The proposed budget for McLean County calls for a steady tax rate and pay raises for county employees.… MORE
Fermi named most important scientist in Illinois Top 200 voting
Illinois’ bicentennial best of voters have chosen the man with the most recognizable name on Illinois’ Top 200 list the most important scientists of the past two centuries. … MORE
C-SPAN bus visits Illinois
A fancy bus – promoting cable television’s most UNfancy channel – is parked in Springfield for a couple of days.… MORE
Obituaries: Ulseth, Heck, Hinds
Rev. David Ulseth Reverend David A. Ulseth, 79, of Bloomington, IL went to be with his Lord at 8:45 a.m. on September 13, 2018 at Sugar Creek Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Normal. His funeral will be at 11 a.m., Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at New Life Fellowship Church, 4754 E. 1400 North Road in…… MORE
Bloomington’s Gleason: Selling arena, management change among options to reduce the ‘bleeding’
The executive director of the firm running the taxpayer-funded Grossinger Motors Arena told the Bloomington City Council Monday night the best the city can hope for is that the downtown Bloomington venue will lose about a $500,000 a year. Bloomington’s new city manager, Tim Gleason, said neither the aldermen who inherited the arena or the community should be satisfied with those results.… MORE
McLean County coroner, state police probe I-55 fatality
The McLean County coroner’s office has identified the man struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 55 Monday night near Lexington as a resident of Hammond, Indiana.… MORE
Green Top Grocery co-op seeks loans from owners to secure survival
Bloomington’s 1 1/2-year old grocery store cooperative is at risk of being shelved unless its owners come through with at least $300,000 in loans to keep the co-op afloat.… MORE
No school Tuesday at Fox Creek Elementary due to power outage
Kids at Unit 5’s Fox Creek Elementary School on Bloomington’s southwest side are getting an unexpected day off Tuesday because of a power outage at the school.… MORE
IEMA advises checking where your hurricane relief donations go
Make sure that you make a difference–that’s the advice from Illinois’ emergency managers as people look to help in the aftermath of now-Tropical Storm Florence. … MORE
Illinois voters tasked with deciding progressive or flat taxes at the ballot box
Should lawmakers tinker with the state’s income tax rates and scale them higher for people who make more money and lower for those who make less? That’s a question voters could answer in the governor’s race when they vote Nov. 6.… MORE
Blogs
Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
Is federal mobilization the answer?
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…