Seven years ago, the Office of Management and Budget launched USASpending.gov to let the public easily track how their tax dollars were spent on contracts, grants, loans and other spending. It was supposed to be a big win for open government. Except ...

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, FOG, today filed an Inspection of Public Records Act request asking for the investigation report prepared for the Albuquerque Public School Board about former Superintendent Winston Brooks. Last Friday, ...

A new study puts the Beehive State near the top when it comes to making government data accessible. The Center for Data Innovation gave Utah a score of 8, which is the highest possible, for its open data policies. From Roll Call: "Here’s why the report thinks having both a detailed open data policy and open data portals that provide data in machine-readable formats and through a single location are important: read more ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

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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 ...