By: Diane Benjamin More than one citizen is questioning the integrity and ethics in the Town of Normal. Below is a letter from a citizen with the name illegally redacted. Writing an email to the Council is no different than Public Comment at a meeting. Normal redacted the name in violation of the FOIA law. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Posted yesterday by WGLT reporter Ryan Denham: During-a-Fraught-Time-for-Local-Media-Conservative-Radio-Station-Sees-an-Opening File this one under local comedy. The reporter is upset that Cities 92.9 veers into opinion reporting rather than straight news. Keep in mind the WGLT General Manager RC McBride used to have a seat on the Normal Town Council until he was defeated […]
The best 5 minutes of the Ty Smith show from July 31, 2021. Get the kids, this message is for everyone! Hear the entire episode on Ty’s YouTube channel or on the Cities 92.9 podcast. YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPjBgrDLoYY Cities 92.9 podcast: https://www.cities929.com/cancel-this-with-ty-smith/
By: Diane Benjamin The candidates below have refused or ignored invitations to appear on Cities 92.9 radio. That means they don’t want to discuss issues with those who lean right and aren’t interested in earning your vote. Maybe they know their policies can’t be defended. Chris Koos – Normal Mayor Jackie Gunderson – Bloomington Mayor […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari’s greatest lies part I lost count: https://www.cities929.com/steve-suess-podcast/ Tari Renner’s interview with Steve Suess starts around 45:00. Lie #1 Nobody has ever stated your entire police force is corrupt. I stated a bad cop can make ALL of them look bad. Lie #2 Diane makes stuff up. Since Tari claimed he doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was sent the below by a reader: The City of Bloomington’s insurance company paid the legal fees for the Watchdogs FOIA lawsuit to get documents the City claimed didn’t exist. Note the legal fees to Loevy & Loevy were reported as an “accident”. Maybe it was an accident that an officer […]
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 The local (Democrat) socialists pretend they support the people. They don’t – they only want power. They will use that power to do what socialists always do, punish their enemies. They don’t want to learn or have discussions. They demand you comply or be destroyed. I’m sure you’ve noticed that tactic by […]
By: Diane Benjamin Problem identified: Kathleen’s facts are right, Stan Nord’s aren’t. Did Kathleen read this story? Her facts were WAY OFF! https://blnnews.com/2020/12/10/lorenz-how-about-not-believing-everything-you-are-told/ Kathy didn’t do any better in an interview with Cities 92.9. She was there to counter an interview Stan Nord did previously. You can listen to it here: https://www.cities929.com/david-paul-blumenshine/ The first topic […]
See story update: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/02/body-cam-video-at-maggie-mileys-denied/ By: Diane Benjamin A comment made by radio host Steve Suess during his November 21st show needed an investigation. https://www.spreaker.com/user/cities929/november-21-2020 Fast forward to 87:00. Steve talked about an establishment in Normal that was shut down by Normal police for continuing in-door dining. He didn’t ask the owner for permission to use […]
By: Diane Benjamin Vowing to uphold both the Constitution of the United States and the State of Illinois is beyond the left. Tari Renner proved that again at the emergency Liquor Commission meeting yesterday. See the short video clip as reported by Cities 92.9: https://www.cities929.com/2020/11/21/bloomington-mayor-renner-whines-at-liquor-commission-hearing-about-the-states-attorney/?fbclid=IwAR3IAg490VjyNCDqMzrrp8xgykB7fmsDgfxZdlbgmHMyl4m6kPGO9oEyrO0 Tari expect State Attorney Don Knapp to enforce Pritzker Executive […]
See response to FOIA below: By: Diane Benjamin First a side note to Tim. Since you have a FOIAable email address I’ll say thanks here. US Representative Rodney Davis was on Cities 92.9 this morning with Steve Suess. Davis was asked about the $8 million grant to Connect Transit for a downtown Bloomington transfer station. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Regardless of what the local mayor’s claim, Governor Pritzker’s Executive orders expired 30 days after he wrote them. That was well over a month ago. Since the media allows JB to continue acting like anything he says is valid, that speaks volumes about their ability to be called a “free press”. Our […]
By: Diane Benjamin Some people in Bloomington admit they are democrat socialist. The “democrat” part is added to make it sound like its real people leading the movement. They are pure socialists, just like the ones who destroyed Venezuela. They want to take your money, attack wealth producers, and hand money to people who didn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin A comment was left on BlnNews last night that deserves a longer response than just my reply. The citizens of Bloomington need to understand who is REALLY responsible for the roads and new designs in recent years. It isn’t Jim Karch. The comment: Why are few roads getting fixed and those that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Some local media have reported on the grand jury testimony which laid out the case against the 5 former Coliseum Managers. The City of Bloomington continues to claim they did not know about improprieties at the Coliseum until VenuWorks took over in July of 2016. The local media continues to let them […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was nice of most the progressives to pose for a pic together. Progressives think government is the answer to every problems. Personal responsibility isn’t required when government can create the future, they just need a ton more money to make it perfect. Nikita Richards announced on Cities 92.9 that she plans […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bruce Rauner will not be able to recover. In his acceptance speech he said Jeanne Ives ran a principled campaign. He didn’t. Illinois is much worse since Rauner has been governor, he doesn’t deserve 4 more years. Besides the lies he told during the campaign, he is responsible for making Illinois a […]
By: Diane Benjamin We aren’t a democracy, but I might as well use the language of the left. It fits. It’s bad enough the Pantagraph refuses to do investigative reporting, but now the media is threatening to throw an election for MONEY. Cities 92.9 knows Bruce Rauner is lying in his endlessly running commercial claiming […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cities 92.9 and BlnNews are launching a Pothole Hall of Shame. The City is never going to fixed the roads until citizens force them to! Feel free to “decorate” potholes with chalk. Draw a big arrow pointing to the pothole so other drivers see it before they blow tire, break shocks, or […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos was on WJBC this morning. Hear the interview HERE Did you know that Uptown is NEVER going to be finished? Yep, Koos said that. He is running for a 4th term because he isn’t done with his vision. Bloomington-Normal will be paying for a new sports facility if Koos and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cities 92.9 held a debate last night between mayoral candidates Kevin Lower and Tari Renner. Listen to it HERE The picture below is the back side of a mailer sent by Tari Renner. I’ve been holding it for a couple of days because I knew he would use these talking points during […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) State Farm is expanding again – in Atlanta. They are building an office for up to 10,000 employees: http://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/watch-crews-implode-dunwoody-office-building/iZnPJmTxmPswgoj4gJwEeL/ 2) Cities 92.9 is holding a Bloomington mayoral debate next Wednesday. They showed total disregard for church activities that normally happen on Wednesday evenings, but worse – Wednesday evening services during the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday the Pantagraph wrote this story: Normal Seeks AG’s Opinion On Public Comment I wonder where they got the idea for the story! Did Chris Koos call them and say “I’ve got a story for you”? Mark Peterson? The only reason Normal is considering changing their Public Comment policy is because at […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was WONDERFUL only having 3 of the 5 candidates show up last night, the audience got much more information from the candidates than would have been possible with all 5 there. The room was packed with people wanting to hear what the candidates had to say. If you didn’t attend or […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every major news source in Bloomington-Normal is supported by thousands of your tax dollars. In less than two years your tax dollars went to: Pantagraph: $338,493.91 WJBC etc: $148,965.78 Cities 92.9 etc: $30,474.30 City governments send regular payouts to these entities for thousands of dollars in what they call advertising. Not limiting themselves […]
Ben Yount finally agreed to hold an event here in September! He mentioned your emails! Thanks. _______________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” I was at […]
By: Diane Benjamin A citizen FOIA’d the City of Bloomington for Tari Renner’s calendar. I predict Tari won’t be putting everything on his calendar anymore. See his June calendar here: Renner calendar There are a lot of interesting items – see them for yourself. Some entries are redacted. Tari has some personal items listed, so […]
By: Diane Benjamin Campaigning for reelection has begun for Alderman Black. Yesterday he was on Cities 92.9 with two people supposedly from the Illinois Policy Institute. I’ve never heard of either of them, in fact they never said their last names while I was listening. Scott had them totally snowed into believing he was a […]
By: Diane Benjamin This morning I had a long breakfast with the Edgar County Watchdogs, Kirk Allen and John Kraft. They call me when they are passing through town. For some reason they always pick places on the west side to eat, that gives me a chance to see how bad the roads are on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back on December 20, 2013, the Pantagraph thought a sitting Alderwoman filing a complaint against Tari Renner, David Hales, and the rest of the Council was a big story: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/alderman-stearns-alleges-open-meetings-act-violation/article_5b8974e2-6916-11e3-986a-001a4bcf887a.html How about reporting on what happened? Start by hammering Lisa Madigan for taking more than two years to issue a determination! The […]
Don’t miss the two followup stories: https://blnnews.com/2016/02/15/dave-selzer-tax-deadbeat/ https://blnnews.com/2016/02/15/selzer-now-running-scared/ By: Diane Benjamin The post below appeared on Republican County Board member Dave Selzer’s Facebook page yesterday. The comments are even more revealing. Dave agrees with Democrat Tari Renner 75% of the time! The McLean County transparency rating by the Illinois Policy Institute is F. I knew […]
By: Ulysses Arn The status quo at the College of DuPage cost the taxpayers dearly and has resulted in the states second largest school being embroiled in scandal. The status quo is no more at the college thanks to a new board majority of reformers, several investigations(sadly, but needed), the ouster so far of two […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why has the media NOT reported truthfully on the City of Bloomington’s waste of $1.2 Million? Pantagraph? WJBC? Cities? WGLT? Maybe they interviewed Hales or Renner, but they wouldn’t be getting truth! If you clicked on the link to IMRF in this post: https://blnnews.com/2015/09/10/proof-they-lied/ you can get to their page showing FOIA […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cities 92.9 no longer employs Ian Bayne or Fistbump. I’m getting reasons why from a LOT of different sources, I will try to piece together what I know. First, I’m sure Ian’s listeners felt the same way I did. For the very first time we had a media source that represented us. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last Friday Ben was broadcasting from Fox and Hounds in downtown Bloomington. He interviewed one of the co-owners, Vickie Tilton. The conversation should have stuck to the salon and the services offered, but it veered into politics. Lister to Hour Two, starting at 11:05: http://cities929.com/portal.asp?pid=3557181&sid=3309 Vickie said she was raised in Uptown […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hillary Clinton and the City of Bloomington have a lot in common! Both think they are entitled to decide who is press and who isn’t. The UK’s Daily Mail frequently reports on things the American Press refuses to. One of their reporters was banned from covering Hillary events. The American press is in […]
By: Diane Benjamin At Monday’s Council meeting Tari shut off public comment. Unless the rest of the Council refuses to tolerate it, citizens have a much smaller voice at City Hall now under Tari. The rules say 15 minutes is allotted. 3 minutes for 5 speakers weren’t a problem before Tari’s agenda was revealed because 5 people […]
A reader called WJBC. They consider it over. Truth doesn’t matter to them either! By: Diane Benjamin The ONLY reason I started BlnNews is more than obvious. Local news didn’t exist. The Pantagraph and WJBC slanted every story to fit their purpose. They praised elected officials for their brilliance while in office, then blame them when […]
By: Diane Benjamin . . Nora filed for a dismissal in her case against Fistbump. Maybe she feared being laughed out of court! She should have known that before she filed! Tari: You went after Judy Stearns and lost! Remember the long standing ovation she received? Tari: You went after me and got a censure […]
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