By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Jeff Jurgens STRONGLY urged residents to conserve even more water. Of course the below isn’t all that happened last night, just what I thought was notable. Last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting was tortuously long. Two items were pulled from the Consent Agenda. Both serve as a lesson in government […]
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 Hit Play below to hear the entire annual report from Chief Simington. The department is still having problems hiring officers, maybe because DEI is used in hiring decisions to make the department look more like the community. From this WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-03-13/bloomington-police-chief-discusses-illegal-guns-cameras-diversity . At 57:00 on the video the Chief states he […]
By: Diane Benjamin Three years ago a lawyer, Samantha Walley, tendered her resignation as the City Manager of Leroy. At the time she was in a kerfuffle with the Leroy Police Chief. She was and is married to a Bloomington Police Detective named Steve Moreland. Walley had previously worked in the States Attorney’s office. Walley […]
By: Diane Benjamin H/T to the person who gave me this tip All of this information was received by FOIA. A formal investigation by the State Police was launched last August. Why Carlton was fired is detailed in this document: . What this document doesn’t say is how the police found out. The multi-page documents […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Police gun buyback event is 10/29. When the money runs out the event will end. From the Facebook page: Gun Buyback Event The Bloomington Police Department will be holding a Gun Buyback Event on Sunday, 10/29/23, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., or until funds run out. The buyback will […]
If you received this survey I suggest you answer it. The results will drive decisions, don’t let just the small number of people who respond make decisions for you.
By: Diane Benjamin Jelani Day’s mom spoke at Public Comment last night via phone. Carmen Bolden-Day still has no answers more than a year after her son disappeared and was later found in the Illinois River. Carmen claimed she hasn’t been able to talk to investigators since February. She also talked about the handling of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nikita Richards is not only the chair of the local Democrat Party, she is an employee of the City of Bloomington in Human Resources. Yesterday she posted this on Facebook: Nikita just alienated all 130 Bloomington police officers. Nikita accused every officer of being unprofessional at best and racist at worst. How […]
By: Diane Benjamin If written many stories about the Art and Camille Taylor incident, they are all linked in this story along with the body cam videos: https://blnnews.com/2020/08/08/was-art-taylor-attempting-to-incite-something/ More information has been received by FOIA after an earlier FOIA obviously didn’t produce all of the documents involved. It was filed by John Boch. Start with […]
The body cam video has not been released. Rest assured, it will be! By: Diane Benjamin When only one side of the story is flashed all over Facebook it’s easy to assume facts that aren’t facts. Of course Mike Matejka of Not In Our Town jumped all over this claiming racism is real. Here is […]
BY KIRK ALLEN City of Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner fabricated information during a phone interview in an attempt to deflect from the resignation of a police officer, Curtis Squires. Renner’s interview was on WJBC radio on the 25th of September, following the City Council meeting where I urged him and the rest of the council to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I believe this guys court appearance has been delayed until tomorrow. His immigration status is still trying to be determined. He turned himself in with a lawyer. This is a picture from the victims Facebook page, unless there is more than one Corey Cottrell living in Normal. His death if tragic, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington may have a problem with one of their firefighters. Unfortunately most of the information I received under FOIA is redacted. Since he hasn’t been charged or even disciplined, I am withholding his name. The sources that gave me information claim this isn’t the only problem this guy has had, he just […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended the meeting. Public comment was extended to an hour, everyone who signed up before the meeting got to speak. The people who showed up were overwhelmingly supportive of the ordinance. I found it amusing that separation of Church and State doesn’t apply to illegal immigration. Many quoted Bible verses. I […]
Did Tari Know a large crowd was coming? It matters. By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Police Department was told loud and clear last night they were a huge problem. I wonder how many officers today are questioning why they are willing to die on the job to protect and serve people who despise them. I […]
The writer of this comment continues to make comments – all too vulgar to post except the one where he claims the mayor pays him to harass his opponents on line. It’s a good thing mental illness is becoming a priority, I know a guy who should be locked up. _______________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin In […]
By: Diane Benjamin It isn’t an accident the Bloomington City Council had relatively short meetings before the April election and now two-hour or more regular meetings will be the norm. Renner hid his agenda with talking points and now he’s ready to activate the plans he had safely tucked out of sight. Bike lanes of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The west-side police substation is back on the agenda of the Bloomington City Council Monday, but now it’s called a community center: Black Lives Matter still isn’t happy. Even though the City changed the name, BLM is still calling the house a substation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/240524299725464/ BLM is organizing people to attend […]
