Read the latest newsletter of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping Coloradans understand and use their rights of access to the records and proceedings of government and the judiciary. Continue… […]
A common call for help to the Coalition is from those denied a record they asked for under the D.C. public records law, the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA. D.C. government has no check on the accuracy of FOIA decisions, leaving it to the requestor to speak up if there seems to be a […]
Kansas legislators will gather Jan. 8 in Topeka for one of the most crucial legislative sessions since — well, since 2017. The truth is Kansas has faced one governmental crisis after another for much of this decade. Much of the blame lies with Gov. Sam Brownback and his conservative allies, who pushed through a tax cut in 2012 that […]
A confidentiality rule approved by the board of Evanston Township High School District 202 (ETHS) on Dec. 11 unlawfully reverses the presumption of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), according to an attorney on the board who voted against it. “The presumption under FOIA is that all government communication is public with some narrow areas […]
Read More… from Evanston (IL) High School board slams door on public access to communications
Students at several of the commonwealth’s public universities got a surprise on their cell phones last fall: A text message urged them to register to vote, and to support the local Democrat running for the House of Delegates. The students’ cell phone numbers were obtained through a Freedom of Information request made by NextGen Virginia, […]
Read More… from Editorial – Texts to student phone numbers obtained via FOI request not a violation
Superintendent of Schools Kevin Smith recently testified at a Freedom of Information Commission hearing that the district “inadvertently” violated the Freedom of Information Act by failing to properly notice the public of preschool committee meetings. The hearing was held on Dec. 12, in response to a complaint Alex Ruskewich filed in February against the district […]
Read More… from Wilton (TX) school district admits to violating Freedom of Information Act
Nearly every state allows citizens to access records about state legislatures and governors. Not Michigan. It’s not for a lack of trying. Bills introduced in each of the last two years have passed the Michigan House but died in the Senate. Jane Briggs-Bunting, founding president and current board member of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, says she’ll keep working […]
Read More… from Why Isn’t the Michigan Legislature Covered by the Freedom of Information Act?
The city of Fort Smith and the Fort Smith School Board were accused of violating the Freedom of Information Act on more than one occasion this year. In one instance, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor found the school board to be in violation, calling an email exchange between school board members a “meeting” with […]
The election of two former journalists to the House of Delegates in last month’s elections may bode well for Virginians who see the need for greater transparency in state and local government and for a strengthened Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Danica Roem, a former newspaper reporter from Prince William County, and Chris Hurst, a […]
Read More… from Virginia: A new push to increase government transparency
LINCOLN — A coalition of Nebraska newspapers and broadcasters is going to court to fight a decision by state prison officials to withhold public records that identify its execution drug supplier. Media of Nebraska Inc. filed a complaint in intervention Friday intended to compel the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to release government records associated […]
