Editorial: Your FOIA in action
From Arkansas Business: We’ll leave it to the professionals to determine whether Paul Bookout, the former state senator who has admitted to misusing campaign funds, should be charged with a crime (although we’ll confess things aren’t looking good). Ditto for whether Lt. Gov. Mark Darr’s campaign reports amount to worse than exceptionally shoddy bookkeeping. What we do know is this: Without the state Freedom of Information Act — underused by most Arkansans — we wouldn’t know about either of these cases. read more ...
Washington coalition recognizes Kirkland for open government
From Kirkland Reporter: The Washington Coalition for Open Government recognized the Kirkland City Council during the Sept. 17 meeting for its recent adoption of records retention rules and procedures. read more ...
Destroyed records lead to damages
From Sandusky Register: In 2010, Tod Wagner sued Huron County Commissioners and the Huron County Airport Authority for what he believed were delayed responses to public records requests — and evidence that other public records had been wrongfully destroyed, according to court documents. Wagner, whose wife Debbie Lake-Wagner, was a former airport authority board member, first submitted the records requests in October 2010. read more ...
Court curbs CIA use of a FOIA exemption
From The Federation of American Scientists: The Central Intelligence Agency tried to make “inappropriate” use of an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act to withhold information that was not subject to the exemption, a federal court ruled last month. read more ...
AP: Records show Maine gov. tried to jam wind plan
From The Sacramento Bee: AUGUSTA, Maine -- Before its public push to have Maine reconsider wind energy proposals, Gov. Paul LePage's administration worked behind the scenes to explicitly derail Norwegian company Statoil's multimillion-dollar agree ...
Capitol Notebook: State law protects public employees from public scrutiny
From Aberdeen News: PIERRE — South Dakota’s laws regarding public records are in some ways good and in other ways bad, depending on what a person is trying to learn about the everyday operations within a government or public school district. read more ...
Mass. Attorney General’s Office declines to investigate Open Meeting Law complaint against Palmer Redevelopment Authority
From Masslive.com: PALMER - The Attorney General's Office has declined to investigate an Open Meeting Law complaint against the Palmer Redevelopment Authority lodged by Paul E. Burns regarding what he said were violations of requirements for quoru ...
West Milford Township wants proposed open-government amendments tweaked
From NorthJersey.com: A campaign to tweak the state's most prominent open-government acts continues in town hall. read more ...
Judge turns down FOIA for bin Laden burial records
From Las Vegas Sun: A federal judge is siding with the Navy in its refusal to release some records about the 2011 burial at sea of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon this week turned down a bid by Judicial Wat ...
Open-government laws fuel hedge-fund profits
From The Wall Street Journal: WASHINGTON—When SAC Capital Advisors LP was weighing an investment in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., the hedge-fund firm contacted a source it knew would provide nonpublic information without blinking: the federal government. read more ...