In 28 years as Elmer Township supervisor, Leonard Brown doesn’t recall ever receiving a Freedom of Information Act request.
Clerk Lisa Schmidt has held her seat for 16 years, and she doesn’t either. It’s something they said likely doesn’t come up in a place their size. Only a few hundred people reside in the Sanilac County township — Brown added likely fewer than 600 — and they said they don’t have the same resources as bigger communities.
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts is taking the U.S. Department of Education to federal court in an effort to force the government agency to cough up information about its student debt collection practices, especially as they relate to minority borrowers.
In a joint Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, the ACLU and the National Consumer Law Center note in their filing that they originally requested the release of Department of Education records last May.
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Read More… from ACLU sues Department of Education over student debt info
Three Oklahomans were honored Saturday by FOI Oklahoma for their efforts to promote the First Amendment and the free-flow of public information.
Karen Holp, manager of KGOU radio in Norman, was presented the Marian P. Opala First Amendment Award; State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones received the Sunshine Award; and Ziva Branstetter, of Tulsa, was presented the Ben Blackstock Award.
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Read More… from FOI Oklahoma honors three for transparency; city of Norman deemed ‘Black Hole’
The state’s 20 nonprofits serving people with disabilities shouldn’t be subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, a Senate panel decided Wednesday.
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Digital Democracy, an online platform that offers remote access to hearings and information related to California politics, has added some key new features to keep users up-to-date and informed.
The searchable online database uses voice and facial recognition to identify speakers, including those who give public comment at state legislative hearings. Continue…
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Read More… from California Open Government Search Engine Adds More Features
An appeal to overturn a denied Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding emails sent by a former circuit court judge was rejected Monday by the Montcalm County Board Commissioners.
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Read More… from Michigan’s Montcalm County commissioners deny FOIA request regarding judge’s emails
Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Madonia has sided with Gov. Bruce Rauner in a lawsuit over disclosure of the governor’s appointment calendar, refusing the newspaper’s request for legal fees.
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Only 11 percent of New Jersey’s independent local authorities are in full compliance with an online transparency law that took effect on February 1, 2013, according to a study released by the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government (NJFOG).
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Read More… from NJFOG Study Finds Local Authorities Disregarding Online Transparency Law
The American Civil Liberties Union and National Consumer Law Center on Tuesday asked a federal court to force the U.S. Department of Education to turn over various documents that show how the government collects student loan debt from defaulted borrowers.
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The way the world conducts business and how we live our daily lives is fundamentally changing. Some has termed this change a "digital disruption wave." Consider the following passage from Tom Goodwin — variations of which have gone viral on social media — that encapsulates this phenomenon…Continue…
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