By: Diane Benjamin Somebody calling themselves: just accused me of lying in this story from yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/29/failure-to-launch-local-dems/ Here’s part of the comment: I made up the whole thing? I lied? I know Derek has been to “Democrat Boot Camp”. That means he wants to run for something. The local dems have nothing to run on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Well it seems as if the Dems had a snafu at the last County Board meeting. Eventual candidate (more about that later) Derek M. Lough appeared to be ready to do a fire and brimstone speech about voter suppression in McLean County. The Dems are all fired up about waiting lines in […]
By: Diane Benjamin FYI: Scott Murphy was one of my representatives on the County Board. Today Scott submitted his resignation: June 18, 2019 Chairman McIntyre, We are in the process of moving from our home in District 2. Residency rules preclude me from continuing to serve as the representative of that district. It has been my […]
By: Diane Benjamin Previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2019/03/12/radicals-attack-dwight/ https://blnnews.com/2019/03/12/update-to-dwight-story/ Chicago is attempting to spread their far left lunacy across the State. They need support for bailing them out of the corrupt financial mess they put themselves in. Chicago has been completely controlled by Democrats for close to 90 years. If big government and taxing you to death […]
By: Diane Benjamin This item was on the Consent Agenda for the County Board meeting yesterday: https://mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6509 This was merely a renewal of an existing lease for the Child Advocacy Center in Livingston County. Since it was on the Consent Agent it wasn’t anything controversial and was passed the previous year with no discussion. […]
See another pic: https://blnnews.com/2018/12/03/more-chicago-comes-to-mclean-county/ By: Diane Benjamin The newly elected County Board members were sworn in this morning: Shayna Watchinski proved today who she serves – it isn’t McLean County! This pic shows all the other recently elected members being sworn in, note Shayna isn’t with them: Shayna chose to be sworn into office by […]
By: Diane Benjamin The current Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, will fortunately by gone next January. She persecuted (no I don’t mean prosecuted) businesses in Illinois while allowing public corruption to flourish. Her Public access office just did it again. First see this post: I totally agree – this meeting should have been publicly announced. An […]
By: Diane Benjamin A couple of days ago a comment was made on Facebook saying Republicans were trying to suppress the vote at ISU, and that’s why kids had to stand in long lines. The person who made that comment must have not realized the election was a primary. Suppressing democrat votes does nothing to […]
Don Knapp was appointed with ZERO discussion. The fix was in. By: Diane Benjamin The County Board meets this morning at 9:00. On the agenda (Item 7) is the Chairman’s pick to replace Jason Chambers as State’s Attorney. https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6150 I predict Chairman John McIntyre picked the current Assistant County Administrator Don Knapp. Don is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pediatric Resource Center for Child Abuse and Neglect in Peoria examined Mikey Cadena and documented several injuries as well as extensive dental problems. He had severe bruising, blunt force trauma, a human bite mark, black eyes, anal tear, rope burns, etc. They concluded he was abused. […]
By: Diane Benjamin This morning the McLean County Board held a meeting without announcing it. Is the Open Meetings Act too difficult to understand? Notice of ALL meetings most be posted 48 hours in advance along with the agenda. This morning they held a legislative breakfast for the entire Board AND State Senators Bill Brady, Jason […]
By: Diane Benjamin Followup to this story: https://blnnews.com/2018/06/19/the-next-mclean-county-states-attorney/ Charges have already been dropped against one of the Coliseum defendants – judge blamed the charges filed by the State’s Attorney’s office. Now rape charges have been dropped against another defendant – again the judge ruled the charges weren’t filed right: See this story: https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/rape-charges-dismissed-against-murder-suspect/article_8ac3ab38-b90e-57ae-9632-e6807d557d95.html In both […]
By: Diane Benjamin The biggest problem in the State of Illinois is State’s Attorneys who refuse to prosecute government corruption. I and the Edgar County Watchdogs have seen case after case of extreme malfeasance by government officials that never gets prosecuted. Breaking the law in Illinois is way too easy, getting by with it is […]
I received a legal opinion that “consideration” can allow for a vote. Janice Bettisch should attend this meeting as a board member since her replacement’s term doesn’t start until May 1. By: Diane Benjamin Below is the agenda for tomorrow night’s meeting: No votes can […]
Update: Don Knapp was the person from the States Attorney’s office I referenced below. He used to be with that office, so he should know the law. According to Samatha Walley in that office: Don has not been a part of the State’s Attorney’s Office since late November/early December of last year. He was hired […]
By: Diane Benjamin The testimony before the Zoning Board of Appeals on a new Wind Farm in McLean County is very technical. It isn’t just that people don’t want monstrous turbines by their house. If you didn’t know, the ones being proposed are MUCH bigger than the turbines east of Bloomington. Much more is now […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story from yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/16/these-are-republicans/ The McLean County Board has an unwritten policy. All work is done in committee and the Board members rubber stamp whatever comes out of committee. I was told issues will not be re-heard before the entire Board, that’s why they have committees. (My beef was with […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Board voted for the original Solid Waste plan without the Scritchlow Amendment. The vote was 10-8 meaning 5 Republicans voted with the Democrats. I hear Don Cavallini takes winters off for warmer weather, that at least is the rumor. Board Chair John McIntyre didn’t vote. The crossed out R’s […]
The County Board voted to kill the Scritchlow amendment. I taped the meeting and will be posting the discussion. 5 Republicans voted with the Democrats. By: Diane Benjamin For once the Chamber of Commerce is on the right side of an issue. Usually they love Big government tax and spend liberals. The Ecology Action Center claims […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow we will find out who the real Republicans are on the County Board. I can assure you that some of them do not believe in limited government. Mandating recycling is not only impossible to enforce, it attacks the poor the most. If landlords and businesses are FORCED to recycle, rents will […]
By: Diane Benjamin This comment was made to my story about Republicans on the County Board possibly caving and making recycling mandatory. https://blnnews.com/2018/01/10/county-board-just-might-attack-your-wallet/ It’s hilarious that anti-freedom lovers resort to name calling when they disagree. People who don’t think government has a right to run your life are Nazis? The writer obviously has no grasp […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m hearing rumors that the MANDATORY RECYCLING people really want the Scritchlow Amendment scrapped and they are making progress convincing County Board members to go along with them. Details here: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/06/robustelli-wrong-scritchlow-right/ The purpose of government is not to tell you how to live your life. RINO’S and Democrats think it is. If they […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local environmental activists thought they had their plan to force EVERYONE to recycle in the bag. They spent two years meeting with people they call “stakeholders”. Even if you did hear about one of their public meetings or hearings, I bet you didn’t go. Details here: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/06/robustelli-wrong-scritchlow-right/ Their plans to use force […]
By: Diane Benjamin This week the McLean County Land Use committee rejected forcing people to recycle. An amendment was brought to the committee by newly appointed member Ryan Scritchlow. Even though Board member Carlo Robustelli is not a member of the Land Use Committee, it didn’t stop him from making this comment on Facebook: Carlo, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Former Bloomington alderman Rob Fazzini announced to WGLT he is thinking of running as an independent for the County Board: http://wglt.org/post/ex-alderman-fazzini-considers-run-mclean-county-board Fazzini thinks the Board elections should be non-partisan. It’s easy to see why since Bloomington and Normal Council elections are non-partisan. Big spenders, who think everything needs managed and regulated, find it […]
By: Diane Benjamin County Board member Jim Soeldner’s Letter to the Editor today got me looking for an update to a story I did in March of 2016: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/17/segobiano-charity-facts/ Another County Board member, Paul Segobiano, has his own non-profit charity called Great Plains Life Foundation. Soeldner praised this charity for a recent event in his […]
By: Diane Benjamin A fake Twitter account was created only to defeat Ian Bayne. Twitter is a sewer where people hide behind fake names they think nobody can trace back to them. Twitter allows almost anything, so these local leftists are allowed to spew as much hate and false information as they want. What should […]
By: Diane Benjamin The County Public Comment policy is hard to find on their website – so below is the entire text. The first thing it stresses is non-members should be speaking in Committee Meetings instead of in front of the whole Board. If Public Comment policy exists for Committee meetings, I can’t find it. […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader sent me screen shots of a conversation County Board member David Selzer was having on Facebook about moving the County Board meetings to 7:00 at night. If he hadn’t deleted the conversation, I probably wouldn’t be posting it here. Evidently Selzer knew he was wrong. More than one person was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday the McLean County Board passed a new Wind Farm ordinance that benefits developers over people. Livingston County had a referendum on their last ballot asking whether a 1600 feet setback was enough, the voters there said NO. McLean’s ordinance is a measly 1500 feet from any occupied home – not the […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s not unless the County Board KILLS it. There is a public hearing Wednesday October 19, 2016 at 6:00pm – Central Catholic High School. I don’t know why, but it is scheduled until 9:00pm. The last plan I remember is a 4 lane divided highway with divided bike paths. If you ever […]
By: Diane Benjamin County Board elections do not pretend to be nonpartisan like the City elections do. Although it’s hard to tell that some members of the County Board are Republicans, the GOP and Democrats hold different views of what government should be. Candidates that will be on the November ballot shouldn’t be hiding what […]
By: Diane Benjamin Scared? We can agree on some things! Erik wrote a response on the ISU website to this question: His answer is excellent. Read it for yourself here: https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2016/09/ask-a-redbird-scholar-how-did-we-end-up-with-2-unpopular-presidential-candidates/ Besides being assistant to the chair and undergraduate advisor, Department of Politics and Government, Erik is a member of the McLean County Board […]
The below is written by my 15 year old intern. I had her listen to the County Board discussion of an amendment that would have prevented a property tax increase. This is what she thought of the discussion. By: Sarah Welander In a McLean County Board meeting on November 17, there was an amendment […]
By: Diane Benjamin McLean County Board member Paul Segobiano has a charity organization called Great Plains Life Foundation Inc. See the website here: http://www.greatplainslifefoundation.org/ It looks like a noble effort to help kids stay in school. Check out the Board of Directors page: http://www.greatplainslifefoundation.org/Board_of_Directors.html The page lists names you might know like Bloomington Police Chief […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s tragic that citizens don’t pay attention to local elections. Matt Sorensen, under Federal indictment for wire fraud and the guy who cast the deciding vote to raise property taxes, got 48% of the vote and won in District 2. Scott Murphy came in second with a great Write-in vote. Scott is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I heard again last weekend “I don’t vote in primaries because I don’t want to declare a party”. The guy who said it will complain in November about only having the same inept people available to vote for. The GREAT candidates lose in the primary. Challengers don’t have the money incumbents have, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Invenergy wanted to build a wind farm in Livingston County. The Livingston County Board refused to approve the project. All of this was very recent. Being defeated in Livingston County, Invenergy has moved to McLean County to try again. Before the McLean County Board jumps at yet another wind farm in McLean […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written stories about McLean County Board member Dave Selzer’s property tax problems. His taxes were purchased by people profiting from people unable to pay. See these stories: http://blnnews.com/2016/02/29/selzers-tax-problem/ http://blnnews.com/2016/02/15/dave-selzer-tax-deadbeat/ Freedom of Information requests from the County led to the people buying taxes: RealTax Developers (Huffs) and Shannon Logsdon. Another FOIA request […]
By: Diane Benjamin McLean County Board member Dave Selzer has a problem paying his property taxes. See this previous story: http://blnnews.com/2016/02/15/dave-selzer-tax-deadbeat/ More information has surfaced. First, there is a thriving business buying taxes for people who can’t afford to pay them: http://www.professorprofits.com/states/county.php?state=IL&county=McLean Unpaid property taxes create a serious cash-flow problem for McLean County, Illinois. To […]
