From The Blog of Legal Times:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today that records of visitors to the White House were off limits to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Allowing public access to the information would circumvent Congress' intent to give the president discretion to keep his appointments calendar secret, the court said.
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Read More… from D.C. Circuit rejects FOIA access to White House visitor logs
From The Republic: A Lexington-based foundation that has received more than $1 million from a regional development district since 2009 has declined to release documents to show how the money was spent.
The money that went to the Bluegrass Industrial Foundation was mostly rent paid by the Bluegrass Area Development District. The foundation owns the office building where the development district is located, and its president is Jas Sekhon.
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Read More… from President of Lexington-based foundation says it’s not a public agency
From Orlando Sentinel: My dad used to say, "Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law."
Dad never lived in Florida.
Here, authorities say Orange County commissioners broke the law many times over — but got off with a slap on the wrist — all because they claimed they didn't know they were doing wrong.
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Perhaps you think I'm being simplistic. But look at the logic these guys used to claim ignorance:
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Read More… from Orange County ‘textgate’ crowd got off easy for destroying records
From Courthouse News Service: Though makers of the film "Zero Dark Thirty" were given access to the officers who helped take out Osama bin Laden, a government watchdog cannot get the same treatment, a federal judge ruled.
A few months after a team of Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, Judicial Watch learned that the Defense Department and CIA had been communicating with director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal.
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Read More… from Talks behind ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ will stay secret
From The Washington Post: U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget.
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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.
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for August 30, 2013
From Jeffrey A. Roberts, executive director, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition: Unlike the statute governing the release of criminal-justice records, the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) says nothing about the fees that local governments and the state may charge to research and retrieve all other public records. So it is up to the courts to provide guidance.
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From New Mexico Telegram: One of the main points of controversy in the suspension of funding to behavioral health providers is the secrecy of the audit that prompted the findings.
Various media outlets, and the accused non-profits themselves, have sought to see the audit. So far, only ancillary portions of the audit have been released.
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Read More… from New Mexico groups sue for release of behavioral health audit
From Dennis Hetzel, president of Ohio Coalition for Open Government: As most of you know, major revisions happened to Ohio’s laws involving public notices in 2011, and we still get a lot of member questions. This is a subject that never goes away, and that makes sense.
First of all, there is a reason why the word “public” is in public notices.
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Read More… from ONA completes thorough revise of ‘Public Notice FAQ’
From Boston Globe staff reporter Todd Wallack via NEFAC: While writing a story recently about the Massachusetts state pharmacy board, I noticed something odd: Only half the board members showed up for a meeting last summer — too few for a quorum — but the board members went ahead with the meeting anyway and voted on one item after the next.
It turns out it was part of a much wider problem, raising questions about how frequently obscure boards comply with all the rules for public meetings throughout New England.
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Read More… from Who’s counting? Boston Globe probe raises doubts on public meeting quorums
