Mboka Mwilambwe

The Bloomington-Normal community will mark Juneteenth on Saturday during an event at Miller Park, featuring live music and dance, activities for kids, and a ceremony commemorating three community servants.

You should not expect any big transformational project to be straightforward. That's a takeaway from Part 2 of our series "Hard Things" about the heavy lifts and big dream efforts our society and community achieve.

With a more reliable incentive plan for developers, the council is hoping to bring in multiple types of housing the city needs.

Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe thinks it's worth paying the redeveloper of the downtown State Farm building a bundle over the next two-plus decades to get the project completed.

According to unofficial results on Tuesday, Dan Brady [48%] won decisively over city council member Cody Hendricks [33%] and mayor Mboka Mwilambwe [19%].

This is Part 3 of a series of stories about the mayoral election in Bloomington. Election Day is April 1.

Whoever takes Bloomington's top job will still have to contend with the issues of a housing shortage and an uptick in the number of unhoused people in the city — though aid to both issues is currently in the works.

Incumbent Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe, first-term city council member Cody Hendricks and 22-year former Republican state Rep. Dan Brady are all in the running for Bloomington's top job.

Candidates for Bloomington mayor sparred on several key issues at a WGLT forum Tuesday evening at Illinois State University's Brown Ballroom.

Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe says there were a lot of applications for a vacant second ward city council seat filled this week, and some of those candidates could fill open seats on boards and commissions.