By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been waiting years for someone to file with the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access division concerning their policies. Public Comment is Freedom of Speech and a 1st Amendment Right to address grievances with YOUR government. McLean County thinks you need to give them 24 hours notice if you want to speak. […]
Update: PDF page 87 got fixed. Everything else still applies however: By: Diane Benjamin Review this story for details: https://blnnews.com/2022/09/09/village-of-normal-discriminates-against-stan-nord/ And this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/09/20/breaking-news-the-truth-about-stan-nord-and-the-executive-session/ Below is the original notice of this meeting – it was held on a Friday, not after a regular meeting like usual. https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4416 Jump to the documents for Monday’s meeting: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4557 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Stan Nord was denied the right to participate remotely in an off-schedule Executive Session? https://blnnews.com/2022/09/09/village-of-normal-discriminates-against-stan-nord/ Stan wasn’t allowed to participate because it was an illegal meeting to discuss the referendum. Pam Reece knew Stan Nord was unavailable the day of the meeting, she scheduled it that day on purpose, then […]
By: Diane Benjamin Schools can not use surveys to gather information on students without the permission of parents: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/16/know-your-childs-rights/ Did they get YOUR permission before doing an invasive survey using Panorama? https://blnnews.com/2022/04/20/district-87-and-panorama/ District 87 refused to give me a summary of the results, I doubt I even received the complete survey. The Illinois Attorney General’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin In 2020 District 87 spent $21,700 on: Social-Emotional Learning is now law in Illinois. The Illinois State Board of Education keeps changing the standards, see this link for the current plan from Kindergarten through 12th grade: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/sel-stds.pdf#search=social%20emotional See the bottom right-hand corner of page 1. These standards don’t expect teachers to be […]
I have TWO FOIA fail cases against District 87 pending with the Attorney General’s office. It appears Public Access is moving faster than normal on these cases, the information I requested was denied under bogus exemptions. I think they clearly see that! Stay tuned.
By: Diane Benjamin All newly elected officials are required by Illinois law to take Freedom Of Information Act and Open Meetings Act training. They can’t. The Illinois Attorney General’s office got hacked in April and is still mostly off line. Since it could take years to get a response to a Request for Review when […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos had rulings against him before for violating the Open Meetings Act, but never 2 very close together. This was the first violation: https://wordpress.com/stats/post/90250/blnnews.com The Attorney General’s office finally found time to rule on a second (OBVIOUS) violation. This one was filed in 2019 by Karyn Smith. WEEK has the story: […]
By: Diane Benjamin See previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/16/looks-like-a-revolt-at-isu/ https://blnnews.com/2020/07/20/isu-when-you-hear-from-the-attorney-general-just-plead-guilty/ Today I was notified by the Public Access office of the Attorney General they are going to investigate whether the first faculty meeting violated the Open Meetings Act. Excerpts: See the entire document I received: 63926 FI Letter When Kalter or ISU responds the Attorney General’s office […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have filed a Request for Review with the Attorney General’s office based on this meeting held by Dr. Susan Kalter, the Chair of the Academic Senate at ISU: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/16/looks-like-a-revolt-at-isu/ Part 2 was supposed to happen tonight to finish what didn’t get done last Thursday. Tonight’s meeting has been postponed indefinitely, the […]
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 I previously reported the Town of Normal couldn’t find any communication for Chris Koos’ purchase of a bike from his shop to give to Trustee Fritzen. I also reported I filed a Request of Review with the Attorney General’s Public Access office: https://blnnews.com/2020/03/27/remember-that-bike-fritzen-got/ Fritzen’s party was held on April 23, 2019. Fritzen […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal and ISU get along so well because both believe in ruling instead of governing. Neither thinks you have the right to know what they are up to. I asked ISU for emails just in the last 8 months concerning the leased space for ISU Galleries and the Town of Normal. If […]
By: Diane Benjamin There are two types of people in government: Those who think their position demands they “make progress” Those who think their job is to create an environment so people can create their own “progress”. One uses your money for their vision, the other allows you to create your own vision. […]
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 […]
Connect Transit and both City Councils are not listening to transit dependent people who can’t ride the bus because of ADA compliance issues. Connect would rather spend $184,000 for showers than stop where people need stops. If the Connect employees are in danger from oil and diesel fuel, somebody should call OSHA. I have little […]
By: Diane Benjamin Karyn Smith is still waiting for a ruling from the Attorney General from when she was denied the right to speak to the Normal Council about the mural – because it wan’t on the agenda. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/02/28/ag-investigating-town-of-normal-again/ The Attorney General is supposed to rule within 90 days, but this is […]
BY;; Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal continues to have an illegal public comment policy. Normal was forced to change the policy in 2017 when the Attorney General told them they can not have a policy that allows a citizen to only speak every 45 days. Instead of slapping the Town’s entire policy into oblivion, […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you missed Tari’s State of the City address last Monday you can see my recap and listen to it here: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/15/taris-state-of-the-city/ Recycling his talking points, Tari once again proclaimed the Illinois Policy Institute “continues” to give the City an A+ transparency score. Disregarding IPI discontinued the program in 2014, their transparency […]
By: Diane Benjamin I find it hilarious that Democrat Tari Renner threw and continues to be upset that his petitions were challenged. Tari thinks he should not have been challenged, even though 204 signatures were found to be fraudulent. Meanwhile another Democrat, Board Chair of the Bloomington Election Commission, is challenging the petitions for a […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a Request for Review with Lisa Madigans’s Public Access office on January 18, 2018. The request was for a ruling on the budget workshop held by the Town of Normal that was not posted as a meeting with an agenda, time, and place. I received a ruling yesterday. 5 ILCS […]
By: Diane Benjamin Election season is heating up – it’s your JOB to know the candidates before you vote! I’m not sold on Erika Herald as the GOP candidate for Attorney General, mostly because she is backed by Bruce Rauner. Side note: Why would anyone vote for Rauner when we KNOW he will lose in […]
