News

Editorial: Illinois Pays app another step toward more transparency

One of the ways to improve government is to make it easier for taxpayers to see how money flows through the system. It's often called transparency. The office of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka has taken another step in that direction in announcing a new mobile application called Illinois Pays. The app is free and can be downloaded at the Apple and Google Play stores. read more ...

Responder action documents in Aurora theater shooting to be released

In what should be considered a small victory for open records advocates in Colorado, a judge has decided it would be permissible for the City of Aurora to release parts of an after-action review of the emergency response to the 2012 theater shooting that left 12 dead and 70 injured ...

Editorial: Think twice before sending

Let’s put it this way: We know the temptation exceeds the sirens in Greek legends for municipal politicians to, er, share thoughts by email rather more than they should ...

Editorial: Transparency

From The Durango Herald:  Unless the discussion involves nuclear launch codes or some other sensitive element of national security, secrecy is the enemy of good government. That is true of the federal government, at the state level and most especially in local affairs. And there is no reason that principle should not also extend to schools. Colorado voters will have a chance to reinforce that point this fall with a ballot measure that would require school board negotiations with teachers’ unions be conducted in open meetings. That public schools spending the public’s money should do business in public only makes ...

Editorial: Possible increasing sunshine

Colorado voters will have the opportunity in November to shed a little bit of sunshine on contract negotiations for teachers’ unions ...

N.Y. Court Casts Sunlight on Prison Reform Reports

Reports measuring the "progress, or regress" two prisons in Erie County, N.Y., have made since a 2011 settlement with the Justice Department face disclosure, the 2nd Circuit ruled Monday. read more ...

Wisconsin media, cities compromise on open records

Wisconsin open records advocates and municipal leaders have brokered a truce in a fight over police record redactions, creating a request form that allows the public to get clean copies if they reveal who they are and why they want the documents. rea ...

DemocracyOS promotes civic engagement on both sides

In part one of my interview with Pia Mancini, a political activist, I investigated the technologies and background of DemocracyOS, a project aiming to become the operating system of choice for government workers. In part two of my interview with Manc ...

US Won’t Reveal Records on Health Website Security

After promising not to withhold government information over "speculative or abstract fears," the Obama administration has concluded it will not publicly disclose federal records that could shed light on the security of the government's health care website because doing so could "potentially" allow hackers to break in. read more ...