From The Fayetteville Observer: The General Assembly has approved a bill that would open police records on all private school campuses to the public.
[…]
The legislation requires campus police at private colleges and universities to publicly disclose records, including narrative descriptions surrounding arrests and 911 calls.
[…]
From Pioneer Press: Advocates for more transparency in payouts to government employees who resign under fire won another victory this legislative session, but full disclosure remains elusive.
[…]
Read More… from Minnesota: More light, but still loopholes, in public employee payouts
Washington Post: WASHINGTON — An appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Trade Representative can withhold a classified position paper prepared during free-trade negotiations, reversing a lower court that had ordered the document’s release under a Freedom of Information Act request.
[…]
From VTDigger.org: The Vermont ACLU is suing the nation’s largest private prison company for allegedly ignoring public records requests about Vermont prisoners.
The question at the heart of the lawsuit is whether or not the state’s public records act can be applied to a private corporation that is performing duties for a public agency. Vermont ACLU attorney Dan Barrett says he’s confident it can.
[…]
Read More… from Vermont ACLU sues private prison company over public records
From TimesFreePress.com: NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The state agency that oversees the welfare of Tennessee children is again at financial odds with news organizations seeking more information.
The Tennessean reported the Department of Children’s Services said this week that it would charge $34,952 to produce public records of children who died or nearly died during the past 11 months after having some contact with DCS.
[…]
Read More… from Tennessee DCS would charge $35,000 to provide public records
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.
Bulldog open records lawsuit continues
[…]
Press release from Center for Media and Democracy: MADISON — The Center for Media and Democracy filed suit Thursday against Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the treasurer of ALEC’s national board, over her failure to disclose ALEC-related materials under Wisconsin’s public records law – possibly becaus […]
Read More… from CMD files open records suit against ALEC board member Sen. Leah Vukmir
From The Guardian: The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.
The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.
[…]
Read More… from NSA taps in to user data of Google, Skype and others, secret files reveal
In the following statement issued today, NFOIC and its allies in the OpenTheGovernment.org coalition expressed outrage and demanded more answers regarding the FISA-court authorized data mining of Verizon customers' phone records.
Please see the full statement and additional links below.
[…]
Read More… from Open government groups demand answers on domestic spying program
