Pro bono legal help for local journalism in Colorado is coming soon
News organizations in Colorado will soon get some extra legal firepower to fight wrongful denials of access to government records and proceedings.
Blog
Colorado judicial branch posts draft of proposed rule on suppression of court records
In a closed-door meeting, a Colorado judicial branch committee is expected to consider a long-awaited new rule on the suppression and sealing of criminal court records.
Colorado House bill could ‘gut’ 2019 law that opened records on police internal affairs investigations
A bill in the Colorado legislature threatens to significantly weaken the new state law that opened records on completed police internal affairs investigations.
New online tool helps you understand Colorado’s state budget by balancing it yourself
With the 2020 legislative session starting this week, University of Colorado Denver launched an interactive tool to help Coloradans better understand the state budget.
CFOIC’s year-in-review 2019: encrypted police radios, open internal affairs records, deleted emails
A split screen might be the best way to think about government transparency in Colorado in 2019. On one side is the ground-breaking new state law that opens records on completed police internal affairs investigations. On the other is the trend among law enforcement agencies in our state to encrypt 100 percent of their scanner transmissions.
Colorado judicial branch committee finalizing proposed rule on suppression of criminal court records
A long-awaited proposed new rule on the sealing and suppression of criminal court records could be ready in January and a public hearing likely will follow, the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court told state lawmakers.
Federal lawsuit challenges Colorado law that criminalizes disclosure of child abuse information
A Colorado law that criminalizes the public disclosure of child abuse and neglect reports is unconstitutional and protects child welfare workers accused of misconduct, a federal lawsuit alleges.
Rangely police shooting: The truth emerges and the healing begins
The killing, Rangely’s first officer-involved homicide in nearly 40 years, was a story town officials didn’t want told. It wasn’t mentioned at the town council meeting the next day. The town manager and the mayor made no public statements about the shooting, and they ignored the Herald Times’ questions in the aftermath about the job status of Kinney and the chief.
Harber: The people’s fight for open government
A major battle plays out daily in Colorado as some of our elected and appointed officials – all of whom took a solemn oath to serve all Coloradans – do everything possible to frustrate disclosing information belonging to the people. These fights involve access to records concerning public policies created with taxpayer dollars.
Zansberg: Rules of Professional Conduct ‘have nothing to say’ about disclosure of police body-cam footage
Footage from police body-worn cameras clearly fits the definition of criminal justice records in one of Colorado’s freedom-of-information laws: All materials, including recordings, “made, maintained, or kept” by criminal justice agencies. But some district attorneys are relying on more than the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act to determine whether and when body camera video should be disclosed to the public.