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.
First Amendment
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.
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.
Skeptic turned believer on public funding for local news
A free and independent press is fundamental — it is essential — to American democracy at all levels. But knowing that is precisely why Coloradans must begin a conversation about alternative ways to fund local journalism — even ways that involve public dollars.
CFOIC honors First Amendment attorney Tom Kelley and three other open-government champions
Actual malice. Autopsy reports. The Columbine killers’ “basement tapes.” Stapleton Development Corp. records. The governor’s cellphone bills. The meetings and records of a county retirement board. Tom Kelley waged court battles over these issues and many more as an attorney for The Denver Post, other news organizations and the Colorado Press Association, steadfastly and expertly defending the public’s right to know and the journalist’s right to report.
Federal judge: No reason to close records and proceedings in civil case against Colorado Springs YMCA
A federal judge has denied a motion by the Colorado Springs YMCA to close court proceedings and records in a lawsuit brought by a former employee who alleges she was sexually assaulted by a higher-ranking employee.
Colorado Public Radio and CFOIC object to proposed closure of civil case against Colorado Springs YMCA
The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition joined Colorado Public Radio and a UCLA law professor in objecting to the proposed closure of court proceedings and records in a federal lawsuit brought against the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region.
Colorado Court of Appeals rules for environmental activist in oil company’s defamation suit
A Paonia environmental activist who helped persuade state lawmakers to pass an anti-SLAPP law during this year’s legislative session won a Colorado Court of Appeals victory Thursday against the oil and gas company that sued him for libel.
Polis signs anti-SLAPP, media literacy bills into law
Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill to protect Coloradans from meritless lawsuits that target free expression, and he signed another measure that starts a process for incorporating media literacy into state education standards.
Brief asks 10th Circuit to affirm the public’s First Amendment right to record police
The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition joined other organizations in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to affirm the public’s First Amendment right to record police.