handing out cards in New York […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve done many stories on Opticos and Missing Middle Housing. Review this story, it contains what the Council told staff they wanted back in July 2024 to solve the “housing crisis”: https://blnnews.com/2025/05/31/remember-when-i-told-you-staff-wouldnt-drop-it/ There is ZERO in those instructions about creating “walkable neighborhoods” or hiring a consultant from California. That didn’t stop Jeff […]
By: Diane Benjamin Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2025/08/26/bam-bloomington-residents-put-in-their-place/ I’m going to attempt to track how much money the City is spending relocating Public Works to the former Owens Nursery property. Start with the purchase June 10, 2024: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f7099398-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1717791762.pdf . Last night $154,740 was approved for a consultant to create a preliminary design for the “campus”. It won’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is Part 1, a short Part 2 is next. Last night’s festivities were full of misinformation by citizen speakers. Of course that’s why the 1st Amendment exists. It’s vitally important for all people to have free speech and the ability to address their government. Public Comment had to be extended over […]
Links: (Above is a picture) https://www.bing.com/search?q=Department+of+Education+stops+federal+funding+of+workforce+study&pc=GD03&form=GDAVG1&ptag=9309 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careers/department-of-education-ends-support-for-political-activism/ar-AA1KU6P5?ocid=BingNewsSerp https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-bans-federal-work-study-funds-from-supporting-political-activism-college-campuses?msockid=27d69318ee1a6ba8370886faef646a80
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 After looking for months I finally found it! I’ve been saying for a long time when I do find this I can’t wait to burn it! I did yesterday. Below are 2 videos. The 1st one is 3 minutes and 33 seconds and explains most of why I did this. The second […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are excerpts from a Working Paper compiled by: Read the details at the link above, I prefer visuals: . . Any further comments from me aren’t needed!
Another reader told me to use this link to save money: https://www.ameren.com/illinois/account/customer-service/bill/power-smart-pricing/ This is the cheapest way to save money! A reader told me you can Opt-Out at anytime. As of October 1st would be a good time. By: Diane Benjamin Like really high electricity bills? If you didn’t opt out of either the Bloomington […]
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 Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2025/08/13/does-unit-5-own-your-kids/ The email in that story showed Unit 5 hiding facts from parents. The emails below were received by FOIA. If multiple emails are in one picture, start reading them from the bottom. All concern kids deciding they are trans, mental health services are never mentioned. Unit 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin . Those pictures are from Maroa Il – the site of a former solar farm that didn’t survive storms on 8/18. No reports blame anything but severe storms. https://www.wandtv.com/community/maroa-solar-farm-suffered-significant-damage-from-overnight-storms/article_a6e03577-0e19-480c-bc3c-e931c0e4e753.html I did see a report on Facebook of power outages close to Bloomington. Ameren blamed this solar farm wreckage. The power grid has […]
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/medicaid-enrollment-spending-soar-in-illinois-as-congress-weighs-cuts/ Illinois should be asking why so many more people are on Medicaid instead of complaining about “cuts”. Covid is long over, the people eligible then should now be removed. .
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Bloomington Committee of the Whole: Also on the agenda was a discussion of video gaming. Start with the Public Comment at 33:35 from a downtown bar owner that isn’t allowed to have video gaming because of the arbitrary limit on the number of establishments the City set. Now see 2:11:20. […]
