NASCIO sees positive growth on open data
A new report out from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) shows that some progress is being made on its 2009 call for governments to more fully embrace open data. Authors note that state and local governments have, i ...
Mayor questions public records process
Bloomington (IN) Mayor Tari Renner wants elected officials, not hired staff, to have more say on disputed requests from the public for city records. Renner’s call for more oversight stems from the city’s recent denial of a Pantagraph Freedom of Information Act request seeking details about the termination of Bloomington Police Officer Brenton VanHoveln, who allegedly falsified documents. The Pantagraph is asking the public access counselor in the state attorney general's office to review the city’s denial and require it to release the records. read more ...
NY Towns miss deadline on FOI request
Freedom of Information requests submitted April 15 to the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby (NY) for public records related to the proposed dissolution of the Village of Medina have yet to be fulfilled even though the deadline to do so has elapsed. The ...
Editorial: Governor should sign bill to increase openness on highway projects
State lawmakers this spring approved the Transportation Enterprise Transparency Act. This is a bill that reflects the Colorado belief of openess in government. The bill should be signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper ...
Jury selection could be closed to the public in theater shooting trial
Defense attorneys in the Aurora theater-shooting case want to close jury selection to the public and to spend extra time quizzing potential jurors about their views on the insanity defense ...
“You don’t start a dialogue with FOIA requests”
Some LGBT activists are upset with University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock, one of the nation’s foremost law-and-religion scholars. According to the Charlottesville Daily Progress, these activists “believe his writings suppor ...
Blog: Newly released FOIA documents show “enormous spying and monitoring apparatus”
Last week, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) released a trove of some 4,000 documents it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showing that the movements of the mostly peaceful participants in the Occupy Wall Street protests were subjected to an "enormous spying and monitoring apparatus" that included coordination between the Pentagon, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, local police, private security contractors and corporate interests. read more ...
FOIA request shows Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s Drug Testing Have Cost Taxpayers Nearly $400,000
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has spent nearly $400,000 in taxpayer dollars defending his various drug testing schemes, the American Civil Liberties Union said this week. The Florida government started making welfare applicants and state workers pee in cups to prove they weren't on drugs in 2011, only to have both programs quickly halted by federal courts on constitutional grounds. In response to a records request from the Florida ACLU, the Scott administration disclosed it has spent $381,654 appealing the unfavorable rulings. read more ...
Autopsy report that coroner tried to keep secret says 3-year-old’s death was homicide
Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg complied with a judge's order Tuesday and made public the autopsy report for the toddler who police believe was left alone for four days in a Steamboat Springs cabin ...
Open government: getting beyond impenetrable online data
Mathematician Blaise Pascal famously closed a long letter by apologising that he hadn't had time to make it shorter. Unfortunately, his pithy point about "download time" is regularly attributed to Mark Twain and Henry David Thoreau, probably because the public loves writers more than it loves statisticians. Scientists may make things provable, but writers make them memorable. read more ...
