FOI – Page 13 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

City offers online Sunshine Law training for board, commission members

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The city is offering new board and commission members the option to complete mandatory Sunshine Law training online.

Honolulu ordinance requires all public board and commission members to complete a workshop on the state's open meetings statute. That law requires agendas to be filed six days in advance, restricts deliberations to public meetings and guarantees the public the right to submit testimony on any agenda item.

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Sen. Harvey: School districts will retain right to keep negotiations with teachers private

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From ColoradoSenateNews.com:

Despite the best attempts of Capitol Republicans, school districts will retain the right to keep collective bargaining negotiations under wraps.

A bill to require negotiations between school districts and teachers be made public was killed on a party line vote Wednesday afternoon, despite the urging of several teachers to open such talks.

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Missing, altered documents raise questions for auditors looking at Houston school district

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From Texas Watchdog:

Some documents went missing, and others were removed, altered and returned to the file for a contract with eight firms including Westco Ventures LLC — a company owned by a close friend of Trustee Paula Harris– an audit of the Houston schools procurement practices found.

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Sarasota: Expanding the Expectations of Open Government

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From Connecting Government Blog:

The City of Sarasota, FL. implemented Granicus solutions six years ago for the purpose of putting all of the City Commission meetings, from Regular to Special and Workshops, online and accessible to the public via the Internet.

Sunshine laws in Florida are some of the most open in the country, and so, in keeping with the laws’ philosophy, the Office of the City Auditor and Clerk has always worked to provide all it can to the citizens.

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Data Mining but Were Afraid to Ask

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From The Atlantic:

Big data is everywhere we look these days. Businesses are falling all over themselves to hire 'data scientists,' privacy advocates are concerned about personal data and control, and technologists and entrepreneurs scramble to find new ways to collect, control and monetize data. We know that data is powerful and valuable. But how?

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Sinton ISD sues city over wind turbine project, cites open meeting violations

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From Caller.com:

The Sinton Independent School District has sued the city of Sinton over plans to install two wind turbines at the high school campus.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, asks a state district judge for an injunction allowing the turbine project to move forward.

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End of review into Brownback’s meetings delayed

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From Topeka Capital-Journal:

A district attorney’s investigation into private meetings between Republican legislators and GOP Gov. Sam Brownback won’t be finished until the end of the month because members of the governor’s staff and a few lawmakers still must be interviewed, a spokesman for the prosecutor said Tuesday.

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Council meeting’s location rare occurrence

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From Chillicothe Times-Bulletin:

The Chillicothe City Council meeting March 26 was a one-of-a-kind meeting due to a change of venue midstream, and it almost did not happen.

“One of the requirements of the Open Meetings Act is that the meeting be open to the public. Part of what that includes is that people who want to come to the meeting can actually get into the room and be at the meeting."

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Partial loss for grass firm in Fla. records case

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From Miami Herald:

An appellate court says a grass company cannot obtain records of a University of Florida direct-support organization.

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Obama to Confront Skeptical Audience on Transparency Record

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From SF Gate:

When President Barack Obama addresses a national gathering of newspaper editors and publishers today, he will confront his promise of government transparency before an audience skeptical of his record.

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