From Michigan Capitol Confidential:
Grandville Public Schools is breaking the law by agreeing to a union contract provision that allows teachers and their union to have a say about what is released in Freedom of Information Act requests, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s legal expert.
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Read More… from Mich. school district allows union, employees to exclude material from FOIA requests
From Information Week:
Privacy rights group Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently released the “Initial Assessment Report on Google’s Privacy Program,” which is an audit conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), dated June 22, 2012. EPIC obtained the report via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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Read More… from Google privacy audit leaves lingering questions
From Examiner.com:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that it will hear the appeal of Mark J. McBurney and Roger W. Hurlbert, both non-Virginians. McBurney and Hurlbert were denied Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for government documents because Virginia law prohibits non-Virginians from using the Freedom of Information Act law.
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Read More… from U.S. Supreme Court takes up VA law denying non-Virginians right to FOIA requests
From toledoBlade.com:
WAUSEON — Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit group that aims to encourage state and local government transparency, has given Fulton County an A+.
The county previously scored a ‘C’ in that area and even was found to have violated Ohio’s Sunshine Law, written to ensure citizens know when officials plan to hold meetings and make decisions.
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Read More… from Fulton County commended for data availability
From Times-Gazette:
Bedford County Board of Education plans to meet in a closed attorney-client session 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the school system central offices on Madison Street.
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Read More… from School board’s meeting with attorney to be private, Tn.
From Savannah Morning News:
Commissioner Helen Stone has refunded $110 after a Savannah Morning News Open Records request revealed she was reimbursed by Chatham County for using her personal vehicle to drive to campaign events — including her own re-election announcement and fundraisers.
Taxpayer funds are prohibited by law from being used for election campaigns.
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From Yakima Herald-Republic:
At the Yakima School District’s headquarters, Sheila Miller is working on so many records requests that they’ve taken over a conference table large enough to seat 20 people. The requests line the table in stacks, one for each letter of the alphabet.
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Read More… from Yakima schools flooded with transcript, record requests
From The Daily Progress:
One of the suggestions that’s been floated for pushing the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors to engage in more frank discussion? Allow them to meet in private more.
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Read More… from Does open meeting law hinder the University of Virginia Board of Visitors?
From I-Newsource:
San Diego mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio keeps a private calendar that shows he had appointments with newspaper owner Doug Manchester in December and in May, despite his office insisting no records of communication exist between the two men.
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Read More… from Personal calendar reveals DeMaio met with Manchester, Ca.
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:
Advocates fight to keep Georgia archives open to public
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for October 5, 2012
