With only one significant amendment, the D.C. Council Tuesday (15) passed legislation finally authorizing the Metropolitan Police Department body camera program.
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Craven County Board of Education members may soon have the opportunity to participate in board meetings without being present.
On Tuesday, a new policy allowing members to remotely join in the deliberations of the board will be considered, according to a lengthy agenda in which several policy issues will be discussed. Just last month, the regularly scheduled meeting had to be canceled due to several members’ absences.
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Read More… from North Carolina school board to consider remote participation but only for members
Add Washington's biggest public disclosure watchdog to the chorus of litigants taking aim at Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s office.
The nonprofit Washington Coalition for Open Government filed suit Monday against Pierce County, accusing Lindquist and his staff of violating the state’s public disclosure law.
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Read More… from Washington State disclosure watchdog sues Lindquist’s office
A nonprofit civil rights organization — with support from the White House — has launched a website that will contain up-to-date information about nearly 20 million traffic stops made by every police department and every police officer in North Carolina over the past 15 years.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice will launch Thursday morning in Durham. The website, the first of its kind in the United States, will rely on public records on police traffic stops, vehicle searches and use of force – broken down by race and ethnicity – since 2000.
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Read More… from Open government group compiles data on all traffic stops in North Carolina
A New Jersey appeals court ruled in favor of Gov. Chris Christie's office Thursday in a dispute over a reporter's request for the governor's out-of-state travel expense records.
The three-judge panel held reporter Mark Lagerkvist's request exceeded the limits of New Jersey's Open Public Records Act.
Last year, Lagerkvist requested records of Christie's travel to third-party-funded events, including who paid for his travel. The records custodian said it was not specific enough and denied the request.
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Read More… from Court nixes attempt to obtain records on Christie’s travel
Wisconsin officials backed away Thursday from a move to cut back on record-keeping requirements amid a backlash by open government advocates.
The board that oversees state public records will instead revisit its August vote changing the definition of so-called transitory records, such as texts and other messages deemed to have only temporary value. Gov. Scott Walker's administration has used the changes to deny requests for text messages and records of visits to the governor's mansion.
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Read More… from Wisconsin board backs away from open records rule changes
The Iowa Public Information Board, which pledged to try to broker a compromise between law enforcement and the family of a Burlington woman shot and killed by an officer, may dismiss the family’s complaint after government agencies refused to release more information.
Board staff issued a report Tuesday saying the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Burlington Police Department did not break Iowa’s Open Records law by refusing to release records about the Jan. 6 shooting of Autumn Steele.
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Read More… from Deal to get more details of fatal Iowa police shooting falls apart
Public records requests have surged in recent years, thanks in large part to the transparency and open data movements.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which has been evaluating transparency in state spending for six years, reported that 2015 saw dramatic improvements in how and how much information was provided online. The same goes for cities, where the number of open data sets accessible to the public has climbed since the Open Knowledge Foundation began tracking them in 2013.
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Read More… from Making government transparency more transparent
The recent experience of Salem High School journalism student Chris Robbins and the more than $8,000 bill he would face leaves a distinctly chilling effect on the people’s right to know and casts doubt on government’s claims of transparency.
The incident provides an example of the daily grinding away of democracy. It also indicates a problem with the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
Three actions are necessary to ensure government transparency.
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Read More… from Editorial: In Michigan, FOIA law needs drastic change
To finish an open records request, the Department for Children and Families told The Topeka Capital-Journal the newspaper would have to pay almost $3,000, a fee criticized by government transparency advocates.
On Dec. 8, a Capital-Journal reporter requested two days worth of incoming and outgoing emails from six DCF officials. On Tuesday evening, DCF asked for $2,855 for 2,400 emails and more than two days worth of staff time.
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Read More… from Kansas newspaper charged $3K for records request
