By: Diane Benjamin The story below is the most comprehensive one I’ve seen. Mayors from more than two Illinois cities are headed to Rome on diplomatic mission that includes meeting with the Pope. Maybe Koos and Brady can give everyone a report on what they accomplished – other than site-seeing. What happened to separation of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Quote from the story below: While Bloomington saw more births than deaths, domestic outmigration of more than 1,000 residents led to overall population decline. Why are people leaving? Duh, taxes. We can quit worrying about a housing shortage. People will continue leaving since there is no reason to stay good enough to […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Remember the communist organizer from ISU – Andrew Franson? https://blnnews.com/2025/10/16/email-from-an-isu-communist/ He calls himself a communist, I didn’t label him. I received an email from him saying the picture in this story is wrong: https://blnnews.com/2026/01/30/tiny-anti-ice-crowd/ Andrew claims people had left by the time the picture in the story was taken. He claims […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last Monday City Manager Jeff Jurgen announced there was plenty of parking downtown – Just hit Play: . Mayor Brady is quoted in this WGLT story stating the opposite: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-12-16/bloomington-considers-downtown-trolley-service-during-parking-crunch Brady wants a trolley service when big events are going on because parking near the places holding events is limited. Which is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I did not receive this information from any current member of the Bloomington Police Department. I’m sure Chief Simington will be wondering where it originated. If he launches a witch hunt to find out how I obtained it, he will further degrade what little moral still exists in the department. The below […]
By: Diane Benjamin Between the Executive Session and the end of the open meeting the exchange below happened. Ken Lee shakes Dan Brady’s hand. Brady then approaches the new (forced in) Mayor Pro Tem, Mollie Ward. She appears to refrain from a handshake. Words were exchanged, the mic was off so we don’t know what […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IL/Bloomington/123382/web.345435/#/summary Dan Brady received 2,411 more votes than Cody Hendricks and 4,830 more than the current mayor. Uncontested Ward 3 candidate, Sheila Montney, received more votes that the total who bothered to vote in Ward 1. That Ward is stuck with Jenna Kearns for 4 more years. She won by 227 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The back side of Cody Hendricks’ illegal mailer bashed Dan Brady. It claimed Brady supports Trump’s extreme MAGA agenda. That means Cody must stands for waste, fraud, and abuse of your money. He must also support keeping criminal aliens roaming the streets. Americans without TDS don’t support either. We know Cody has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Public Comment was adorable last night. The far left showed up to demand the council and candidates support a Springfield bill to Lift the Rent Control ban. Just hit play to hear them on the video below. What none of them said was what they expect if the ban is lifted. Do […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both Cody Hendricks and Tom Crumpler were absent last night from the City Council meeting. Cody did post a campaign video of himself downtown talking about making it great. Since he wasn’t wearing a coat he didn’t film it yesterday. Below are Cody’s latest campaign contributions. If you look at all his […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 2 videos below are from the GOP candidate forum held January 18th. These are the question and answer session for the Bloomington mayoral candidates. All of the videos can be found here: https://www.mcleancountyrepublicans.org/meet_the_mayoral_candidates Chemberly Harris and Kathleen Lorenz videos are also on that link. Chris Koos was out of town that […]
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 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 Benjamin Three people spoke at Public Comment: Dan Brady, Surena Fish, and Gary Lambert. Brady wondered is the old Owens Nursery property the City is buying could house some homeless people on a temporary basis. Fish was frustrated that most of the Council didn’t attend the special PSCRB meeting with joint law enforcement […]
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 […]
FYI: Facebook is interfering in elections. They deleted this story by calling it spam. Luckily most reads don’t come from them. By: Diane Benjamin Not that she’s running for mayor, but this: h/t a reader She’s always said she was a Republican, she used to be a precinct committeeman for the GOP. She lost that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Long time readers know I have been really hard on Dan Brady. The main reason was because he was in leadership of the Republican Party in Springfield and I saw him do ZERO to stop the Democrat supermajority from railroading destructive legislation. One thing Dan did do really well as a State […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council was back to meeting in the Government Center last night. The Committee of the Whole last week was also back. Initially the Council was to meet at the BCPA on July 24th and all 3 August meetings. Note the work wasn’t done until the 10/15 meeting. It appears […]
See update below By: Diane Benjamin At the end of September Dan Brady was sitting on $438,947.66. https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/7645/ Jason Barickman was sitting on $835,282.52. https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/23150/ We won’t know the actual balances now until both file 4th Quarter reports. Both will no longer hold elected office in January. Many states require closing campaign accounts 60 days […]
By: Diane Benjamin Dan Brady spent years in the leadership of the ILGOP. He is part of the reason Republicans are a super minority in Illinois. He makes sure Republicans don’t inspire anyone to vote for them. My large disappointment with Brady goes all the way back to 2010. State Senator James Meeks (D) led […]
By: Diane Benjamin What’s missing? In case you haven’t figured it out, nothing on this card says Preston is a Republican. The Illinois GOP picked Scott Preston because he is just like Dan Brady. The ILGOP wants to permanently be in the minority because they make a lot of money and get blamed for nothing. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind many of Normal’s professional staff don’t live in Normal: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/14/guess-where-town-of-normal-employees-dont-live/ They have no reason to keep taxes low, make the roads drivable, or the water drinkable. The Council will be meeting at 5:15 to hear the status of the underpass project. Public opinion is immaterial. The fanciest properties will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The new district maps are now available. Of course the Democrats drew them behind closed doors with zero transparency. Anybody hear the local democrats objecting like they did to the County District maps? Primary elections will be moved to June 28. It makes no sense to hold a primary 7-8 months before […]
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 Ever heard “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”? The Town of Normal is not only not “watching the pennies”, they aren’t watching dollars either. (YOUR DOLLARS) These bills are “presented” for Monday night – nobody is suppose to ask questions. Start with the One Uptown Circle Rent. […]
Pritzker is judge shopping in Federal Court. He is attempting to transfer Darren Bailey’s Clay County case. Bailey filed against the move, his lawyer believes the Feds will refuse and the case will be decided in Clay County – just not today. By: Diane Benjamin Rep Darren Bailey was tossed out of the House meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal’s IT staff continues to show their incompetence. The Live Stream video and the posted recorded video are TINY. Early in the meeting the audio would go out, reappear, and go out again. Why does the Town of Normal tolerate employees who aren’t capable of doing their job? I’ve lost track of […]
By: Diane Benjamin VOTE Bloomington sample ballots: https://www.becvote.org/wordpress/electiondatesandoffices/specimen-ballot/ Everywhere but Bloomington: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/692/Sample-Ballots You have to vote either Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or nonpartisan (only matters for Letory and El Paso-Gridley Schools). Picking a party doesn’t make you a member of that party. It does prevent you from seeing the same old names on the ballot again in […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois has not cancelled the primary election for Tuesday! Evidently rumors are on social media saying it is. Show up! Still undecided on Dan Brady? This should help: You can’t get rid of McLean County Auditor Michelle Anderson unless you pull a Republican ballot. She needs to go!
By: Diane Benjamin It doesn’t make sense to send the same representatives to Springfield over and over and over when Illinois is in a death spiral of debt. Pensions need reformed, we don’t need a progressive tax that will chase high income job creators out of the state. We need fighters in Springfield, we don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Dan has plenty of money to run ads, the theme seems to be: People not Politics What that tells me is he is not interested in fixing the problems in Illinois. He wants to shake hands and show up everywhere and help people with problems who call his office. His secretary could […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you didn’t watch the debate between Dan Brady and David Blumenshine you missed Brady interrupting Blumenshine during an answer. It felt just like Chris Koos shutting down citizens during Public Comment. Kneeling is required at all times before the elite. Start watching at 57:40. Dan Brady called David Blumenshine the “King […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois taxed you more last year and Dan Brady helped the Democrats do it: https://blnnews.com/2020/01/09/fake-republican-dan-brady/ Meanwhile the fiscal condition of Illinois continues to decline: https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois-fiscal-condition-worsens-despite-higher-revenues-interim-annaul-report Illinois doesn’t have a revenue problem they have a spending and corruption problem! The only fix is to elect different people for Springfield. Illinois Family Action PAC […]
By: Diane Benjamin 43 Illinois House members claim to be Republican. http://www.ilhousegop.org/members Obviously few Illinois Republicans are also Conservative. The votes below prove why the Republicans are in the minority in Illinois and probably always will be. Many Republicans voted with Democrats to steal more money from you. Living within your means and pensions reform […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Update to the story on Normal paying property taxes they don’t owe: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/11/normal-like-paying-property-taxes-you-dont-owe/ Every day that Normal fails to file the PTax 300 form to change the taxable status of properties that should be exempt means more taxes. Normal will get billed next year for the number of days it was taxable […]
By: Diane Benjamin Starting January 1st under a new Illinois law you will pay more sales tax if you trade-in a vehicle for more than $10,000. If you trade in a nice car to buy an even nicer car, you have a tax bulls-eye on your wallet. Democrats think you are rich and therefore must […]
By: Diane Benjamin Dan Brady, Bill Brady, Jason Barickman, Tom Bennett, and Chapin Rose I bet the gas prices are killing your budget. Lawmakers never understand you have to cut your budget in other places to pay their tax increases. You have less money to spend, therefore tax revenue, like sales tax, will decrease. You […]
By: Diane Benjamin Homeland Security has not issued a valid retainer for Jose Rodriguez. They knew when they sent one signed by an immigration officer instead of a judge it wasn’t valid in Illinois because former REPUBLICAN Governor Rauner signed the Trust Act. I looked up who voted to make Illinois a sanctuary State, none […]
By: Diane Benjamin I reported in May Dan Brady voted YES on HB 2040 – the bill (now signed into law) bans private immigration detention centers. https://blnnews.com/2019/05/11/dan-brady-isu-local-democrats-more-slbb-and-pay-to-play/ I asked him why he voted YES, he told me it would’t affect the Dwight location. It sounds like Dan is the only person who believes that, the […]
