From the Reporter-Herald (Loveland):  When Interior Secretary Sally Jewell visited northwestern Colorado earlier this month, it provided her and other officials the opportunity to view a sage grouse recovery program that has been described as being an innovative way to bolster the numbers of the native birds. In the process, however, it seems she and her staff found an innovative way to break open meetings laws, too. As part of the visit, she had asked to meet with the members of the Moffat County Board of County Commissioners to get their input on the program. However, she wanted to get ...

From The Denver Post: The Colorado Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a stay in the Sir Mario Owens death penalty case, which could clear the way to unseal files, including courtroom transcripts, that have been under wraps for more than six years. On Friday, attorney Steve Zansberg, who represents a consortium of media organizations, including The Denver Post, will file a motion in Arapahoe County District Court asking that the case be unsealed. "The idea that transcripts of proceedings held in open court should not be available for public inspection is nonsensical," Zansberg said. "There is no support for it ...

From The Watch (Western San Juan Mountains): MONTROSE COUNTY – Black Canyon Partners, operator of the Black Canyon Jet Center, the Montrose Regional Airport’s only Fixed-Base Operator, has filed a civil complaint against nine Montrose County officials for allegedly withholding public documents it requested during the recent Request For Proposals process for a second FBO at the airport. The lawsuit was filed on Jan. 23, two days after Montrose County Manager Rick Eckert announced a committee’s findings that Majestic Skies of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was one of two applicants that met the minimum requirements to be an FBO. That finding ...

Open government data holds great economic promise. But solving the technical hurdles addresses only part of the challenge of bringing the data to market. read more ...

Creating a state-level unit to monitor open meetings and open records could vastly improve the state’s ability to enforce these important laws. Spending about $160,000 a year to police compliance to the Kansas Open Meetings Act and Kansas Ope ...

"All meetings of a public body shall be open to the public and shall be held in a place available to the general public." As part of an ongoing study of Ann Arbor’s sanitary sewer system during wet weather, a public meeting will take place next Thursday, Feb. 6, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Slauson Middle School auditorium. At that meeting, an update will be presented on the study. Also to be discussed at the meeting are results of a recent survey of participants in the city’s footing drain disconnection program. read more ...

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing a request by an open-government advocate to create a policy for the use of email communications by public officials that is consistent with the Open Public Meetings Act. The request, made J ...

Gov. Dennis Daugaard has pledged to make state government more open to the public and last year his Open Government Task Force submitted eight bills in the 2013 legislative session. The Legislature rejected five of the proposed laws. One of the pro ...

A bill to strengthen the Brown Act, California’s open government law is proceeding in the state legislature. The bill adds to the reasons a district attorney or citizen can petition to void a government act for failure to provide adequate oppor ...

All but four states now post at least partial information online showing which companies are receiving economic development subsidies. But the quality and depth of that disclosure varies widely, both among and within states. Three-fourths of major st ...