National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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U.S. sued over planes that suck up cell phone data

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A civil liberties group has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service, demanding more information about a controversial surveillance tactic involving airplanes that fly over urban areas in order to sweep up cell phone signals.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit, filed in Washington, claims that the group demanded documents about the plane program under freedom-of-information laws last November, but that the federal government has so far failed to turn them over as required.

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Former Florida governor Jeb Bush releases eight years’ worth of emails: Is that legal?

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On Tuesday, Jeb Bush, “in the spirit of transparency,” released a mass of emails sent to him during his time as Florida governor.

Many of the emails are the stuff of public record, and “would have surfaced anyway due to sunshine laws and nosy journalists,” as The Christian Science Monitor put it.

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Obama Administration stonewalling FOAI request on releasing IRS docs

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The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has turned down an FOIA request from The Hill to release more than 500 pages of documents relating to the Tea Party targeting scandal at the IRS.

This is just the latest indication that the Obama administration is trying to "run out the clock" on the investigation so that current officials will be out of government by the time any useful information is released.

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Richmond FOIA suit thrown out, judge opens door to challenge

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A Richmond judge has thrown out most of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against the city related to the departure last year of former chief administrative officer Byron C. Marshall, but left room for more legal wrangling.

The judge’s ruling makes clear that the city is on shaky legal ground with its refusal to disclose the confidentiality agreements City Council members were asked to sign before being briefed on Marshall’s exit in September.

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Proposed all-GOP, closed health care meeting raises open government concerns in Utah Legislature

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A proposal to invite all 87 of Utah's Republican state lawmakers into a closed-door debate on health care policy is raising concerns.

State senators appeared Monday to be balking at the idea of a joint behind-the-scenes discussion with their House counterparts about Gov. Gary Herbert's Healthy Utah Medicaid expansion plan before voting on a hallmark issue of the 2015 legislative session.

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Md. Local Governments Lax In Learning About Open Meetings

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State officials say more than 60 percent of Maryland local governments haven’t complied with a 2013 state law requiring training in the state’s Open Meetings Act.

The Carroll County Times reported Sunday that that the Open Meetings Compliance Board sees lots of room for improvement. Chairwoman Monica Johnson says local officials must be educated about the law.

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Hacking the housing market: Tech teams use open data to help people find affordable homes

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Phrases like “housing vouchers” and “senior accessibility” aren’t commonly heard at a weekend hackfest. But those words were the focus of one of Seattle’s largest open data hackathons ever — a unique event hosted by Zillow and the University of Washington this weekend.

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ACLU Wins Round on ‘Torture Report’

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The American Civil Liberties Union early Monday withdrew an emergency motion filed late last month in its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that blocked the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from collecting all copies of the committee’s full, unredacted report on the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation program.”

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Occupy Houston assassination plot records won’t be released

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Details of a plot to kill Occupy Houston leaders won't be released after a federal court upheld the FBI's claim that the documents are legally exempted from the Freedom of Information Act.

The FBI argued information was withheld, including 12 of 17 relevant pages, to protect the identity of confidential sources who were "members of organized violent groups," according to Courthouse News Service.

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