GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA, Sept. 16, 2021 — Four “Heroes of the 50 States,” representing Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, will be inducted Sept. 30 into the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s State Open Government Hall of Fame, as the Class of 2021. The inductees have backgrounds in law, journalism, and academia. The 2021 inductees are: Barbara […]
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Robert H. (Bob) Wills, longtime editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel and founder of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, died July 22, 2021, in Madison, Wisconsin, at age 95, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The role of the media is that of watchdog of government for the public. It follows that the guarantee of […]
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The New York Coalition For Open Government is demanding more transparency about negotiations to build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. The New York coalition is urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to release a study regarding the need and cost of a new stadium, and to provide opportunities for public […]
The National Freedom of Information Coalition and 75 other organizations signed a letter urging Chief Justice Roberts and the Supreme Court to permanently provide live audio access to oral arguments. “Providing live audio access to cases during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has convincingly demonstrated the public’s appetite to observe the operations of the Court,” reads […]
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Five research papers have been accepted to the third annual National Freedom of Information Coalition FOI research competition, to be presented online Sept. 28, 2021, at the FOI Summit. In all, seven one-page proposals were entered and five selected through double-blind peer review for final consideration. Then, a team of eight expert judges rated the […]
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Ten open government groups, including the National Freedom of Information Coalition, signed a Sept. 7, 2021, letter urging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to publish COVID-19 data. “Publishing COVID data in a tabular, downloadable, machine-readable format would help restore trust in state government and help researchers, journalists and the public to better understand the dire […]
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A recent Wisconsin court of appeals decision should be seen as good news because it strengthens the state’s fee recovery provision and puts records requesters in a stronger position. That’s the opinion of Christa Westerberg, vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a member of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. The appeals […]
A study published in the August 2021 edition of The Journal of Civic Information found that states with coalitions for open government are more likely to have counties that are more transparent, resulting in faster and more complete responses, as well as greater communication, in the public records process. Marquette University’s A.Jay Wagner based the […]
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Democratizing law enforcement data could benefit everyone — the police and the public they serve — argue Nancy La Vigne and Roy L. Austin Jr. of the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Policing in an Aug. 26, 2021, guest column for The Washington Post. “We cannot fix a problem we do not fully understand,” they […]
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The executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council has raised concerns about court filings in which the attorney general’s office suggests the state’s freedom of information law is not standing policy, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Aug. 20, 2021. “I am worried that the state’s legal arguments … will be viewed by government […]
