By: Diane Benjamin Flashback to April 15, 2019. RC McBride was voted off the Town Council and Jeff Fritzen opted to retire after serving 32 years. (Obviously the Normal voters don’t believe in term limits) Not only did Fritzen get a bike from Koos’ shop at taxpayer expense, both got proclamations for their exemplary service […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT employee RC McBride chaired the Vote YES for Unit 5 group that failed to get the referendum passed in November. That should convince you WGLT actively tried to convince you to vote YES, RC is the General Manager. On January 19th WGLT did a story detailing draconian cuts that would happen […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Unit 5’s state report card here: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=trends&Districtid=17064005026 Graduation rate is 90% 35% need Community College remediation 30% of 8th Graders pass Algebra 1 26% are chronically truant (90% graduate?) Unit 5 is currently spending $12,000 per student. Unit 5 now wants a tax increase expected to raise $20,000,000. h/t a reader: […]
By: Diane Benjamin 3 HUGE issues you need to consider before you vote: (other issues later) 1) The SAFE-T act is a pro-criminal bill passed by Illinois Democrats and signed by Gov. Pritzker. It will increase crime across Illinois. Any candidates that don’t REJECT this bill don’t need your vote. A DEMOCRAT State’s Attorney has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind RC McBride is the WGLT General Manager. Media is expected to keep government in line, not be part of it. McBride is government as chairman of the Normal Planning Commission. He proves why Koos doesn’t reveal appointments in advance so the citizens have a heads up and can voice […]
By: Diane Benjamin Review: All of these commissioners were hand-picked by Chris Koos. The Council is told they have to approve whoever he picks. The names of appointees aren’t given to the public until after the Council rubber-stamps them with a YES vote. RC McBride was kicked off the Council by voters, now he chairs […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended Normal’s Planning Commission meeting last night. I only stayed for 3 hours, it was still going on when I left. Here’s the takeaway: When government claims it can’t protect your property rights because laws and regulations don’t allow it, your government needs replaced with one who understands the Constitution. See […]
By: Diane Benjamin Zimmerman ran unsuccessfully for the Normal Town council last year. He was the chair of the Normal Planning Commission too. His term was scheduled to expire on March 31, 2023, the below is from last summer: AJ is no longer the Chairperson, in fact he isn’t on the Planning Commission now: According […]
By: Diane Benjamin Posted yesterday by WGLT reporter Ryan Denham: During-a-Fraught-Time-for-Local-Media-Conservative-Radio-Station-Sees-an-Opening File this one under local comedy. The reporter is upset that Cities 92.9 veers into opinion reporting rather than straight news. Keep in mind the WGLT General Manager RC McBride used to have a seat on the Normal Town Council until he was defeated […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council meeting was thankfully much shorter than usual, but the attacks on Stan Nord continued unabated. Start with Koos’ secret appointments to Boards and Commission. He has stated in the past appointments can’t be discussed because they are “personnel”. They are volunteers that don’t get paid, they work for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just a reminder: Chemberly Cummings wants to make laws in Springfield to control you, but she refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. She put the red sign over her camera. She hates America and is unfit for ANY office. She did not get her internet connection fixed, the quality is still […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jenn Carrillo isn’t the only one calling for the release of all prisoners from the McLean County jail, her merry band of Marxists all play the same game. I wonder if she WANTS you to be a crime victim! Look at any democrat run city talking about defunding the police and enacting […]
By: Diane Benjamin In case you forgot, see this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/02/01/fake-news-wglt-2/ WGLT did a story attacking Stan Nord using a letter City Manager Pam Reece sent to Stan Nord. WGLT couldn’t possibly have obtained it by FOIA. That letter was leaked to them, yes folks your government is either anti-business or willing to destroy anyone […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t already figured it out, a LOT of what I write comes from tips. Today I received prediction from a reader. Connect Transit has an opening for a board member representing Normal. Any guesses on who will be appointed? How about RC McBride Mayor Koos made a big point of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council meeting last night was over TWO hours long. Not because there was heavy discussion of spending, it was tribute night for departing Jeff Fritzen and RC McBride. The election is still stinging the establishment! The are worried about “the plan” and should be. The $100 a month lease […]
By: Diane Benjamin If 10% of voters in Bloomington bother to vote I will be surprised! Turnout is making elections a waste of time. I voted this morning. Eight races were listed – only one had a choice. I leave uncontested races blank since my vote doesn’t matter anyway. Yes, we will end up losing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/03/29/the-tale-of-two-downtowns/ How much does a pretty downtown cost? I find it hilarious that RC McBride is running radio ads asking for your vote claiming they have paid off $10 million of debt. They may have, but he doesn’t mention how much debt they still have left to pay. […]
I asked WGLT to include me on their candidate page and got zero response. No big surprise there. WGLT Voter Guide 2019 . But in looking over the other Normal Town Council candidates’ responses I found something very interesting… . If you start at the top and click on RC, it contains his answers to a […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you don’t like the direction Normal is taking change the people taking it there. RC Bride seems to be touting Normal’s AAA credit rating as one of the reasons he should be reelected. He doesn’t say Normal has that credit rating because they aren’t afraid to pass tax increases. If you […]
By: Diane Benjamin The WGLT story about last night’s Normal Town Council meeting doesn’t mention RC McBride voted for the water rate increase: http://www.wglt.org/post/water-fee-increase-solar-group-buy-making-repeat-appearances-normal Readers are left to surmise he did. This one is worse: I reported this story back on February 28: https://blnnews.com/2019/02/28/ag-investigating-town-of-normal-again/ WJBC reported it on March 4: http://www.wjbc.com/2019/03/04/normal-mayor-probed-for-alleged-open-meetings-act-violations/?fbclid=IwAR0mVvQsAVBRPrRVSWllpx_YPGc2YvMk0iHXYXWS0AWvxrBG0FXLxYbmvCg The […]
By: Diane Benjamin I might have to say this once a week until the election: Do Not Vote for 3 people even though the ballot says 3. You are handing people votes who you really don’t want on the Council. Voting for 1, maybe two, gives them a much better chance of winning since Normal […]
The first public comment speaker was Karyn Smith (not Karen) – also a candidate for Normal Town Council. Other than her comments last night I don’t know anything else about her – yet. By: Diane Benjamin When Chris Koos began public comment he made clear he would time limit the speakers so they could get […]
By: Diane Benjamin On November 2nd Normal held a Strategic Planning Session. It was a Friday at 10:00 am in the Executive Board Room at City Hall. http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3105 Did any citizens know about or attend this meeting? Did the press report on it? Keep in mind, Trustee RC McBride is the General Manager of […]
By: Diane Benjamin He’s running again! At least on the WGLT website they noted RC is also the General Manager of the local National Public Radio station. http://www.wglt.org/post/mcbride-seeks-re-election-town-council So RC gets paid with taxpayer dollars and then he spends tax dollars serving on the Normal Town Council. He gets to MAKE news as a Trustee and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe some companies do give cost of living wage increases, I’ve just never heard of any. Of course government exists for government employees, so the Town of Normal has it written in the City Code – twice a year revisions. Wage increases are separate. Tonight the Council has to approve a $51,000 […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) RC McBride asked to be excused from voting on payments to WGLT at last night’s Normal Council meeting since he is the General Manager. He did vote on the Harmon Grants, 3 of which went to ISU, also his employer since WGLT is the campus NPR station. ISU, McBride, and the […]
By: Diane Benjamin This guy is the General Manager WGLT: http://wglt.org/people/category/6 McBride is also on the Town of Normal Council: http://www.normal.org/1135/Meet-the-Council If you don’t already see a conflict of interest with media helping to run government, I’m not done. Monday night the Normal Council is writing some checks to WGLT, an NPR station that […]
The resident radical attempting to throw Karen Schmidt off the Bloomington Council will be leading the charge in Normal: By: Diane Benjamin According to WGLT, Normal will consider a “Welcoming Ordinance” Monday night: http://wglt.org/post/normal-consider-welcoming-ordinance-monday Considering RC McBride is WGLT’s General Manager and he’s on the Normal Town Council, they would know. It must be nice […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.normal.org/Archive.aspx?AMID=47 Anybody see an agenda posted for yesterday’s meeting? According to the dead tree the Normal Town Council held a budget workshop yesterday. In the TWO stories they did, 5 of the 7 Council members are mentioned. Five is more than half, meaning it was a meeting. Open Meetings Act violation #6345. […]
By: Diane Benjamin During public comment many first time speakers almost begged the Council to save the historic buildings at 104, 106, and 108 Beaufort Street. From the Council discussion, that is not going to happen. City Manager Peterson claimed all they were doing was picking a developer. Oh they will see what they can […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal is pretending pension expenses are mandated by the State and they can’t afford them without raising Property Taxes. Somehow the Police and Fire pensions have been seriously underfunded for years. IMRF retirements have been funded above the 80% level since 2013, think Mark Peterson’s retirement, while in 2016 […]
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 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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal held a SHORT meeting last night. The video claims to be 17:44 minutes, but the meeting didn’t start until 8:22. Watch it Here Of course nobody mentioned the issue from yesterday pertaining to renting a building to Dan Brady for $1 per year while the Town is paying […]
