From the New England First Amendment Coalition:
Virtually every news organization in Connecticut has joined a friend of the court action to the state Supreme Court asking it to overturn a lower court restriction on how much information police must release in a criminal investigation.
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Read More… from Sandy Hook Massacre the focus of one of two major Conn. FOI cases
From New England First Amendment Center:
Emails dealing with public business sent or received by public officials from their personal email accounts are public records, according to a ruling by the Massachusetts secretary of state.
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Read More… from Lawrence, Mass. official seeks city councilor’s personal emails
From HEC Paris:
We are delighted to invite you to the 3rd Global Conference on Transparency Research.
Deeply rooted in the traditional values of good government, transparency and openness have lately become standards against which a variety of economic, cultural, social and political activities are measured worldwide. Advancing knowledge of these notions has become an imperative in times of economic turmoil, democratic challenges, and the emergence of new methods of global governance.
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Read More… from 3rd Global Conference on Transparency Research
From Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI):
On Thursday, March 14, the annual Freedom of Information Day celebration, will be held at Minneapolis Central Library. An important component of the event is honoring the recipient of the annual John A. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award. The winner is a Minnesotan or Minnesota institution whose work demonstrates leadership and commitment to the power of information to effect change. Nominations are open until March 1.
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Read More… from MNCOGI calls for nominations for the 2013 Finnegan FOI Award
From WISTV.com:
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) — Despite state law that says such records are to be kept for four years and two public records requests, one of which delivered directly to the Speaker himself, Bobby Harrell refuses to allow WIS to see his spending records for the previous four years.
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Read More… from SC House Speaker dodging WIS open records requests
From PortCityDaily.com:
Saying government employees and bureaucrats can “break the law with impunity” when it comes the state’s open meetings and public records laws, Sen. Thom Goolsby, a Wilmington Republican and trial attorney, wants to give the law some teeth.
And by teeth he means up to 20 days in jail.
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From myrtlebeachonline.com:
COLUMBIA, SC — The S.C. House will consider ending part of the exemption that lawmakers have from the state’s sunshine laws.
The state’s Freedom of Information Act, which outlines the information that public officials and government bodies must make available to the public, currently exempts members of the General Assembly and their staff from disclosing memos, correspondence and working papers.
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Read More… from SC House to consider proposal to make lawmakers’ records public
From Naples Daily News:
Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, recently sat down with the Daily News editorial board to outline four areas needing improvement in Florida’s Sunshine Laws. She is pushing to have changes made in the coming years and will discuss them further at a free summit March 16 at St. Petersburg College.
Right to Speak
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Read More… from 4 areas need improvement, First Amendment chief says
From Naples Daily News:
(February 19, 2013) — First Amendment advocates are applauding the city of Naples, which delayed and revised a vote on proposed changes to its public records procedures.
But some council members and residents said the city still has work to do to make the process more accessible and affordable.
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Read More… from Naples officials receive kudos for reconsidering public records changes
Editorial from Naples Daily News:
Florida's government-in-the-sunshine laws, long the nation's leader in making sure the public's business is done in public, could use a freshening.
Court rulings, technology and cultural changes have left us lagging. If we want to continue to be a state that people point to — for all the good reasons — when it comes to open government, we need reform.
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Read More… from Phil Lewis: Speaking frankly about open records and sunshine
