National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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The ACLU is suing ICE for more information on its license plate reader contract

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In January, The Verge revealed a new contract that gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to a nationwide network of license plate readers maintained by Vigilant Solutions. The contract put a powerful surveillance tool to work specifically for immigration cases, raising troubling implications for immigration and privacy groups. Those groups have been pushing for more data […]

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California: Inside the Fight to Make Public School Misconduct Records Public

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When a 15-year-old Vista High School freshman texted a school math teacher in 2012-13 that he reminded her of her father, the teacher responded, “Or maybe like a boyfriend.” Three years later, school officials discovered the same teacher texting inappropriate messages to another student. The teacher texted a student her decision to get the HPV […]

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Arizona: Maricopa County attorney seeks to usurp police control of records, video

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A letter from Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to the region’s police departments spells out, apparently for the first time, a system that puts the prosecutor’s office in control of whether police records are released to the public or withheld. It warns of financial consequences for police departments that don’t comply.  The letter, obtained by The Arizona Republic, makes no direct mention […]

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TCOG Public Records Policy Audit 2018

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Summary: A 2017-2018 public records policy audit by Tennessee Coalition for Open Government has found that many governmental bodies have adopted rigid rules and hurdles that threaten to slow down or thwart access to public records. Most policies require a driver’s license as a condition for inspecting or getting copies of records, and many prohibit […]

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D.C. – Post Praise for Police Transparency Misses Key Point: Details Still Secret on Chase Driver’s Conduct in Sterling Death

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The Washington Post editorial board wrote this morning (21) praising the “rigor and openness” of D.C. police internal trial board proceedings, concluding “it’s good that the D.C. police department recognized the importance of transparency, and that it has moved to hold accountable the officer whose actions caused what was determined to be an unnecessary death.” Sounds good? But […]

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Transparency Advocates Log the Disappearance of ObamaCare Information from Government Websites

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The only webpage on Medicare.gov that was dedicated to describing how the Affordable Care Act affects Medicare was quietly taken down last year, a government-transparency group has found. Before December of 2017, visitors to Medicare.gov could navigate to a page called “The Affordable Care Act & Medicare” from the website’s “About Us” section. The page told […]

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Out-of-State Plaintiffs Covered by Open Public Records Act, New Jersey Court Says

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he Appellate Division ruled on Tuesday that a person seeking records under the state’s Open Public Records Act does not have to be a resident of the state. In a published opinion covering a trio of consolidated cases, a three-judge panel said the state Legislature, in enacting OPRA, didn’t mean for it to appeal to in-state […]

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Missouri Lawsuit over Gov. Eric Greitens’ secret texting gets answers Hawley investigators didn’t

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JEFFERSON CITY — An ongoing lawsuit has elicited more answers about Gov. Eric Greitens’ secret communications than Attorney General Josh Hawley obtained, in large part because the lawyer working the case didn’t shy away from asking questions. Mark Pedroli, the attorney handling the lawsuit, provided the News-Leader with dozens of pages of requests for information […]

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Missouri: Legal fight rages on over coroner’s inquest into teenager’s death

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FAYETTE — The Missouri Supreme Court could be tasked with interpreting the state’s open record laws, Judge Scott Hayes of the 14th Judicial Circuit Court said on Wednesday. The legal question at hand is whether or not Howard County Coroner Frank Flaspohler is considered a law enforcement officer under the Sunshine Law. If Flaspohler’s office is […]

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