From FOX 5:
SAN DIEGO — Former Councilwoman Donna Frye, whose appointment in Mayor Bob Filner’s administration caused concerns about conflicts over pension policies, has left her city job to lead a nonprofit focused on open government and First Amendment rights, the mayor’s office announced.
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Read More… from Frye leaves city job to lead statewide open gov’t effort
Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for April 5, 2013
From Politico:
A federal appeals court issued a major ruling Tuesday preserving the rights of Freedom of Information Act requesters to proceed to court quickly when agencies don't comply with the legally required timelines to respond to demands for government records.
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Read More… from FOIA requesters score major win over Obama Administration
From The Baltimore Sun:
The text messages were pinging to and from Gov. Martin O’Malley’s BlackBerry. It was the latter part of October, and Election Day was just around the corner.
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Read More… from Accidentally released text messages give peek at O’Malley discussions
From The Daily Journal:
Government transparency is certainly not New Jersey’s middle name. But the state does get a middle grade for its spending transparency, earning a “C” in the fourth annual report on spending openness from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Using U.S. PIRG terminology, that means New Jersey is among a large collection of “emerging” states, which is at least better than the lagging and failing states behind them.
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Read More… from Spending facts: New Jersey has to be more open
From Courthouse News:
The FBI can’t delay releasing information on its controversial cellphone-tracking technology, a federal judge ruled, nixing concerns over the size and sensitivity of the request.
The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, claims that federal agents have been using StingRay technology to locate, interfere with and intercept communications through cellphones and other wireless technology since at least 1995.
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Read More… from Judge orders FBI to speed up tracking info release
From McCook Gazette:
Announcements by perennial candidates like Don Stenberg are always suspect, but the state treasurer’s release touting Nebraska’s top 10 ranking for providing online access to government spending data could be a game changer, provided taxpayer advocates and proponents of responsible government use it correctly.
The NebraskaSpending.gov website, maintained by Stenberg’s office, received a B+ rating in 2013, up from a D in 2010, a C in 2011 and a B in 2012.
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Read More… from Improved website good start toward more open government
From Times-Gazette:
The Tennessee House of Representatives gave final approval March 25 to the Tennessee Press Association-supported bill requiring newspapers that publish public notices to post them on their local website and also to www.tnpublicnotice.com — TPA’s statewide aggregate website.
The bill, which takes effect April 1, 2014, also stipulates those extra services will be at no extra charge.
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From eCreditDaily:
A prominent Washington law firm is suing to get bank regulators to reveal more details behind the failed Independent Foreclosure Review, which after about 18 months and $2 billion spent was mostly scuttled recently in favor of a $9.3 billion settlement.
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Read More… from Lawsuit seeks ‘independent’ facts behind foreclosure reviews
By Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, via Pocono Record:
The First Amendment protects our free speech from government control, punishment or interference — but when public officials speak freely through private e-mail accounts or mobile phones, are they free to ignore freedom of information laws?
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Read More… from Can public business ever be ‘private’ conversation?
