Tari Renner made the Pantagraph top stories for 2015: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/plane-crash-mmna-among-top-news-stories-of/article_acfceb81-5fee-5731-96a1-a90e42aaadaa.html On BlnNews.com Tari was the number one most read story: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/11/tari-attacks-me-again-not-in-our-town/ Hopefully 2016 will be better. Happy New Year!
By: Diane Benjamin For the last couple of months the anonymous editorial writers at the Pantagraph have occasionally written the truth. They must have somebody new writing a few editorials because they actually contain some common sense. I thought there might be a little hope for local media, but today the old guy must be […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos had years to destroy the citizens of Normal with higher taxes. Evidently they enjoy it since nobody fights back. Renner has had only a few years, but he’s making up for it by raising taxes wherever and whenever possible. Your property taxes went up without a peep Monday night. Send […]
By: Diane Benjamin To the Pantagraph Editorial staff: You really need to put your name on Editorials. Citizens have a right to know the name of the person who doesn’t believe in the Constitution. Media was given unfettered rights in the 1st Amendment so liberty and freedom could be debated and defended. You make yourself […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s no surprise Coliseum financial reports and audits going back to when it opened in 2007 are not on the City of Bloomington website. It’s easy to see why. Luckily, I have copies of what CIAM reported. For the partial year of 2007, total revenue was $3,469,708 For 2008, total revenue was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Steve Vogel announced in the Pantagraph today that Alderman Lower is expected to run for Mayor against Steve’s buddy, Tari. Remember his daughter was Renner’s campaign manager twice. Since Vogel didn’t add that to his story, I need to make sure you know the truth. Now it’s clear why Tari Junior (Scott […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few weeks ago the Pantagraph deleted and closed comments on a Letter to the Editor critical of Mayor Renner’s plans to redevelop downtown. http://blnnews.com/2015/11/05/pantagraph-reaches-a-new-low/ Yesterday a story about downtown redevelopment appeared – No Comments Allowed. The Pantagraph is a private company, so they can do whatever they want. However, citizens have […]
By: Diane Benjamin On October 31, 2015 the Pantagraph printed a Letter to the Editor critical of Mayor Renner and his plans to use public money to redevelop downtown. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/opinion/mailbag/downtown-financing-not-for-taxpayers/article_13e845ac-a6b8-5585-b601-426d46a64601.html It is surprising they allowed the letter since many are rejected, but now there is a new twist. All comments to the letter have been […]
By: Diane Benjamin On Friday the City of Bloomington dumped a lot of documents on their. On was a vendor list and payments for the last fiscal year. You can see it here: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9335 This morning I’ve got the first hearing on my court case against the City of Bloomington concerning the Coliseum. That means […]
By: Diane Benjamin Oh, I forgot the Pantagraph doesn’t do investigative reporting. Printing ridiculous statements from Tari Renner and David Hales is better? For who? Your bottom line? The story today proves the Pantagraph is the last place to get news! David Hales claims to have investigated the accelerated payments problem for Sick Leave Buy […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Bloomington City Council will hear a proposal from David Bentley. He wants to turn the Pantagraph building into a boutique hotel. Tari Renner discussed the idea Tuesday on WGLT: http://wglt.org/post/bloomington-mayor-cautious-about-potential-developer City Manager David Hales mentioned at the last Council meeting Jeff Giebelhausen would also make a presentation. (http://blnnews.com/2015/10/13/next-monday-your-destruction-continues/) We […]
While flying around, I frequently hear people refer to the local newspaper as The Pantygraph. According to their website, that’s how the name is supposed to be pronounced: Pantagraph (pan’-te-graf) http://www.pantagraph.com/app/customerservice/about.php Who knew?
I hear Income Tax revenue and Home Rule Sales Tax was higher in April for Bloomington. They claim only April is available because taxes are received two months after earned. So, where is March? If April was received in June, March should have been received in May – May 1st was the start of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is Halloween early this year? The bird-cage liner appears to be playing trick-or-treat with today’s editorial. Too bad it wasn’t written BEFORE both Bloomington and Normal passed the 1% Sales tax increase. Better-late-then-never doesn’t really work since neither city is now going to give the money back. I RARELY link to one […]
By: Diane Benjamin The bird-cage liner buys into all government spending is good. Today they jeered Gov. Rauner for shutting down the State Museum in Springfield. I didn’t even know there was a State Museum in Springfield! Don’t most people think about going to museums in Chicago, and maybe the Lincoln one in Springfield? Any […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the kid in Texas taken off to jail in handcuffs because of his “homemade clock”? Today the bird-cage liner editorialized about how wrong that was. Too bad they have no facts. Associated Press doesn’t investigate any more than your local supposed news source. He wasn’t an innocent kid! Irving Texas, where […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the citizens knew David Hales threw away more than $1.2 million tax dollars on spiked pensions The Council NEVER approved the IMRF payments because they were never on Bills and Payroll Monday the Council will approve over $50,000,000 already spent without Council approval Coliseum management isn’t held accountable by David Hales […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why has the media NOT reported truthfully on the City of Bloomington’s waste of $1.2 Million? Pantagraph? WJBC? Cities? WGLT? Maybe they interviewed Hales or Renner, but they wouldn’t be getting truth! If you clicked on the link to IMRF in this post: http://blnnews.com/2015/09/10/proof-they-lied/ you can get to their page showing FOIA […]
By: Diane Benjamin Friday the bird-cage liner did their weekly version of Cheers and Jeers. Make sure you are sitting down. Ready? They CHEERED the Bloomington Budget Task Force! Evidently they have changed the paper to the local comedy show. Hey Editor – How about asking Tari Renner and David Hales why a group of […]
Update: The City just sent their daily propaganda. The title of the Coliseum loss story: Coliseum 1st Quarter Economic Impact Are the citizens sick of being lied to yet? By: Diane Benjamin Both the Pantagraph and WJBC have stories today about another BIG loss at the Coliseum. Obviously the City sent them a press […]
By: Diane Benjamin In the continuing quest by the Pantagraph to prove yet again they are not real media: Today they CHEERED Bloomington and Normal for working to stopp pension spiking! WOW! Why didn’t they include how great it is that Normal WASTED $29,939.10 and Bloomington THREW away $1,215,177.70 before being exposed by the Chicago […]
By: Diane Benjamin The League of Women Voters is decrying (through the bird-cage liner) the lack of affordable housing in Bloomington-Normal. In an Editorial today some obvious flaws in logic are more than apparent. The League claims housing should be 30% of income. That means somebody making $600 per month would need to pay $200, […]
From: Pantagraph Letters Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 9:50 AM To: Redacted Subject: RE: Letter to the editor I’m sorry but your letter has not been selected for publication. Thank you. Dear Editor: In Genesis 4:10 “the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.’” If […]
By: Diane Benjamin Steve Vogel doesn’t think he needs to disclose EVERY TIME he writes about the City of Bloomington that he is Renner’s Campaign Daddy. His DAUGHTER ran 2 campaigns for Renner, but I’m positive he isn’t the slightest bit corrupted by his baby’s allegiances. Just like Lisa Madigan doesn’t take any direction on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington is touting itself as having a lower Sales Tax rate than surrounding communities. Of course, the reason for saying it is so they can raise theirs. Conveniently left out of the conversation is how many OTHER taxes each City has. Let’s look at Champaign http://ci.champaign.il.us/departments/finance/administrative-services-division/sales-tax-information-2/ 1% City Sales Tax 1.5% Home Rule […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington is going to raise your taxes. They can’t find cuts because everything they do is so vital to the City. Sure. Let’s talk time. How many staff hours were WASTED on Paradigm? Former Alderman Rob Fazzini was working behind the scenes to put the deal together before he resigned. The legal expenses alone […]
By: Diane Benjamin Earlier this week I wrote about the property Normal is planning to purchase and trade with ISU. Reports show they plan to pay way over assessed value. http://blnnews.com/2015/07/21/normal-do-friends-of-government-prosper/ This isn’t the first time Normal has overpaid for properties. Mayor Chris Koos was on WGLT talking about the purchase and trade so Normal can obtain property […]
By: Diane Benjamin An actual Pantagraph headline: New law could end benefits for dead people COULD end? COULD?!? The article was written by Kurt Erickson (Springfield dude) , so I don’t know if it was his title or the Pantagraph staff. We are in Illinois, land of the dead voting, surprised they get paid too? Indiana just […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal wants a new fire station. Too bad Bloomington can’t give them the multi-million dollar one they built years ago and have never used. Now Normal is swapping properties so they can build where they want the new station. I reported extensively on Uptown properties way back in 2012. Many properties were […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe the local reporters aren’t very smart. Maybe the City is writing the articles for them. Either way, the result is to make sure citizens never know the truth. Today the Pantagraph did it again. Instead of reporting the AUDITED LOSS from last year, reporter Maria Nagle used the number CIAM reported – […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night – 6:30 – in front of City Hall. Meet up with April Huber to protest the direction of the City of Bloomington. She will reveal plans for phase two – but ONLY to the people there. Infiltrators will be identified, so I suggest you don’t try it. Now that the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph has been anxiously awaiting what I am going to write about Kevin Lower’s Town Hall last night. If you read their report and attended, it’s easy to see what I spoke about toward the end of the meeting. The bird-cage liner is either intentionally deceiving citizens for their own personal […]
(Edgar County Watchdogs) Bloomington, IL. (ECWd) – I recently conducted a survey of cities similar in size to Bloomington, IL., including cities with a population of between 58,000 and 108,000 residents. Bloomington has 76,610 according to the 2010 census, and fall in the middle range of this survey. So this is a good sample of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The bird-cage liner and Tari Renner don’t want to listen to citizens – unless the citizens agree with everything they do. Walking hand-in-hand, the Pantagraph and the City tried to stifle speech they don’t want to hear. Finding out their vile plans were illegal, Renner’s campaign daddy, Steve Vogel, is now encouraging […]
By: Diane Benjamin Little Stevie is upset that he was FORCED to disclose his family connections with Bloomington’s mayor. He NEVER would have informed readers on his own if I hadn’t called him out! Hey Steve – If you fail to disclose every time you write about the City of Bloomington that your DAUGHTER was Renner’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin The ONLY reason I started this site IS the Pantagraph. I watched years of their misreporting that turned to lack of reporting. They messed with the WRONG person! Citizens deserve news, the Pantagraph doesn’t report it unless it fits their purpose. They are completely in bed with local government, Steve Vogel’s daughter was […]
By: Diane Benjamin By now you should know who the Edgar County Watchdogs are. You may not know they also go by the name Illinois Leaks. Tips flow into them from all over the State. All it takes to end the corruption in Illinois is people with inside knowledge to speak up. They posted this story: In The […]
Bloomington, IL. (ECWd) – http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2015/06/bloomingtons-pantagraph-should-shutter-its-doors/ The Pantagraph newspaper is doing the citizens of Bloomington, IL. a disservice by advocating for the City of Bloomington to violate the free speech rights of everyone that attends a city council meeting (read how they betray the trust of their readership here). Newspapers have a fundamental responsibility to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Most of you probably didn’t see the bird-cage liner story on Monday’s Council meeting. That means you don’t know what they left out – the Edgar County Watchdogs! A few comments from citizens were included, but nothing from the guys who drove 2 hours to defend the rights of citizens to speak. Nice […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why do Tari Renner, David Hales, Dick Durbin and a slew of other so-called leaders love to do interviews on WJBC? Because they can get by with saying anything and are rarely challenged! Low information voters are easily misled by low information media. The latest case in point: Today WJBC is running a NEWS […]
