By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and Normal are the only cities doing their own garbage pickup in the area. According to the Pantagraph, Normal did their own investigation of rates. They declared NO money could be saved by privatizing garbage pickup. See the chart here: http://www.pantagraph.com/graphic-waste-collection-fees-services/pdf_a5d93a81-e7db-537c-b830-c5fafd8a34bc.html The Pantagraph must not have noticed some of those other cities […]
By: Diane Benjamin A Statement of Economic Interest is required to be filed by EVERYONE who is elected and appointed to any unit of government. Other employees may also be required to file. It is the law that SEI must be filed. Everyone on the Unit 5 School Board did file, unlike some other units […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal Town Council tonight: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2745 More proof the Chamber of Commerce is working AGAINST citizens: This is the trip to explore building a sports complex here. Even if it brings tourism dollars to hotels, restaurants, and retail, these are LOW WAGE jobs. Guess who is going to pay for it! One person can’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph Opinion Page continues to be an endless source of entertainment. Orchestrated Letters to the Editor are claiming voting rights locally have been violated. The election is more than a year away and normal everyday people are writing letters asking you to vote for their candidate? Keep in mind: Repeat a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Media is reporting a slight drop in enrollment at ISU. Here’s the proof that numbers lie and liars use numbers. Incoming freshman – down 342 students (9.3%) Transfer students – down 239 students (11.7%) Those are huge percentage drops, the source is WGLT which happens to be part of ISU: http://wglt.org/post/freshman-enrollment-falls-illinois-state-university#stream/0 Incoming […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last week the Nazi comments were directed toward the ISU Republicans and a guest speaker. This week it’s against a group called Turning Point USA. The President of the ISU chapter, Andy Byars, sent me pictures of the vandalism to chalked messages and posters they hung on campus. […]
I attended this event – Nick Adams has an amazing love for America AND Americans. He has a non-profit call FLAG. From their website: http://www.flagusa.org/ Its principal purpose is to educationally proclaim the greatness of America, and ensure that the next generation of American leaders understands what it means to be an American. Several members […]
By: Diane Benjamin See WGLT’s latest on Sister Cities/Tari Renner: http://wglt.org/post/caught-middle-sister-cities-chair-defends-programs-work#stream/0 One would think as Public Radio and part of ISU, real journalists would be writing the stories. Evidently not. I hope future employers of journalism students take that into account if their degree is from ISU! The story has problems determining fact from fiction. […]
By: Diane Benjamin A conservative speaker was invited to speak at Illinois State University by the College Republicans. Yesterday I heard EVERY flyer they posted around campus has been defaced, destroyed, or removed. President Dietz: Is ISU now Berkley Ca? Is Antifa going to protest American values? Are your campus snowflakes embarrassed by their country? […]
The writer worked at ISU for 18 years – she walked away because she couldn’t take it anymore. No – Nobody from this meeting has contacted her. Source and other stories from the same person: https://justifygettinglost.wordpress.com/ I finally figured it out… This morning I showed up at the Board of Trustees meeting and made comments (in quotes […]
By: Diane Benjamin The President of Northern Illinois University is just the latest to step down amid allegations of scandal. The bigger scandal is what the Board is planning on paying him to leave! Details of that soon. Remember when ISU paid Tim Flanagan to leave – the day before he got arrested? The Illinois […]
By: Diane Benjamin Media did report Illinois universities had their credit ratings downgraded by Moody’s. Their details were sketchy though. Here’s the story: https://www.ilnews.org/news/economy/moody-s-downgrades-seven-of-illinois-public-universities-five-speculative/article_bd88b102-4d66-11e7-8a6d-af95b89dd478.html The University of Illinois’ new rating is A1 with a negative outlook. Read the story – this is because U of I is doing nothing to control costs and relies too […]
By: Diane Benjamin You already know R.C McBride is the General Manager of WGLT radio and he is a Trustee on the Normal Town Council: http://wglt.org/people/category/6 http://www.normal.org/1135/Meet-the-Council , , , , , . If that isn’t enough to question the integrity of WGLT reporting, here’s more: http://www.mcleancountydemocrats.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_page.cfm&page=Other20counties McBride is also a precinct committeeman for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night the Normal Town Council defied the Attorney General’s letter and made only minor changes to their Public Comment Policy. They relied on the opinion of their City Attorney Brian Day who formerly worked for the Illinois Municipal League. First, you need to understand what the IML is. See this story: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday WJBC read the Melanie Spellmeyer-ISU-Central Catholic update story on my website. They read the original story too, but never reported on it. The story only became important to them when Dan Brady got involved. It probably helped that his funeral home advertises on WJBC. See their story here: HERE Totally lost […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the Central Catholic girls were playing basketball at Red Bird Arena for the State Championship, an ISU employee violated their fans free speech rights. She told them they were not allowed to wear anything related to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. In case you missed the story, see it here: […]
No one at ISU has responded to my requests for a comment. They are hoping this blows over if they pretend nothing happened. By: Diane Benjamin Saturday – Redbird Arena, Illinois State University – Central Catholic High School girls basketball team is playing for the State Championship. Many Central kids arrived at the game wearing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois State University’s Public Comment policy used to be even worse than the Town of Normal. Not any more! See the new policy here: http://illinoisstate.edu/trustees/comment.php The policy is: Sign up before the meeting Public Comment lasts up to 30 minutes Speakers get 5 minutes There is no 45 day rule before you […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder how this article made it in the latest magazine printed by Illinois State University! ISU is a big pusher of wind energy, so this article is out-of-place. Somehow it didn’t make the on-line version of the magazine or I would have linked to it. If you are Facebook friends with […]
By: Diane Benjamin Complying with the law doesn’t matter when citizens “interfere” with government’s ability to do whatever they want! Normal is the perfect example. The entire Council, Mayor, and City Manager are pretending they asked the Attorney General to rule on their policy. They didn’t. TWO citizens want Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office to […]
By: Diane Benjamin First ISU refused to give me a document I requested by FOIA claiming it was exempt. See this story Next they gave me the document but redacted the part I wanted: See THIS story Some light finally went on at ISU and they decided the document in the story above is NOT exempt […]
By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/11/next-lawsuit-isu/ I received the email below concerning the ISU denial of the required waiver to hire RC McBride as the General Manager of WGLT: Attached to this email was: The previous story spelled out that waivers can only be issued in extraordinary circumstances – note ISU redacted those […]
See update here: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/13/more-on-isu-and-rc-mcbride/ By: Diane Benjamin I filed the following Freedom of Information request with ISU – their answer is included. They included the obligatory you have to right to contact the Attorney General . . .: . Since we all know asking Lisa Madigan to do her job is a complete waste of […]
Update: A FOIA request has been filed for the original story By: Diane Benjamin The ISU newspaper recently did a story on the challenges to Tari Renner’s petitions: http://www.videtteonline.com/news/citizen-petitions-renner-campaign/article_13ba946a-bfb8-11e6-884d-7350b8e0cc9d.html Don’t bother clicking on the link though, the story has been taken down. The problem is they included lots of quotes from Renner and very little […]
See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2016/10/09/the-end-of-bloomingtonnormal-as-we-know-it/ Part 2 by: Lawrence Butts Illinois State University . The bubble that higher education is currently riding high on is about to burst. The first question that will be asked is “ISU is doing great, they fill their enrollment every year – how are they in trouble?” Yes, for the […]
Part 1 by Lawrence Butts Introduction . I came to this town in 1970. As you might imagine, there have been many changes since that time. Some of these changes have been for the better and some have been for the worse. This is a much larger community with more to do and with better […]
By: Diane Benjamin The climate change believers were unleashed to spew propaganda in the bird-cage liner today. An editorial by two ISU professors called people who haven’t swallowed the communist green kool-aid part of the “cult of ignorance”. These clowns admit to living in a bubble. I agree and it’s funded by taxpayers and […]
By: Diane Benjamin My ancestors came to America penniless and legally – through Ellis Island. Nobody gave them welfare or paid their way. They came here to be Americans, nothing hyphenated. They learned English, just like millions of other legal immigrants. E pluribus unum (Out of many one) The push now is for Diversity. Think […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois State University is paying all the bills to import employees from other countries. See this contract Illinois State University made with one law firm: Masuda, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell FY14-1 It’s for 1 year, $70,000, and renewable for up to 9 years. Since the contract doesn’t say what this firm is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are three contracts between ISU and the same Law Firm. All cover the same time period. All are for services not to exceed $19,999. The only difference is the scope of the work to be performed. See this link for 2016 Expenditures Guidelines: http://purchasing.illinoisstate.edu/ Yes, the contracts are from 2014 – […]
By: Diane Benjamin Same day voter registration was a stupid law and, contrary to what Democrats think, it’s not government’s job to make it work without any attempt to DUMP it. Stupid laws with unintended consequences can’t be fixed. It was never about increasing voting, it’s about getting uniformed to the polls. Think ISU. So […]
By: Diane Benjamin This might be a State-wide policy for hourly employees. I’m positive it happens at ISU. I’ve heard prisons do the same thing, readers can tell me where else it happens. I’ve got the smartest readers on the planet (and no time to research further). The easiest way to describe this is with […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader sent a Freedom of Information request to ISU for student employees in the offices listed below. This email and document were received from the FOIA officer at ISU: 3 of the students are related to the FOIA officer. Children of ISU employees get 1/2 off tuition too. Only one job […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you are an ISU graduate I’m sure you’ve received fundraising calls from the ISU Foundation. As a non-profit organization, they have to file public tax forms. See them here: http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/376025713/popup/1 I’ve only looked at the first one listed-2014. Compensation must be disclosed – see the page below (Page 8 of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin This Thursday could be a monumental day across the country! There is a Million Student March – ISU has a chapter. The local organizer is Zachary Braun, an employee at Walgreens and an ISU student. His LinkedIn account describes him as: Team Leader at Progressive Democrats of America What are they marching […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you are totally unfamiliar with the saga between ISU and my church, see this story: http://blnnews.com/2015/10/21/isu-destroying-free/ Last Sunday church leadership sent an email to ISU terminating the relationship. The church has now received an apology from an assistant to the President. But it gets better! Our Pastor talked with some of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington residents: Have you looked at the address you send water payments to? If you have the misfortune of taking a trip in an ambulance, and get billed for it – where does that payment go? Remember yesterday’s story about ISU? http://blnnews.com/2015/10/21/isu-destroying-free/ What do they all have in common? Illinois discourages business! […]
Don’t miss the latest update: http://blnnews.com/2015/10/28/new-update-concerning-isu/ My church Council voted to terminate any further action with ISU yesterday. We feel horrible for the little kids that could be helped, but government lawyers and churches are not a good combination. By: Diane Benjamin This is another lesson in limited government! Hopefully readers have figured out Limited […]
By: Diane Benjamin ISU has a long history of inviting leftist activists to campus. If an activist on the right has been invited, I missed it. Here is the latest: https://stories.illinoisstate.edu/university/media-relations/report/ferguson-civil-rights-activist-to-deliver-hibberts-r-roberts-lecture-october-15/ Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou is a minister. Is he going to leave his version of religion out of his speech? Would Franklin Graham be […]
By: Diane Benjamin I had hopes that only IWU was training kids to be offended: http://blnnews.com/2015/09/01/iwu-teaching-kids-to-be-offended/ Bureaucrats must be lacking work, ISU has joined the ‘microaggressions” cause to justify keeping their jobs. If any problems were solved they would be out of a job – so invent more injustice that needs fixing. Remember, IWU is […]
