NFOIC – Page 441 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Ruling requires Champaign to turn over records, denies lawyer pay

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From News-Gazette.com: An Illinois appellate court has sided with The News-Gazette and ruled that the city of Champaign turn over to reporter Patrick Wade copies of electronic communications sent and received by city council members during council meetings and study sessions in May, June and July 2011.

But the same three-member court overturned a ruling by Sangamon County Judge John Schmidt that The News-Gazette's attorney was entitled to $7,500 in attorney fees and costs from the city.

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Super. of Public Instruction, Wyoming gov. in records request struggle

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From Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online: Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill and the governor's office remain deadlocked in a dispute over the release of public records.

Gov. Matt Mead said again on Monday that his office will not be able to meet Hill’s request that thousands of emails from his staff be released by next week.

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Appeals court finds that Oregon’s online repository of court files is a public record

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From Daily Journal: The state online repository of court files is a public record, the Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled, overturning a lower-court judgment that put the state in the awkward position of arguing that its own online registry was insufficiently reliable to establish that a conviction had taken place.

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Indiana’s Open Records Law gets a workout

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From WIBC Indianapolis: The current open records law, the Access to Public Records Act (APRA), has been in place for "at least the last couple decades" according to Julia Vaughn, policy director for the open government advocacy group Common Cause Indiana. "Those of us who have always participated with it in place tend to forget that there was a time when people were not allowed into hearings, and when people were not allowed access to government documents," said Vaughn.

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Transparency officers named for Iowa universities

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From KCAU-TV.com: Iowa's three public universities are naming new transparency officers to oversee public records and public hearings.

The Iowa Board of Regents said Monday the transparency officers have been appointed in response to recommendations approved last week to improve responses to public records requests and access to information.

They are University of Iowa vice president Mark Braun, Iowa State University assistant to the president Shirley Knipfel, and University of Northern Iowa controller Gary Shontz.

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Housing agency settles challenge to ‘sham entity’

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From Seattle Times: The King County Housing Authority says it got bad legal advice when it held unannounced meetings of a nonprofit it formed in 2009.

The housing authority set up the nonprofit, Moving King County Residents Forward, as a separate organization to get a better deal on federal housing subsidies for 22 properties around King County.

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Understanding open public records requests in Beatrice, Nebraska

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From Beatrice Daily Sun: The Nebraska Legislature recently passed LB363 amending the Nebraska Statutes relating to public records. With this passage the Beatrice City Council adopted a Resolution at their August 5th regular meeting to update the City’s public records policy establishing reasonable operating procedures and fees for accessing public records.

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CIA refuses to release drone documents

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From Salon.com: As Salon noted in March, a D.C. federal appeals court sided with the ACLU in ruling that the CIA could no longer refuse to respond to FOIA requests about its drone programs on secrecy grounds, as the existence of the “targeted” killing program had already been publicly discussed by officials.

Despite this ruling, and a full three years since the ACLU originally filed a FOIA request for basic information on the CIA’s drone program, the agency continues to push back on making information public.

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First 100 pages of Aaron Swartz’s Secret Service file released

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From Wired.com: After half-a-year of delays and roadblocks, the U.S Secret Service today released the first 104 pages of agency documents about the late coder and activist Aaron Swartz, including a brief report on Swartz’s suicide less than three months before his scheduled trial.

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Judge rules Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin broke the law

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From The City Wire: A Pulaski County Circuit Court judge today (Aug. 12) ruled that Secretary of State Mark Martin (R) violated state law by hiring outside legal counsel to the tune of more than $100,000 instead of using attorneys already on staff, or using the Arkansas attorney general's office.

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Author: NFOIC

Posts by NFOIC

Ruling requires Champaign to turn over records, denies lawyer pay

Super. of Public Instruction, Wyoming gov. in records request struggle

Appeals court finds that Oregon’s online repository of court files is a public record

Indiana’s Open Records Law gets a workout

Transparency officers named for Iowa universities

Housing agency settles challenge to ‘sham entity’

Understanding open public records requests in Beatrice, Nebraska

CIA refuses to release drone documents

First 100 pages of Aaron Swartz’s Secret Service file released

Judge rules Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin broke the law