From Daily Herald: Prospect Heights Mayor Nick Helmer announced Monday that Freedom of Information requests are costing the city so much that he has ordered the names of all requesters and what they asked for posted on the city's website. The list is under City Services>Administration>FOIA on the city's website, prospect-heights.il.us. The city charged the Water Fund $3,452 for FOIA processing in August, although it was not clear what period that covered. read more ...

From New England First Amendment Coalition: The New England First Amendment Coalition published its latest NEFAC Report. The publication includes: Head scratcher: US marshals say photos would invade VT killer's privacy, ACLU again checks RI school board on failing to open testing talks, MA town sues gaming commission for proposed casino details, NEFAC will honor James Risen with Hamblett Award at annual luncheon, and more. read more ...

From The Colorado Independent: DENVER — Last spring, between the time the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed civil unions and gun control laws and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper granted a temporary reprieve to convicted Chuck E. Cheese’s shooter Nathan Dunlap, a bill to abolish the death penalty died in a House committee. The measure was quashed largely at the urging of Hickenlooper’s administration which, in a year of relatively progressive lawmaking, called for a longer “statewide discussion” about capital punishment. The Department of Corrections soon made it clear it didn’t want to participate in that discussion by refusing to reveal the protocol ...

From The Advocate: A New Orleans environmental activist is suing the state for copies of correspondence she says could shed light on conversations between Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top coastal-protection adviser and the energy industry about a local flood-protection board’s decision to file a massive lawsuit against dozens of oil and gas companies. read more ...

From The Republic: HARTFORD, Connecticut — Connecticut's Freedom of Information Commission is meeting this week to consider whether recordings of 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting should be made public. An attorney for the commission who heard a challenge from The Associated Press recommended earlier this month that the recordings be released. Visit The Republic for more. ====== ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...