La. public records suit filed against superintendent
From Houston Chronicle: BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A college student from Baton Rouge who has clashed with the education department over its voucher program filed a public records lawsuit against Superintendent of Education John White. Zack Kopplin, who attends Rice University, said White and the Department of Education have refused to provide documents he's sought about the voucher program and a law that allows public school science teachers to use supplemental materials in their classrooms. read more ...
Calif. voters to consider public records amendment
From San Jose Mercury News: SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California voters will decide whether the public's right to inspect local government records should be enshrined in the state constitution after lawmakers voted Tuesday to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next June. If voters approve, local governments would have to follow the California Public Records Act and the state's open-meetings law but would not be reimbursed by the state for doing so. read more ...
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans’ data with Israel
From The Guardian: The National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about US citizens, a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden r ...
Feds fight to prevent NSA disclosures in criminal cases
From TalkingPointsMemo: Solicitor General Donald Verrilli and Sen. Diane Feinstein have put federal prosecutors in quite a bind after they made public comments about the use of secret NSA surveillance in terrorism investigations. read more ...
Judge: LSU board could face jail if search records not released
From The Advocate: Saying daily $500 fines have not grabbed its attention, an unyielding state judge warned the LSU Board of Supervisors on Monday that it now faces additional sanctions, including possible jail time, if it does not immediately com ...
In court today: continuing to challenge FBI secrecy on racial and ethnic profiling
From ACLU: The ACLU and the ACLU of New Jersey are in federal appeals court today in a second challenge to FBI claims of secrecy concerning its troubling nationwide racial and ethnic mapping program. The argument comes in a lawsuit filed in 2011, ...
California pension payouts have doubled since 1999
From The Fresno Bee: SACRAMENTO — The average retirement payout for new retirees in California's biggest public pension system doubled between 1999 and 2012, according to CalPERS data, and initial monthly payments for one group nearly tripled in that period. [...] read more ...
Editorial: Taxpayers deserve expansive transparency
From Las Vegas Review-Journal: The Legislature took big steps forward this year in improving public access to government functions and records. But without fail, the government entities that are supposed to follow state laws mandating transparenc ...
Doubts raised about independence of White House panel on NSA privacy
From Miami Herald: WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has announced the names of the five members of a task force to examine the National Security Agency’s controversial collection of Internet and cell phone records, but privacy and open government advocates say they don’t believe the panel is likely to be very critical of the NSA program. read more ...
Illinois policy group says 4 metro-east counties violate open government laws
From Belleville News-Democrat: Only two county governments in the metro-east passed an online review from an independent group seeking more openness in governance to prevent corruption. [...] The Illinois Policy Institute found 90 of the 102 count ...
