Washington state appeals court voids $650K award to woman in public-records case
From The News Tribune: A state appeals court panel has ruled that now-retired Pierce County Judge Frederick Fleming was wrong to award $650,000 in damages and fees to an abuse victim who sued the Department of Social and Health Services to get investigative records. In a decision released Tuesday, the Division II panel ruled some of the records sought by Amber Wright were not subject to the state's Public Records Act and that others were not improperly withheld by DSHS because Wright's request for them was too vague. [. . .] read more ...
Secret Huron superintendent agreement opened, read aloud
From Mitchell Daily Republic: HURON -- An agreement that remained secret for more than two years and sent thousands of dollars to an ex-superintendent was unsealed and read aloud Monday evening at a Huron Board of Education meeting . read more ...
Wisconsin bill changing access to court database opposed
From San Francisco Chronicle: MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The latest attempt to restrict public access to a popular online court records database is once again attracting opposition from media groups, landlords, the state court system and even the parents of the bill's sponsor. But Rep. Evan Goyke, a Democrat from Milwaukee who is a former public defender in Milwaukee County, said Monday he will not be deterred by the tough road ahead, even though both his father and mother work for opponents of the bill. [...] read more ...
No cheap details on contracts
From LivingstonDaily.com: [...] The bulk of state contracts flow through the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, which houses the state’s central procurement office and publishes all of its 1,200 contracts with outs ...
Mass. AG to host forums on Open Meeting Law
From The Boston Globe: BOSTON (AP) — The state Attorney General’s Office will hold three educational forums on the Open Meeting Law throughout the state next month. The forums are part of an effort by Attorney General Martha Coakley to help public boards understand and comply with the requirements of the law. State, local, regional and county public boards are required to comply with the law. read more ...
Disclosure divide: TPD releases different versions of police reports
From Tallahassee Democrat: The Tallahassee Police Department scrubbed police reports of information — some of which it might be required by law to release — before handing them over to a Tallahassee Democrat reporter, but didn’ ...
Access to fraternities’ discipline records limited
From USA Today: PHOENIX -- On Nov. 18, 20 members of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Arizona State University confronted three members of a rival fraternity at a Tempe, Ariz., apartment complex. The fight ended with a Delta Kappa Epsilon fra ...
A special sneak Preview of OpenTheGovernment 2013 Secrecy Report
From OpenTheGovernment.org: Be on the lookout for the upcoming release of the latest version of our Secrecy Report. As regular readers may know, this report includes multi-year tracking and analysis of indicators of openness and secrecy in the f ...
NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for September 6, 2013
From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives. Sunshine Law proponents sue city of Groveland read more ...
US and UK spy agencies defeat Internet privacy and security
From The Guardian: US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, accordi ...
