The fourth annual Celebrating a Free Press and Open Government Banquet, titled "Forty Years, Freedom of Information: The Fight Continues," will celebrate the forty-year anniversary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and will feature White House Advisor Cori Zarek as guest speaker.
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Read More… from Iowa: Celebrating a Free Press and Open Government
An advocacy group for government transparency on Tuesday sued the University of Washington Board of Regents, contending the board conducted a “sham public process” and violated the state’s open-meetings law last October by secretly picking the university’s president.
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Read More… from UW regents sued over ‘sham public process’ in picking school’s president
Earlier this year, the city of Los Angeles launched GeoHub, an ambitious map-based portal designed to improve communication across city departments, spur innovation, and increase community engagement. GeoHub, powered by Esri’s enterprise location engine, connects citywide location-based data to plan for and support city operations efficiently across diverse residents. The GeoHub’s repository supports interactive maps that can be created and modified in real-time to engage Angelenos and expedite cross-departmental decision making.
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Read More… from Los Angeles Leads Open Data Innovation with the GeoHub
State legislators are accusing the University of Virginia of dodging a request for records related to its $2.3 billion Strategic Investment Fund.
A letter signed by 11 lawmakers claims the university’s records dump last week included many omissions, such as responses by UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan. Continue…
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Read More… from Lawmakers dissatisfied with UVa’s response to Strategic Investment Fund inquiry
The past year has seen no shortage of political scandals involving state officials. Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard was convicted on 12 felony counts connected to using his office for personal gain. New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos were convicted on corruption charges. Five Pennsylvania state representatives were convicted on bribery, corruption, extortion and conflict-of-interest charges. And Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox pleaded guilty to wire fraud, bribery and filing a false tax return.
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In this year’s election cycle, the restless, anti-establishment anger is palpable, and shared by voters on the left who felt the Bern and on the right who love the Donald. Both are animated by a conviction that the moneyed class and corporations have hijacked our democracy. Emerging from their conventions, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will vie to win over these disaffected voters. Right now, both candidates are missing a potent opportunity to publicly recognize that it is not only money producing outsized influence in our democratic system. It is data.
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Oregon's open records law should be updated to include deadlines, a strongly worded commitment to government openness and better tracking of the many exemptions that allow public agencies to keep some records confidential, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said Friday.
To that end, she submitted proposed legislation intended to accomplish all three of those changes. Continue…
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Read More… from Oregon attorney general proposes fixes to state open records law
Thanks to the Texas Supreme Court, McAllen taxpayers cannot find out how much their city paid Enrique Iglesias to belt out his Latin pop lyrics at a holiday parade.
And Houston cannot release, among other information, how many driver permits it has issued to ride-hailing giant Uber.
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Read More… from Texas High Court Carves “Monstrous Loophole” for Government Secrets
Reclaim The Records has done it again. We are proud to announce that our Freedom of Information lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York, fighting for the right to a first-ever public copy of the New York City marriage index, has been successful!
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Citizens aren’t being allowed to speak up at City Commission meetings.
At least not until officials review alternatives to the public comment period, or citizen communication, which allows citizens to speak before commissioners for up to two minutes. Continue…
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Read More… from Texas: Silencing the public? City removes comments
