By: Diane Benjamin Proving yet again the priorities of staff have nothing to do with what citizens expect: The Town is going to fix West College, it needs it! The problem is they aren’t just going to fix it. So far just DESIGN is budgeted at $1.45 MILLION. DESIGN Nothing is going to be built […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chemberly Cummings is the perfect Trustee for the establishment in Normal. She believes her job is to rubberstamp staff recommendations. Listen to her Saturday interview – start at 38:30 – https://www.cities929.com/steve-suess-podcast/ She, and all the other Trustees except Stan Nord, think they hire “professional staff” who are experts in their fields, so […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Steve Suess show has become the best place to get information on candidates for the April 6th election. Candidates who refuse to appear on his show prove they have no intention of discussing issues with people who don’t align with them 100%. Jackie Gunderson (Bloomington mayor) has refused to be interviewed. […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1468-0416.00029 Fitch does have Normal at AAA, did Normal pay to get that rating? Moody’s doesn’t have Normal at AAA: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/normal-town-il-moodys-assigns-230707753.html This story is based on the $2 million debt Normal recently refinanced instead of paying it off. QUOTE: RATING OUTLOOK The stable outlook incorporates our expectation that the town’s financial position […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you already knew “right fit” businesses are all that matters in Normal, last night cemented their place in history for being unfriendly to business. The Town levied fines on Joe’s Stationhouse Pizza for daring to defy Pritzker’s spewings when the Illinois Constitution clearly states emergency powers last 30 days. It was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Chris Koos, Kevin McCarthy, Scott Preston, and Chemberly Cummings want your vote April 6th, does this look like something they would do to get it? The Normal Council held a 9 hour budget session yesterday. Surprise! They aren’t going to raise property taxes this year. Instead they are rearranging money they […]
By: Diane Benjamin This guy is running for the Decatur City Council: He also posted this: Girdler’s pic shows he could have been high when he wrote the above. Truth is immaterial since the local group wasn’t at the capital when it was attacked and democrats have questioned electors 3 times since 2001. Pesky facts! […]
By: Diane Benjamin The best evidence yet to not re-elect Scott Preston and Chemberly Cummings: While the Town of Normal is determined to put non-compliant restaurants out of business by fining them for not closing indoor dining, staff can eat in a conference room at Town Hall. The Town attorney – Brian Day – who […]
By: Diane Benjamin This meme popped up on Facebook about the same time The Normal Town Council proved it to be true: Start with the Work Session Normal had on December 7th to decide whether to create an ordinance to enforce Pritzker’s non-enforceable Restore Illinois waste of paper. See the video in this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/08/normal-isnt-shutting-down-businesses-for-violations/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course we know the local elections are not non-partisan. Koos and Renner don’t hide the fact they are Democrats. Carrillo and Crabill don’t hide they are socialists. Scott Preston is involved with the local GOP party. The association list goes on and on. When elected, ideology isn’t suddenly thrown out the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal managed to have an almost 2 1/2 hour meeting. Much of it was spent trying to straighten out YOUR thoughts about the Town government. Kathleen Lorenz reiterated again payments can not be discussed because they were already approved in the budget. Pam Reece gave a long diatribe about a payment to […]
FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE November 16, 2020 Marc Tiritilli to run for Mayor of Normal Normal—Marc Tiritilli is pleased to announce his candidacy for Mayor of Normal in the election on April 6, 2021. He has submitted the required candidate filings and is eagerly moving on to the heart of the campaign. Tiritilli […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just a reminder: Chemberly Cummings wants to make laws in Springfield to control you, but she refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. She put the red sign over her camera. She hates America and is unfit for ANY office. She did not get her internet connection fixed, the quality is still […]
By: Diane Benjamin I really wanted to take the afternoon off, but then a reader sent me this: ISU must believe “people of color” all lean left. This virtual discussion is being conducted by one of the local leaders of Black Lives Matter: Olivia Butts. On the panel are 3 local women who range from […]
By: Diane benjamin h/t a reader Besides borrowing money at 97.74% interest, Chemberly’s actions on the Normal Town Council prove she isn’t fit to serve if you are looking for fiscal responsibility in government. You didn’t know about the loan? See detail here: https://blnnews.com/2019/09/16/part-2-why-chemberly-isnt-fit-to-serve/ Below is the back side of the campaign literature her minions […]
By: Diane Benjamin The mantra of the left is Equality – unless you earn more money than somebody else. Equality is not stealing a higher percentage of income from the people who earned it. A completely FAIR tax is taking the same percent from everyone. The proposed change to the Illinois Constitution to Tax The […]
By: Diane Benjamin When you vote for progressives your taxes will go up. Utopia takes cold hard cash – YOURS. During the Work Session at 6:00 pm last night the only topic was increasing the gas tax. The theme at this meeting and the 7:00 meeting was “pots” of money. Think about how you handle […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council held a special meeting last night to address the COVID outbreak around campus. Guess what! Protests are exempt from regulations so as not to trample on the 1st Amendment. Funny how Normal has no problem trampling on YOUR rights under the 1st Amendment: …to petition the government for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council managed to stretch a 10 minute meeting into 50 minutes. 2 members went on long diatribes. I will start with Karyn Smith. If you want to hear it – go to 16:20. The topic was One Normal Plaza. Karyn felt the need to correct what she thinks is misinformation. This […]
By: Diane Benjamin Besides Kathleen Lorenz proving she is unfit to serve as an elected official, lots of other things happened too. In case you missed her rant: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/21/i-bet-you-missed-the-premier-of-lorenzs-version-of-shut-up-stan/ I hope Kathleen and the other Council members take the time to read the comments to that story. The people supposedly “served” by the Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin I tried to wrap up most of what happened Monday night in this story and failed. One more story coming and some things still won’t be covered. Link to all previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/08/jumping-around-normals-meeting/ This one is number SIX. This was on the agenda: EVERY person on the Council, except Stan Nord, voted […]
By: Diane Benjamin Story #3 has links to stories #1 and #2: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/07/trifecta-koos-now-lies/ The meeting was over 3 hours, this story means I’ve made it to the 8 minute mark! Progress. 3 people spoke at Public Comment, two talked about the new soccer complex. Doug Fansler spoke on more than 1 topic, the first being […]
By: Diane Benjamin As a veteran one would think Chris Koos has said the Pledge of Allegiance so many times it would be impossible to forget. Last night he couldn’t remember the words, maybe because it was at: “One Nation Under God”. Also note instead of saying the Pledge, Chemberly Cummings put a sign on […]
By: Diane Benjamin 9:00 – Stan pulled the bills for further discussion – particularly paying property taxes. Pam Reece and attorney Brian Day didn’t have good answers for not filing paperwork to make them exempt. 14:45 Koos ends the conversation. Next was the contract with the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. Stan wanted the same […]
By: Diane Benjamin The next election can’t come fast enough because all but one of the elected officials are not working for the people in Normal. Covering last night’s meeting is going to take more than one story. Start with Trustee comments at the end of the meeting. Chemberly Cummings lectured the public on wearing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Problem 1 The property the Town of Normal owns at 1217 S. Adelaide still shows as taxable. https://mcleanil.devnetwedge.com/parcel/view/1432279011/2018 See this story, the Town has known since Stan Nord was elected they don’t owe the taxes: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/11/normal-like-paying-property-taxes-you-dont-owe/ Is it that hard to fix problems? Problem 2 These is a screen shot of video […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) The Director of the McLean County History Museum recently left after only 1 1/2 years on the job. Was there some financial improprieties? I’m hearing rumors. If this is true it is yet another person allowed to quit without an investigation. He then moves on to do the same thing somewhere […]
By: Diane Benjamin If Illinois had a competent Attorney General a ruling against Normal for their public comment policy would have been written many months ago. (the law requires them to rule within 90 days) We don’t, so Normal continues to stifle citizen speech only because they can. A complaint was filed with the AG […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are some things from the last Normal FOIA I found interesting. Some other things are very interesting, I had to file another FOIA for those. For now – enjoy these: On September 1st at 8:55 pm a resident of Normal sent an email with this title: The email is long, basically […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pam Reece can’t understand why Stan Nord is questioning the actions of past Councils. If Pam can’t understand why Stan was elected, she had an opportunity handed to her: Stan has raised questions about a number of issues. Some of them included Town owned properties being leased for much less than market […]
By: Diane Benjamin On September 12, 2001 we were all Americans. American flags lined neighborhoods. For one day we were a united country. It didn’t last. The citizens of Normal sponsored the Racial Equity Summit held yesterday and today: Why are some minorities wildly successful and some aren’t? Maybe they didn’t “stand idly” waiting for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Kathleen Lorenz claims to be a Republican, so does Scott Preston. It is Republicans like these that made me leave the Republican Party years ago. The days of voting for party are long gone. Base your vote on the CHARACTER of the candidate, not the party. Both Lorenz and Preston know Normal’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story should explain why Tari Renner despises Clarence Thomas. https://blnnews.com/2019/05/25/tari-renner-clarence-thomas-doesnt-act-afro-american/ Thomas is black and successful. Clarence proves being born poor and black in America does not mean you are doomed for life. The same applies to Ben Carson and many other minorities who are living the American Dream because they worked […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2019/09/15/part-1-why-chemberly-isnt-fit-to-serve/ This article will explain why Chemberly should not be in any elected office deciding how to spend taxpayer money. Lots of people find themselves in difficult spots, what matters is digging yourself out. The only way to do that is cut-cut-cut expenses and/or increase income. Cummings chose […]
See part 2 here: https://blnnews.com/2019/09/16/part-2-why-chemberly-isnt-fit-to-serve/ By: Diane Benjamin The almost 11 minute speech Cummings gave announcing her candidacy for a seat in Springfield made it clear she isn’t running as a public servant. If you watch Normal Town Council meetings you see the same thing. If you missed Chemberly proclaiming herself “the royal fortress”, watch […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sometimes I see an email that so so well written and sums up perfectly what a lot of people think, I have to post it. This was received by FOIA – I redacted the writer’s name. Friday at 5:01 pm Chemberly claims to be making a big announcement. I think I will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Normal Town Council meeting lasted close to 4 hours. It started with a conga line of Uptown supporters, most (if not all) connected to government. 2 objectors to the Fiala payoff were conveniently placed at the end of Public Comment. It started at 8:00 if you want to watch. On […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord has been trying to fix a few things in Normal since before he was elected. Everybody should know by now the Town has been throwing away taxpayer dollars paying property taxes they don’t owe. Stan has tried to bring some other Council members into the discussion in an attempt to […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin In the past elected Trustees were just rubber stamps. Since the election, Koos is losing control. Has Chris Koos ever read Illinois law? Read the last line Mr. Mayor: At last night’s meeting Koos stated (15:32) the bills listed with the agenda have already been paid. He expects the Trustees to just […]
