Connecticut moves openly toward more data transparency
Some state employees will soon have to move to another building — but there’s one thing they won’t be allowed to bring with them: paper. “We’re being pretty strict that paper should not move,” Gov. Dannel P. Mall ...
Texas Attorney General Orders Camera Company To Produce Documents
Cities and their photo enforcement contractors are often reluctant to respond to freedom of information act requests. Odessa, Texas did its best to suppress a request for emails between city employees and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) by allowing the vendor to argue it was exempt from handing over the documents. "Information is excepted from the requirements of [the public disclosure law] if it is information that, if released, would give advantage to a competitor or bidder," states Section 552.104 of the Texas Government Code, which ATS cited. read more ...
Poudre School District destroys records to deny special needs family’s access
From 7NEWS (Denver): FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A CALL7 investigation has found the Poudre School District willfully destroyed records involving a special education student, in an attempt to keep them from his family that has cost taxpayers more than $200,000. The findings raise serious ethical questions for PSD and raise questions for parents about whether they can trust the district responsible for the education of their children. - Services "overlooked?" - Nine-year-old Isaac Starr needs a range of special programs and skilled professionals to help him develop. "He has a variety of disabilities, the primary one would be Autism," said ...
Florida Times-Union wins First Amendment Foundation award
The First Amendment Foundation’s James C. Adkins/Sunshine Litigation Award goes to The Florida Times-Union and Editor Frank Denton for recent success protecting and defending open government laws through litigation in three recent cases. The ...
UConn Foundation Butts Up against Freedom of Information Act
The University of Connecticut Foundation, which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from private donors, should be considered a public agency under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, advocates argued at a legislative hearing, accord ...
Using FOIA, the Chicago Tribune followed an undercover FBI agent’s formation of a political committee
The Tribune used state records and trial transcripts to show how an undercover FBI agent, using the alias Carlos Vargas, formed a political committee while posing as a strip club manager in the Chicago suburb of Harvey. The records list Vargas as providing about $140,000 to the committee, named The Harvey Good Government Group 2007. Fliers tied to the committee promoted the re-election of the suburb's controversial mayor.Continue>>> read more ...
W.Va. Supreme Court to hear Nitro FOIA case
Attorneys for the city of Nitro will argue Monday before the West Virginia Supreme Court that a circuit judge erred by not allowing the city to charge $25 an hour to look up information to fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests. In 2009, the N ...
Voice of the Free Press: When it comes to open government, appearance matter
The charge that South Burlington failed to publicly announce a gathering of a quorum of city councilors underscores the need for public officials to be far more aware of appearances. The open meeting controversy brewing in the City Council also off ...
ONA: Open records ruling a major setback
Two Ohio Supreme Court decisions denying attorney fees to a woman who fought the city of South Euclid for public records represent major setbacks to the cause of open government in Ohio, according to the Ohio Newspaper Association. “This is a ...
