Under the Protected National Security Document Act, enacted by the Obama administration in 2009 to cover the period September 2001 through January 2009, the United States Government has prohibited the release of photographs depicting 'enhanced interrogation techniques' – Torture – administered on enemy combatants taken into custody abroad by the U.S. military and/or its allied forces.
Barack Obama
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Illinois residents will now have easy access to online information regarding mass transit employee salaries as well as safety and budget information. Citing the benefit of increased government accountability, Gov. Quinn Friday signed a bill to reform the state’s mass transit hiring policies.
Andrew Nelms is director of policy and communications for Americans for Prosperity, a group that advocates for lower taxes and government accountability. He said legislation like the bill signed Friday could be beneficial for taxpayers.
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The Organization of American States (OAS) will launch, on Tuesday, August 26, the virtual course "Strategies for Open Government in the Americas" for 217 officials from the region, in order to enable them to implement strategies for the consolidation of more participatory, transparent and open government.
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Read More… from OAS Launches Virtual Course on Open Government for Public Officials in the Americas
If you want to download court records in the United States, your first stop is probably PACER, the oft-maligned digital warehouse for public court records. Maintained by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the system charges 10 cents per page of search results within its archive, and 10 cents per actual page of court documents that are officially in the public record. It's a useful tool for attorneys, but often difficult for the average citizen to navigate and understand.
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Read More… from Why PACER removed access to case archives of five courts
The Virginia Department of State Police has refused to disclose the types of patrol rifles and other tactical weapons and vehicles it possesses in a decision criticized by civil liberty groups and open-government advocates. The Rutherford Institute in Albemarle County, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the Virginia Coalition of Open Government questioned why state police would not release basic descriptions of their taxpayer-funded firearms stock and equipment.
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Read More… from Virginia State Police refuses to disclose publicly funded weapons and vehicles
Judge Robert Adamson ruled in favor of Attorney General Sam Olens in a lawsuit filed in June 2012 against the City of Cumming and Mayor Henry Ford Gravitt for violations of the Open Meetings Act. Judge Adamson ordered the defendants to pay $12,000 in penalties, the highest amount possible under the law. Defendants have also been ordered to pay attorney's fees in an amount to be determined at a later hearing.
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Read More… from Georgia Attorney General Prevails In Lawsuit Defending Open Government
Capping seven years of work, San Jose officials have adopted a slew of sunshine reforms meant to keep City Hall more open. The vast majority of the 80 or so policies have been in place for the past several years but are only now set to become law following a unanimous vote from the San Jose City Council on Tuesday. By setting the reforms into law, it binds future city leaders to follow the same guidelines used by the current administration.
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Read More… from 7 years later, San Jose open-government reforms become law
Finding the balance between the public’s right to know about government and government’s position that national security and other vital concerns should prevent sharing of certain information is the ongoing struggle in our democracy.
Amid so many potential threats to our security, with Sept. 11, 2001, always there to remind us what CAN happen, the willingness of even the most staunch advocates of open government to argue for secrecy is a reality.
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Read More… from Opinion: Government bears burden of showing why secrecy needed
Judicial Watch announced Thursday that is has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to uncover reports of sexual misconduct by airport screeners.
The legal action is connected to a March FOIA request that asked DHS for information about passenger complaints about sexual harassment. While Judicial Watch agreed to narrow its request for information in March, TSA did not produce any documents at all, “or respond in any other substantive way as required by law.”
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Read More… from Obama Administration Sued for Data on Sexual Misconduct by TSA Airport Screeners
Earlier this year Cartersville Attorney Lester Tate won the Charles L. Weltner Freedom of Information Award from the Georgia First Amendment Foundation in recognition of his work on the Judicial Qualifications Commission for the state of Georgia.
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Read More… from Tate wins Georgia Freedom of Information Award as part of JQC
