An effort to expand Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act could move forward this week in the state legislature.
The 40-year-old law covers local governments and state departments, but not the governor’s office or the Legislature. Continue…
————————
[…]
The dodgy scientists who wrote to President Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch demanding that RICO laws be used to prosecute climate skeptics just got even more badly screwed.
Already one of them — George Mason University professor Jagadish Shukla — is under Congressional investigation for what has been described as the “largest science scandal in US history.” Continue…
[…]
Read More… from Sons of Climategate: Dodgy Scientists Caught Red-Handed by FOIA Lawsuit
The Missouri Legislature this session voted to curtail public access to some public records that lawmakers have sought to seal for years.
[…]
Read More… from Missouri Legislature scales back public access to records
Minnesota’s first set of guidelines for the police use of body cameras is moving ahead at the Legislature after weeks of a stalemate, leading to outcry from open government advocates that the bill would keep too much footage under wraps.
[…]
Read More… from Police body camera guidelines on the move in the Minnesota Legislature
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday signed legislation requiring police and prosecutors to keep the addresses and other personal information of crime victims and witnesses secret from the public and in some cases defense lawyers without a court order.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery pushed the bill as a way to protect victims.
[…]
Read More… from Arizona OKs barring release of some crime witness info
In a move toward greater transparency, arrest and booking data will henceforth be available online, the result of a collaboration between the Berkeley Police Department's Professional Standards Division and the city's IT Department.
The open data portal will enable the public to look at arrest and booking data over a 30-day period, according to a police department news release.
[…]
Read More… from Berkeley police open data portal now available
A state appellate court hinted Wednesday that it had little interest in expanding government secrecy in a case involving the public's right to know who supplies the lethal drugs Texas uses to execute convicted criminals.
A decision in favor of openness by the state's 3rd Court of Appeals could a have limited effect because the Texas Legislature passed a law last year requiring state prison officials to keep the identities of the drug makers secret.
[…]
Read More… from Texas court weighs secrecy exemption for execution drugs
The city of Mesa faces paying more than twice its annual budget to settle a state Public Records Act dispute with its former mayor, Donna Zink.
Franklin County Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Spanner assessed a $353,000 penalty against the tiny farm city for 33 separate infractions of the state records law during a hearing Tuesday.
[…]
Read More… from Judge hits Mesa with budget-breaking penalty for Public Records Act violations
A state appeals court today ordered the New York City Police Department to release information on the health risks of the unmarked X-ray vans that it uses to covertly detect explosives. '
But the panel overturned a lower court’s ruling that required the department to disclose records on when and where the vans had been used, its policies on van usage, or how much the vans cost, agreeing with the NYPD that concerns over terrorism outweighed the public interest.
[…]
Five of Ohio’s public universities are putting their spending records online.
Ohio's state Treasurer Josh Mandel announced Tuesday that the universities will post their spending information on the state treasurer's online checkbook website next year. Miami, Bowling Green State, Central State, Wright State and Ohio universities are the first to join.
[…]
