Coliseum freeloaders

By: Diane Benjamin Pic H/T a reader Since I try to never cross Veterans Parkway, I didn’t know State Farm was on the sign at the “arena”. I FOIA’d the City for the sponsorship agreement with State Farm, Grossinger quit paying years ago:  https://blnnews.com/2023/03/14/grossinger-motors-arena-isnt-and-more/ The agreement with State Farm expired in May, the FOIA showed […]

3 more things you need to know

By: Diane Benjamin 1) Steve Suess is no longer at Cities 92.9. He’s exploring other opportunities. BIG LOSS to Sunday afternoons, guest host spots, and election coverage. 😲 2) State Farm is selling employees: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230112005620/en/HCLTech-to-Modernize-IT-Operations-for-State-Farm%C2%AE Sources tell me these are 1st and 2nd level support and claims help desk staff. Most are already working remotely. […]

State Farm posts a BIG underwriting loss in 3rd Quarter

Excerpts from the link below: H/T a reader Introduction Rapid increases in costs to repair and replace vehicles appears to have significantly impacted costs to close both new and older claims in the third quarter, an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of newly filed statutory financials by the No. 1 U.S. private auto insurer concludes. […]

Updated: State Farm almost went woke in Florida

By: Diane Benjamin Evidently State Farm changed their mind, maybe they saw what happened to Disney. Corporations need to stay in their lane. Go Woke Go Broke! https://www.likeacreepyneighbor.com/ Targeting easy to manipulate children with far left ideology violates the rights of parents. The email at the bottom was leaked by a whistleblower. LibsOfTikTOK obtained this […]

The Chemberly Chronicles

By: Diane Benjamin At last night’s Council meeting Chemberly Cummings was wearing a mask because she was sick. She took it off to speak because Chris Koos couldn’t hear her. The plastic dividers were gone, COVID is officially over since 6 feet apart isn’t happening anymore at Normal Council meetings. Start with this short clip […]

Fly on the Wall: Chemberly Cummings

Flying around State Farm I saw a “podcast” featuring Chemberly. As an elected official, is it smart to admit you have suffered from anxiety, depression, mental health issues, and physical issues most of your life Chemberly? Going for a sympathy vote? I remember when Democrats proclaimed Trump mentally ill (he isn’t) and called him a […]

Crabill’s media is the problem!

By: Diane Benjamin People who read the law, watched the case, and listened to Constitutional lawyers knew Kyle Rittenhouse would be acquitted. Those who listen to fake media believe the lies they were told. How can Kyle be a white nationalist/supremist when everyone involved was WHITE. This had nothing to do with race except in […]

Update: More Fake News from WGLT

https://www.kabc.com/2021/11/08/bravo-state-farm-backs-aaron-rodgers-after-vax-comments/ State Farm backs Aaron Rodger! Good for them, bad for WGLT. By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader The only reason I started writing almost 10 years ago was because journalism is dead. If stories aren’t purposely not covered to protect fellow democrats, words are twisted to make the consumer believe something that never happened. […]

NINE things you need to know

By: Diane Benjamin 1) Bloomington met for 2 1/2 hours last night, Normal met for over 3. Take a break for other news, I sure need a break! I watch the meetings for those who can’t. Also, my inbox was in serious need of cleaning. 2) Remember Vision Zero? https://blnnews.com/2021/06/30/vision-zero/ The goal is to have zero traffic […]

Crabill again: Cut police funding

By: Diane Benjamin Since Jenn Carrillo would have been laughed at, Jeff Crabill was the BLM representative last night. He wanted to approve last years police budget instead of the increased number. State Farm – make sure he doesn’t get a raise this year since he thinks public safety personnel don’t deserve one. The video […]

Jeff Crabill and State Farm

By:  Diane Benjamin State Farm is currently conducting employee training about participating in protests.  The will fire any employee involved in what they consider uncivil protests.  State Farm has a financial stake since they insure many people and businesses. Jeff Crabill is a lawyer for State Farm.  Even though there was a large gathering yesterday […]

Update: Two things you might have missed

Change it to three things – see below. By:  Diane Benjamin Sometimes I see local news on Facebook and just assume the local press will report it.  I don’t think they reported this one: State Farm on pace to lose car-insurance crown If recent trends persist, Geico will overtake State Farm as the country’s largest […]

Can Tari be stopped?

By:  Diane Benjamin Had enough of “Right Fit” yet? I remember Tari telling the Council they HAD to buy the Sugar Creek Packing property to keep anybody else from buying it.  (Like anybody else was interested)  $245,000 subverting capitalism. Tari bought the old Mennonite Hospital property so he could control who built there.  When the […]

Let It Go . . Let It Go

By:  Diane Benjamin Partial list of empty buildings in downtown Bloomington: CII East Front and Center and the building to the west Former Clark and Barlow Peoples Bank Elks Former Pantagraph building Ensenberger Condos – 6 for sale on Zillow A large variety of smaller spaces are also empty Bloomington doesn’t need another one! State […]

Update: What is the status of State Farm’s downtown building?

WGLT is reporting the sale fell through so State Farm is going to demolish the building. https://www.wglt.org/post/state-farm-demolish-downtown-building-after-sale-falls-through?fbclid=IwAR2BOK_3V4EJPy45fon0FcQ0xNezwaPwmPlKJHOKwlCiDAm38ozCOBYExEY#stream/0 By:  Diane Benjamin According to this story from May, the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors were pre-leased:  https://blnnews.com/2019/05/22/state-farm-bldg-3-floors-leased/ Guth and Associates of Champaign no longer shows this listing on their website.  In early March, when the pending sale […]

State Farm becomes better neighbor!

By:  Diane Benjamin In case you didn’t see the update to this story:  https://blnnews.com/2018/12/21/state-farm-not-a-good-neighbor/ I received a call from a claims supervisor on Christmas Eve.  She had obviously either read or heard about the story. On December 26th I received a call early from the guy I had been working with.  I just signed the release […]

Another one bites the dust

By:  Diane Benjamin YMCA, State Farm, and now Specs Around Town are just some businesses who have or will be leaving downtown Bloomington. City of Bloomington:  Whatever you are doing is causing flight from downtown. Downtown is for bars, restaurants, lawyers, and government.  Until Bloomington quits trying to make downtown something it isn’t, the few businesses […]

What’s wrong with Bloomington?

By:  Diane Benjamin Everybody knows the streets aren’t being fixed.  Bloomington can’t even find money in the budget (that has skyrocketed under Tari Renner) to invest in infrastructure.   https://blnnews.com/2018/03/26/nice-pantagraph/ They will happily raise your taxes though to pay for a couple of roads.  Yesterday we learned there was a “disconnect” ordering tickets for the One […]

State Farm: Armed Guards

Another employee told me tonight the guards will be visible Monday. __________________________ By:  Diane Benjamin I’m hearing reports that State Farm will have armed guards at all doors starting today.  Tomorrow a wave of displaced workers starts exiting the company. (Anybody else find it ironic our kids don’t get the same security at school?)  There […]

Facts: Local jobs disappearing

By:  Diane Benjamin Last week the local media reported the low local unemployment rate.  Here’s an example from WJBC:   http://www.wjbc.com/2018/03/15/bloomington-normal-jobless-rate-remains-lowest-in-state-2/ They must be afraid to report the rest of the story: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMU17140100000000001?amp%253bdata_tool=XGtable&output_view=data&include_graphs=true This chart is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics These numbers are the actual number of people employed – in thousands. In the […]

Update: Fly on the Wall: State Farm

Update:  4/2/18 Company video this morning with no Tipsword and no mention of him either.  Hum __________________________________ Flying around, chatter was heard about Ed Rust returning to State Farm briefly to confront Tipsword and Senior Management on how they are handling things.  Word on the street is Rust was escorted out of the building. Lots […]

No major cuts!

By:  Diane Benjamin Questions for the Council:  Last November you held a retreat.  EVERY program the City is forcing people to pay for was presented. See PDF page 34 and following:   http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14932 There are 15 pages of programs ranked from HIGH priority to Low priority. It looks like cutting programs died the day they were […]

How bad are Normal’s finances?

By: Diane Benjamin What we do know: The freshman class this year at ISU was down 9.3%     https://blnnews.com/2017/09/07/numbers-lie/ State Farm has cut employees and is cutting more Normal has a budget deficit (local media reports) The Normal Library has decided not to build new – the library WAS the centerpiece of Uptown 2.0  (local […]

What State Farm is doing to Tacoma

A reader found these stories: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article194506349.html State Farm employees were reeling Friday from the shock of Thursday’s announcement that the company plans to shutter its Tacoma operations by the end of this year. Potentially 800 people could be out of work of the 1,400 people in the company’s two downtown Tacoma offices. Workers will have […]

State Farm is leaving downtown

By:  Diane Benjamin I’ve heard from a reliable source that State Farm is not  remodeling their downtown Bloomington building.  It will be empty in mid January. Grand Cafe is not going to re-open. Maybe you can help compile a list of businesses no longer downtown. Lancasters Chocolatier Mueller, Reece & Hinch Attorneys Who else? Anybody open  […]

Morale cratering at State Farm

By:  Diane Benjamin It’s not hard to find someone at State Farm willing to talk.  The employees have no idea whether they will have a job tomorrow, 3 months from now, or 6 months from now.  I’m told 2018 is going to be worse for downsizing than 2017 was. Keep your eyes on this site:  https://www.thelayoff.com/state-farm […]

Even State Farm doesn’t want to be downtown?

By:  Diane Benjamin I’ve received several reports from citizens about State Farm leaving their building in downtown Bloomington.  One person just commented they are in the process of moving out the last group now. When did the evacuation start? Why isn’t that public knowledge? Did the Bloomington City Council know? Is the City of Bloomington  […]

What is up with State Farm?

By:  Diane Benjamin I’ve talked to numerous people about what is really going on at State Farm.  One felt Ed Rust protected Bloomington-Normal, but he is no longer there.  The new management has no reason to be loyal to Bloomington-Normal. Another person told me State Farm has serious internal problems that are making them un-competitive.  […]