NFOIC – Page 421 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Daily Local News files Right-to-Know appeal

Posted on

From Daily Local News: The Daily Local News filed an appeal with the state’s Office of Open Records on Friday regarding three Right-to-Know requests for public documents denied by the Coatesville Area School District.

Requests were made for numbers of all district-issued cell phones and the names of employees associated with those numbers; names, job titles, lengths of stay and salaries for three specific school district employees; and names, job titles, lengths of stay and salaries of all employees in the school district.

[…]

Editorial: John Doe records should be released

Posted on

From Journal Sentinel: The secret investigation into the Milwaukee County executive’s office is over — over for more than seven months now. But thousands of Milwaukee County documents and emails that were part of the inquiry remain secret.

That simply should not be.

The Journal Sentinel is seeking these documents on behalf of the public. The county records belong to the citizens of Milwaukee County, and the citizens of Milwaukee County have a legal right to know what’s in them.

[…]

Florida legislature considering bill that would close presidential searches

Posted on

From Student Press Law Center: FLORIDA — A Florida representative has reintroduced a bill that, if enacted, would exempt public colleges from having to disclose the names of executive candidates.

Meetings where officials discuss identifying information of presidential, provost or dean candidates would also be exempt from the state’s open meetings act. Public colleges would be required to release the names of finalists at least 21 days before officials meet publicly to make a final selection. If passed, it would take effect Oct. 1, 2014.

[…]

Mystery of missing records taints Iowa hazing case

Posted on

From Des Moines Register: State officials say key performance and disciplinary records from the Department of Public Safety’s 2008 training academy have gone missing from a locked storage unit — a development that has undermined the investigation of a hazing incident that year.

Academy instructors said the records, including detailed notes on the 32 graduates’ progress during the 20-week program, were boxed and stored at DPS headquarters in Des Moines alongside similar records from prior academies.

[…]

Daniel Klau: Who misled the Sandy Hook families about crime scene photos and the Freedom of Information Act?

Posted on

From Appealing Brief: Only days before the end of the 2013 legislative session last June, someone (apparently a Fox News reporter) started a false rumor that documentary filmmaker Michael Moore was going to make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request for graphic crime scene photographs of the Sandy Hook massacre and then splash those photographs all over the Internet or movie screens. Michael Moore never made any such request and he never had any intention of making such a request. […]

Bay Area News Group asks court to order Mt. Diablo school district to release public documents on suspected molester

Posted on

From San Jose Mercury News: WALNUT CREEK — The Bay Area News Group is asking a judge to force the Mt. Diablo Unified School District to release internal records about a former Concord elementary teacher charged with sexually molesting 13 young male students.

Citing personnel and investigatory exemptions in the state’s public records law, the district has refused to produce documents pertaining to former Woodside Elementary teacher Joseph Martin, 45, who pleaded not guilty in July to 125 felony molestation counts.

[…]

Media coalition urges better protection of First Amendment rights in NSA, FISA court matters

Posted on

From Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 36 other news media organizations, filed public comments calling on the president’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies to more carefully balance the secrecy sometimes required in national security investigations with the public’s right to know what its government is doing.

[…]

Bills to limit access to juvenile records, accident reports move forward

Posted on

From Detroit Free Press: LANSING — Two bills that would make it more difficult or impossible for the public to access the criminal records of juveniles and accident records from police passed overwhelmingly in the Legislature on Wednesday.

The first bill, passed unanimously in the Senate, would shut out the public from access to the criminal records of juveniles available on a Michigan State Police-run online data base. The records could be released to other law enforcement agencies and employers who do criminal background checks on potential employees

[…]

NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for October 11, 2013

Posted on

From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

[…]

Declassified FBI files detail secret surveillance team

Posted on

From RT: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has turned over new documents detailing how the FBI collects cell phone location information about criminal suspects, but most of the secretive program will remain under wraps for now.

The latest trove of documents was published this week by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a DC-based public interest research group that specializes in issues involving surveillance and security.

Visit RT for more.

======

[…]

Author: NFOIC

Posts by NFOIC

Daily Local News files Right-to-Know appeal

Editorial: John Doe records should be released

Florida legislature considering bill that would close presidential searches

Mystery of missing records taints Iowa hazing case

Daniel Klau: Who misled the Sandy Hook families about crime scene photos and the Freedom of Information Act?

Bay Area News Group asks court to order Mt. Diablo school district to release public documents on suspected molester

Media coalition urges better protection of First Amendment rights in NSA, FISA court matters

Bills to limit access to juvenile records, accident reports move forward

NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for October 11, 2013

Declassified FBI files detail secret surveillance team