NJ judge finds state wrongly denied man seeking requests for public records
A New Jersey judge ruled Monday that Gov. Chris Christie's administration must honor an activist's public records requests for requests filed by others. The decision from Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson finds fault with the state's recent strategy of denying such requests on the grounds that people who ask for government records have a privacy right. A state government lawyer said that people can use government records requests to explore lawsuits or dig up dirt on political opponents — things that Jacobson said need not be confidential. read more ...
A four-minute primer on open government
Maybe the wisest thing state lawmakers did this year was require that Washington officialdom learn some fundamentals about open government. All elected policymakers and records officers must now get formal training on the state’s Public Recor ...
Last-minute pension law change skirts transparency
These are the kind of backroom deals that make people angry and distrustful of government. In the final hours of the legislative session, state lawmakers crafted a pension law change that gives Louisiana's state police superintendent and one other trooper a sizable retirement boost, with no public debate of the implications or the cost. The price tag is estimated to be $300,000. read more ...
Editorial: Improve execution process with greater transparency
Joseph Wood has the right to know about the lethal-injection drugs that will be used if he is executed on Wednesday. He should also know about the training of the execution team and how the execution protocol was developed. Withholding that information is not simply violating Wood's right to know. It is violating the rights of all of us. read more ...
Washington D.C. launches FOIA portal, transparency initiative
Washington D.C.has launched a new effort to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. A new online portal will make it possible for individuals to submit requests and have them processed online. The new portal, powered by “FOIAXpress, ...
The Fight for the Freedom of Information: Interview with Jeff Cohen
Interview with Jeff Cohen, director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, and he was the founder of the media watchdog FAIR. He is the co-founder of RootsAction.org. He joins us from Ithaca, New York. WORONCZUK: So, Jeff, what ...
Greeley-Evans schools superintendent resigns amid allegations of secret board meetings
Ultimatums, secret meetings and charges of Open Meeting Act violations brought the festering tension among the Greeley-Evans School District 6 board members and former Superintendent Ranelle Lang to a boil, resulting in Lang resigning at a cost to taxpayers of more than a quarter million dollars ...
Sikhs ask US to reveal official use of slurs
A Sikh group today asked US authorities to reveal their use of ethnic slurs after a document leaked by Edward Snowden showed intelligence agents using an anti-Muslim epithet. The Sikh Coalition filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act s ...
Thruway Authority (N.Y.) refusing to release records
WIVB News 4 Investigates wants to know how the New York State Thruway Authority is spending some of its toll money. Last December News 4 filed a New York Freedom of Information Law request asking to see the last three years of expenses for the agency ...
Over 500 grievous injuries or deaths at VA hospitals in 2013
Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country reported more than 500 incidents last year where patients were gravely injured or died as a result of the care they received. Data obtained by the Washington Free Beacon through the Freedom of Informati ...