Keyword: Open Records
Items: 73 (4 pages)
QUICKLINK Pennsylvania · January 27, 2010 · Freedom of information
Pennsylvania city sues public records office, newspaper
A Pennsylvania city is suing its newspaper, a reporter at the newspaper and the state public records office that granted the reporters records request, Allentown's The Morning Call reported.
The Call's Jarrett Renshaw had requested the e-mail messages and schedules of Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and other city officials under the state's year-old Right-to-Know Law. The city said it would need nearly $900 to fulfill Renshaw's request because it would be several thousand pages . . . [more]
— Amanda Becker, 6:33 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Louisiana · December 4, 2009 · Freedom of information
Newspaper sues Louisiana parish for access to records
A newspaper is counter-suing a Louisiana parish after its deputy attorney asked a court for a protective order to stop the release of public records related to a federal investigation and state ethics inquiry,The Times-Picayune reported.
The Times-Picayune filed suit against Jefferson Parish this week for contracts related to the business relationships between the chief administrator, who co-owns an insurance agency, and local public agencies and government . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 3:49 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK New Hampshire · December 2, 2009 · Freedom of information
City need not provide records in electronic format
A New Hampshire court ruled last week that a city is under no obligation to provide public records in electronic format, The Keene Sentinel reported.
A Cheshire County Superior Court judge dismissed Wallace S. Nolen’s public records lawsuit against the city of Keene because the city provided Nolen with a paper printout of the data he requested, even though Nolen sought the information in electronic format. New Hampshire law does not require government to provide records in a . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 5:49 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Louisiana · November 30, 2009 · Freedom of information
Louisiana parish sues media outlets to block public records request
A Louisiana parish sued two news media outlets last week, asking the court for a protective order to keep public records that are also being reviewed in a state ethics inquiry confidential.
Louis Gruntz, deputy parish attorney of Jefferson Parish, which includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans, filed suit against the Times-Picayune newspaper, WVUE television, reporters of each, and "all other media entities and/or individuals" seeking the . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 5:45 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Washington · November 17, 2009 · State open government
Washington city refuses to settle suit over e-mail messages
A Washington city rejected a local open government activist's offer last week to settle a public records suit in which a state appeals court has ordered it to pay what could amount to $110,000 in legal fees, The Daily Herald reported.
The Monroe City Council refused Meredith Mechling's offer to settle a suit over e-mail messages she requested in 2006 that two state courts ordered the city hand over. Mechling wanted $192,950 to cover both her legal fees and public . . . [more]
— Ansley Schrimpf, 4:13 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Michigan · November 17, 2009 · State open government
State police want nearly $7 million to fulfill FOIA request
The Michigan Department of State Police is charging the Mackinac Center for Public Policy nearly $7 million to fulfill its FOIA request for information on how the state has used homeland security grant money since 2002, the nonpartisan research group reported.
A communications specialist at the center requested information after the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general released a report that detailed multiple implementation problems in how $129 million in security grants was spent in seven Michigan . . . [more]
— Kirk Davis, 2:19 pm · View reader comments (2)
QUICKLINK Florida · November 17, 2009 · Secret courts
Report: Two finalists for U.S. attorney spot supported secrecy
The Broward Bulldog reported last week that two of the three finalists for a U.S. attorney post in southern Florida have been involved in controversies regarding court records -- one for altering a docket in apparent violation of state law and another who helped prosecute a secret case in the wake of Sept. 11.
According to the Bulldog, the list included Judge Daryl Trawick, who had a court clerk alter a public docket in 2002 at the request of state prosecutors who sought to protect an informant -- Florida law . . . [more]
— Ansley Schrimpf, 2:17 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE West Virginia · November 16, 2009 · Freedom of information
Judicial email not public in West Virginia
Personal e-mail messages on government accounts are not public records, even when they are between a judge and a party to a pending case, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled Nov. 12.
In the 4-1 ruling, the court held that former Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard could keep private all of the 13 messages he exchanged with Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship last year. At that time, Massey Energy — one of the largest coal producers in Appalachia — had several cases pending before the court, including the appeal of a $50 million jury verdict.
The Associated Press was initially denied access to the messages under West Virginia's public records law but won release of at least five of the messages when a lower court ruled they were public records because they dealt with Maynard’s judicial campaign. Last week's ruling put all of the messages out of the public's reach.
"We conclude that not one of the 13 e-mails was related in . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 6:51 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Florida · October 26, 2009 · Freedom of information
Requests for Florida school records expensive, time consuming
The open-government site Sunshine Review found that despite Florida's strong open records law, obtaining information on public schools is still a daunting process for private citizens, the group's editor wrote in the Orlando Sentinel.
As part of the nonprofit transparency group's Back to School project, it filed public records requests with Florida schools seeking information on school lobbyists. Though the schools largely answered the requests, it was . . . [more]
— Kirk Davis, 5:14 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK 9th Cir. · October 26, 2009 · Freedom of information
Appeals court releases its opinion on release of petition signers
On the heels of a Supreme Court ruling that temporarily blocked the release of the names of people who petitioned to repeal a same-sex marriage law in Washington state, the appeals court has released its rationale for its earlier order to disclose the names.
The Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) ruled on October 15 that petition signing cannot be protected as a form of anonymous speech since there is no promise of confidentiality and Washington law specifically provides that both . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 4:58 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE California · October 14, 2009 · State open government
Governor again vetoes open government bills
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two bills this week that were designed to bring greater transparency and accountability to California's public colleges. This is the latest in a string of actions Schwarzenegger has taken against increased transparency since assuming the governor's office in 2003.
The first, S.B. 218, overwhelmingly passed the legislature and would have expanded California's public records law to include organizations that contract with the state's colleges. The second, S.B. 219, would have provided employees of the University of California system who report waste, fraud and abuse, with the same legal protections as other state employees.
“It would appear that his public commitment to transparency and accountability is only lip-service,” said Lillian Taiz, the president of the California Faculty Association, in a release by Sen. Leland Yee.
In 2004, Schwarzenegger . . . [more]
— Brooke Ericson, 5:53 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE California · October 14, 2009 · State open government
California county pays $500,000 in map data dispute
Santa Clara County must pay a nonprofit watchdog group $500,000 to cover its legal fees after a three-year dispute over whether the county could withhold or charge extremely high fees for electronic maps that were sought during a public records request, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Government watchdogs say the payment of the California First Amendment Coalition's legal fees, which follows an appeals court order to disclose the map data, could be the largest payout awarded in a California records disclosure dispute to date.
“[The $500,000 judgment] sends a very, very clear message that if [governments] ignore their obligations under our open government laws, they better treat that as a real liability,” Peter Scheer, executive director of CFAC, told the Mercury News.
The California First Amendment Coalition sued Santa Clara in June 2006 after it failed to provide its global imaging system basemap in its . . . [more]
— Brooke Ericson, 5:16 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Florida · October 1, 2009 · State open government
Florida court orders NCAA to hand over records
A Florida appeals court upheld Florida’s open meetings law today and ordered the National Collegiate Athletic Association to hand over documents related to secret disciplinary proceedings against Florida State University.
FSU met with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions behind closed doors on Oct. 28, 2008 to explain a self-reported 2007 rules violation. The NCAA issued its response to last year's meeting with the university on June 2. When media organizations made records requests, school officials denied them, citing a cyber confidentiality pact with the NCAA.
FSU officials told reporters that the school’s outside counsel entered a confidentiality agreement with the NCAA that prevented them releasing the documents, which the NCAA made available to FSU in a read-only format through a password-protected Web site.
Media outrage ensued, said Bob Gabordi, executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, FSU’s hometown newspaper. He quoted his own June . . . [more]
— Ansley Schrimpf, 5:47 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Wisconsin · September 21, 2009 · State open government
Wisconsin's open records law applies to city's legal bills
The city of Green Bay must release its legal bills to the public, a Wisconsin judge ruled Friday.
The Green Bay Press-Gazette asked Green Bay and 24 additional Brown County municipalities for legal invoices last May for a June 7 story about how Brown County had spent $2.4 million on outside-counsel legal fees in 2008. The city denied the paper's request and said the records were protected by attorney-client privilege, the Press-Gazette . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 4:07 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Massachusetts · September 16, 2009 · State open government
Mayor may have violated state public record laws
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was ordered to turn over the computer and software of a senior aide after his office provided only 18 e-mail messages from the aide over a six-month period in response to a request from the Boston Globe, the newspaper reported.
The deletions were discovered when two mayoral challengers independently produced hundreds of e-mail messages sent or received by aide Michael Kineavy from Oct. 1, . . . [more]
— Brooke Ericson, 5:40 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Kentucky · September 15, 2009 · State open government
Budgetary constraints do not excuse open records delay
Staff shortages and budgetary constraints do not excuse a failure to timely comply with Kentucky's Open Records Act, the state's attorney general ruled on Aug. 25.
The case began when Kentucky New Era reporter Sarah Hogsed requested restaurant health reports for 2008 and 2009 from the Pennyrile District Health Department and encountered a 21-day delay. Under the law, the government has only three days to respond to a request.
Public Health Director James M. Tolley . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 4:52 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Wisconsin · September 14, 2009 · Freedom of information
Wisconsin city must release officer's personnel file
A Wisconsin city must release the complete personnel file of a local police officer convicted of drunk driving in a settlement reached with the Herald Times Reporter.
The previously unreleased portions of the file revealed that officer Michaelyn Culligan must submit to 12 random alcohol tests a year for the next three years, in . . . [more]
— Kirk Davis, 5:38 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. · September 9, 2009 · Freedom of information
Obama only slightly more open than Bush thus far
The Obama Administration’s approach to transparency in government is, thus far, only a slight improvement over the Bush Administration’s policies, reports OpenTheGovernment.org in its annual Secrecy Report Card.
The nonpartisan coalition of organizations working to promote open government tracked indicators of openness during the last year of the Bush administration and the first six months of the Obama administration. The findings, including a special section on fiscal transparency, were released on Sept. 8.
“Promising trends began to develop in the last year of the Bush administration, but we have a long way to go to return to the level of government openness and accountability that existed before the September 11 attacks,” said Patrice McDermott, the organization's director, in a release.
OpenTheGovernment.org is cautiously hopeful about the ongoing Open Government Directive, describing the process as “an innovative experiment in soliciting public participation in the policy-making . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 6:01 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Florida · August 21, 2009 · Freedom of information
NCAA documents public, Florida court rules
The NCAA was dealt a blow in Florida court Thursday when a judge ruled that records concerning athletes at Florida State University must be released.
The Orlando Sentinel reported the documents were part of a case involving more than 60 student-athletes who had cheated, and about which FSU officials met with National College Athletics Association officials.
The NCAA stored the documents on a secure Web site, from which they could . . . [more]
— Hannah Bergman, 4:35 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Illinois · August 17, 2009 · Freedom of information
Illinois governor signs FOI bill after long wait
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today overhauling the state’s freedom of information law.
The legislation has been sitting on Quinn’s desk for several months since squeaking out of the last legislative session at its very end.
The Chicago Sun Times reported that the new law plugs several loop holes in the current law, including giving the state's public access counselor the power to . . . [more]
— Hannah Bergman, 5:26 pm · Comments: 0
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