By: Diane Benjamin AOC and Bernie Sanders are progressives. Basically anyone who wants to use government to shape the future the way they want it to be is progressive. If you don’t agree with that vision you are ignored. Defund the Police was progressive. https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/01/22/bloomington-normal-mayors-fail-win-unions-backing-reelection The local unions refused to endorse Chris Koos as they’ve […]
By: Diane Benjamin Read yesterday’s story if you missed it: https://blnnews.com/2025/01/14/video-gaming-discrimination/ Jill Whitacre, owner of Shake It Up Cocktail Lounge, made a plea for a video gaming license. The number of licenses are limited because the Council under Tari Renner thought there would be less gambling if machines weren’t everywhere. If Bloomington wanted to limit […]
By: Diane Benjamin The destruction from the fires in California was predicted. If whatever media you listen to hasn’t played clips proving that find a new media source. This is what part of Pacific Palisades looks like now: . Santa Ana Winds happen every year. Dead trees and dry brush fuel fires. Lack of water […]
By: Diane Benjamin Are these the type of expenses donors expect in a nonpartisan election? Act Blue is under investigation for fraudulent contributions to national campaigns: https://republicans-cha.house.gov/2024/12/chairman-steil-releases-findings-from-subpoena-of-actblue Do donors want their contributions going to the McLean County Democrats? From the donor list for this candidate they probably don’t care: https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/39051/ If you haven’t figured it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Contributions of $1000 of more to a campaign have to be reported within 24 hours. As of the end of September Mboka has $12.70 in his Friends of Mboka Mwilambwe account: https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/36534/ No large contributions have been reported since then. Meanwhile Cody Henricks has $11,209.51. Much of that money came from unions […]
By: Diane BenjaminAlderman Donna Boelen resigned from the Bloomington City Council yesterday. People paying attention to meetings know she has been participating remotely for quite awhile. The reason given was illness. I hope now she can recover from whatever is ailing her. Her voice will be missed. See this story: https://www.25newsnow.com/2024/12/23/bloomington-city-councils-senior-member-resigns-with-2-years-left-her-term/ Excerpt: Ward 2 residents […]
By: Diane Benjamin My church in Bloomington is a voting location. Yesterday they had a large number of poll workers and machines – larger than previous years. The crew sets up for the election the night before. We had some members there to move a lot of furniture out of the way. I don’t remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin You can’t see any of the Public Comments because the camera never changed to show them. You can only hear them. Even though City Code prohibits holding meetings on a Federal or State holiday they did. (Chap 2 Sect 15) Maybe staff had the day off except for a rookie called in […]
By: Diane Benjamin Aldermen Jenna Kearns and Kent Lee did not attend last night’s meeting. That is important to remember for what happened. First, Monsignor Jason Gray from the Peoria Diocese asked the council to not override the wishes of the property owner who does not want to be designated as an historic landmark because […]
By: Diane Benjamin This won’t be the only story on last night. During the discussion of parking tickets downtown, the aldermen who is also running for mayor declared he and his spouse who is running for McLean County Board (Eric Hansen) aren’t good at paying their bills. Cody Hendricks was the only vote against stronger […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this meeting? . Don’t look for video because the library has no way of broadcasting or taping meetings. Expect more meetings to be held there when transparency isn’t wanted. If you just want the basics about this meeting, read any media recap like this one: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-08-29/police-leaders-field-questions-from-the-public-on-hiring-accountability?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook If you want more keep […]
By: Diane Benjamin The probable Project Labor Agreement coming to the City Council is a clear example of pay-to-play politics. Labor unions throw money at aldermen to get them elected, then those alderman pass ordinances that are good for labor unions while also being destructive to taxpayers. Bloomington’s City Manager stated union representatives helped write […]
Update: Hendricks announced his run for mayor today! 😉 By: Diane Benjamin Just hit Play below to hear the intro by City Manager Jeff Jurgens to the proposed Project Labor Agreement ordinance. He is followed by two alderman happy to see this brought to Council. The two are Tom Crumpler and Cody Hendricks. Jurgens stated […]
By: Diane Benjamin Interest rates were kept artificially low for far too long. It allowed everyone access to cheap money that allowed living above their means – including government who took advantage of unrealistic money value. See this link for an historical look at mortgage interest rates: https://money.usnews.com/loans/mortgages/articles/historical-mortgage-rates Government and the Federal Reserve created the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting proved why failure of the majority of registered voters to actually vote is destructive to your wallet! The majority of people can’t wait to vote in meaningless national elections and then they ignore local elections allowing the far left to run your city. Citizens are the […]
By: Diane Benjamin $51,000,000 is expected to be in the City coffers at year end. They have big plans to spend your money, none of that money can be used to pay for essential spending like Public Safety pensions. Your taxes are going up to fund them. The vote last night was temporary, the final […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mboka Mwilambwe wasn’t there – he’s out of the country. John Danenberger was AWOL. So was Cody Hendricks. Tim Gleason was MIA, of course he has TWO assistants, so Billy Tyus did his job. The only Public comment was Scott Stimeling who once again raged about fireworks. He seems to think whatever […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on this story plus the NEW Ward 6 map: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/30/ward-6-cody-hendricks-violates-law-but/ The Democrat Party held an event for Hendricks. Note his opponent Jordan Baker wasn’t invited. Don’t forget Democrats Dave Koehler and Sharon Chung held a fundraiser for him too: https://blnnews.com/2023/01/17/its-official-local-elections-are-partisan/ Obviously Hendricks is running as a Democrat in a nonpartisan election […]
By: Diane Benjamin In Illinois there are rarely any penalties for people who break campaign laws. Evidently CODE based on State Law is just a suggestion. (Heard any electioneering charges yet?) Keep in mind Hendricks teaches CIVICS at Olympia, somebody please check what version he teaches! Bloomington Code: https://ecode360.com/34402871 It violates City Code to run […]
The two video below are from West Side Neighbors Facebook page. They are evidently inviting a few candidates at a time to speak to their group. Brad Wurth and Mollie Emery were also there. Since Danenberger and Hendricks skipped a forum I attended, these videos will allow you to hear both for yourself. Both think […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hendricks is running in Ward 6 against Jordan Baker. Ask Hendricks if he’s a closet socialist: Socialist former mayoral candidate Jackie Gunderson supports Hendricks: It appears Vicki Tilton and Tari Renner do too: (talking about campaign group) Willing to cheat to win? Just Funny – Green Top didn’t solve the food desert. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Rachael Lund spent a lot of time collecting signatures to run for Normal Town Council. Then she withdrew because she is leaving the area. She saved me the trouble of posting stories like this one again: https://blnnews.com/2020/10/30/who-is-the-real-rachel-lund/ Lund is obviously far left. Not many signatures are needed to run for Bloomington Council. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Colleen Reynolds wrote the WGLT article on the forum held last Saturday: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-01-14/bloomington-normal-council-candidate-nonpartisan-forum-turns-partisan She never says in the article where it turned partisan. Nice job Colleen. Are you offended the local GOP held the event only 2 far left candidates for Bloomington Council didn’t attend? Does Colleen think only WGLT should hold […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ward 1 – Jenna Kearns Since she’s unopposed I don’t see a reason to post her video unless someone REALLY wants to see. Ward 2 – Donna Boelen, also running unopposed Ward 4 – Steve Nalefski. His opponent John Wyatt Danenberger didn’t show up. If he had he would have been asked […]
