National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Putnam man acquitted of disruption charge

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From The Charleston Gazette: WINFIELD, W.Va. — A Putnam County website publisher was acquitted Friday of the charge of willful disruption of government process after an incident involving the county’s health department in April.

Mark Hallburn, who runs the website www.putnamlive.com, was arrested after visiting the Putnam County Health Department to inquire about FOIA requests Hallburn had filed with the agency.

Visit The Charleston Gazette for more.

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Judges, open government groups blast exemptions to judicial council draft on open meetings

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From Courthouse News Service: SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Comments last week from judges, labor representatives and open government advocates poured criticism on the “vagueness and breadth” of exemptions to a draft rule that would open up meetings of Judicial Council advisory bodies.

But, when asked if the draft rule applies to the Judicial Council’s powerful internal committees, Justice Douglas Miller who heads the Executive and Planning Committee answered directly and clearly, “Yes it does.”

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Port St. Lucie Councilman Bowen charged with violating open records laws; Faiella, Martin face civil infractions

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From TCPALM: Port St. Lucie Councilman Ron Bowen has been charged with violating the state’s open records laws and civil infractions have been levied against Mayor JoAnn Faiella and Councilwoman Shannon Martin in connection with the dismissal of former City Manager Greg Oravec, State Attorney Bruce Colton said Monday.

Visit TCPALM for more.

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Editorial: A tool of transparency

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From Yankton Daily: Earlier this month, Gov. Dennis Daugaard used his weekly column to share information with citizens about moving state government toward more transparency and accessibility.

Specifically, he wrote about the launch of a new state government website that makes it easier for the public to learn about administrative rules and regulations that are proposed and implemented by various state agencies. The new website is rules.sd.gov.

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EFF: FBI should release surveillance justification document

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From PC World: The Federal Bureau of Investigation should make public a legal opinion it used to justify a past telephone records surveillance program because other agencies may still be relying on the document for surveillance justifications, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued in court Tuesday.

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Rick Scott, Pam Bondi sued in public records withholding

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From Huffington Post: Tallahassee, Fla., attorney Steven Andrews filed a new lawsuit against Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday, alleging that the Republican governor’s administration failed to release public records, according to The Associated Press.

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Editorial: Stop blacking out public records

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From Wisconsin State Journal: Gov. Scott Walker eventually got it right — after being sued.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, got it wrong and is still being challenged in court.

Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, wasn’t even close in her latest response to an open records request.

Too many elected officials in Wisconsin are blacking out information on public documents for no good reason.

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Peter Scheer: NSA may have adhered to legal rules, but legal rules can’t keep up with changes in surveillance technology

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From First Amendment Coalition: A year or two from now, when investigators have taken stock of all the revelations in the NSA records released by Edward Snowden, the verdict is likely to be that the exposed NSA surveillance activities were NOT unlawful.

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Looking towards next week’s open data executive order deadline

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From Sunlight Foundation: November 30th marks the first major deadline for agency compliance with President Obama’s Open Data Executive Order and accompanying Memorandum M-13-13. In addition to representing an important step in the march towards open government and proper data management, this is an opportunity to evaluate agencies, identify best practices, and advocate for change. The Executive Order will continue to be implemented over the coming months and years, but agencies should, and will, be judged on how much effort they put into this first deadline. […]

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Despite legal battles over openness, Fallin’s lawyer maintains administration is transparent

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From Daily Journal: OKLAHOMA CITY — Even though Gov. Mary Fallin remains locked in two separate legal battles over her office’s refusal to release documents, her top lawyer insists Fallin’s administration is the most transparent Oklahoma has ever seen.

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