New York's Southern District Court — which has been hosting (along with the Second Circuit Appeals Court) the ACLU and New York Times' long-running, concurrent FOIA lawsuits against the government over its drone killing memos — has reached a partial decision on some of the embattled documents.
[…]
Louisville Metro Government has put 71 new datasets online in the past year, bringing the total to 107, a 197 percent increase, according to the city’s first annual Open Data Report released today.
The report — presented to Mayor Greg Fischer by Jason Ballard, the city’s director of Metro Technology Services — is part of an executive order signed in 2013 to summarize the current state of data availability in Metro Government and present plans for continued improvement of public access to information.
[…]
Read More… from Louisville Metro Government releases first Open Data Report
It’s easy for students to take the amazing information resources available through the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences for granted. Like blue skies and fresh air, they just seem like something that’s always been there. But a panel discussion, hosted recently by University Libraries as a part of Open Access Week, was an important reminder of the continuing battle to make sure public information is free and or as cheap as possible.
[…]
Read More… from Open access allows scholars to find information on nearly anything
Los Angeles County supervisors violated the state’s open-meeting law earlier this year by discussing compensation negotiations behind closed doors without properly informing the public, according to the district attorney’s office.
[…]
Read More… from L.A. County supervisors violated open-meeting law, D.A. finds
This election cycle, the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information asked candidates to sign a pledge – to oppose weakening the state’s public document disclosure law, and to require that any attempts to weaken the law be subjected to public hearings and debate. Only 10% of those to whom this pledge was sent have actually signed it, though.
[…]
Read More… from Opinion: Freedom of Information and Our Eroding Open Government
The retiring chief of the agency that acts as an ombudsman for federal Freedom of Information Act requests pointed to FOIAonline as a major agency achievement Friday.
“To say it’s a success is not overstating things,” said Miriam Nisbet, founding director of the Office of Government Information Services, at a panel celebrating the creation of the agency five years ago.
[…]
Read More… from Retiring head of OGIS hails FOIA portal a success
A number of local legislators have signed a pledge to keep the state’s Freedom of Information law intact, but most of those same legislators voted to weaken the law after the Sandy Hook school shooting.
In October the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information sent out a pledge to incumbent elected officials and candidates requesting that they support the FOI law, the independence of the FOI commission and require a public hearing for any bills that would weaken the law.
[…]
Read More… from Local legislative candidates sign FOI pledge
SEATTLE — The Washington Liquor Control Board broke the state's open public meetings law 17 times as it began working on rules for the recreational marijuana industry, a judge ruled.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller issued the ruling Friday in a case brought by Arthur West, a critic of the legal pot law. The judge said that although the board broke the law, it didn't take any actions at the meetings that would warrant throwing out the marijuana rules it eventually adopted.
[…]
WALLINGFORD — The state Freedom of Information Commission is expected to hear a complaint filed by Wallingford CT Councilor Craig Fishbein over whether Wallingford Center Inc. is a public entity.
[…]
Read More… from FOI complaint against Wallingford non-profit moves forward
