From OMB Watch:
The fiscal year 2012 spending package signed by President Obama on Dec. 23 included some good news for government transparency and right to know. Many of the worst provisions of the bill were removed from the final compromise, but open government advocates remain concerned.
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Read More… from Small wins for transparency in 2012 spending package
From Poynter:
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in what could be a pivotal First Amendment case: the FCC v. Fox. What the Court decides will affect what we see on TV and hear on radio for years to come.
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Read More… from As journalists file fewer lawsuits, citizens fight for open records
A few open government and FOIA news items from the last couple days that we might not have drawn attention to earlier:
Expert: Anaheim records policy violates state law
The Anaheim Planning Department's records retention policy violates state law by asking employees to purge certain city records before they are old enough to be legally destroyed, Voice of OC's open-government consultant, Terry Francke, said Wednesday.
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From FierceGovernmentIT:
NASA is expanding its open government efforts with the addition of yet another site to the open.nasa.gov family of websites. Code.nasa.gov launched in "early alpha" Jan. 4 with a focus on providing access to current NASA open source projects, a guide to NASA's open source release process and a forthcoming forum tool for project collaboration.
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Read More… from NASA unveils ‘community hub’ for open source
from govfresh:
With the growth of the open government movement and more and more governments embracing open data, we see an increasing number of useful civic applications being developed. Every weekend hackathon spawns multiple projects that could potentially live on as a successful venture or company.
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Read More… from Five ways governments can encourage civic startups
From Voice of OC:
While cities like Costa Mesa and Santa Ana consider outsourcing numerous city services to the private sector, open-government advocates say that unless cities require companies to disclose records related to those services, members of public wouldn't be entitled to them under state law.
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Read More… from Outsourcing’s effect on government transparency
From KansasReporter.org:
TOPEKA — When compared to the national average, Kansas taxpayers have a better chance of tracking what the state does with their tax money. But what local governments show remains murkier, says an online organization that advocates for open government.
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Read More… from Open government advocates find Kansas’ local reporting inadequate
Below, a few items selected from many of interest that we might not have drawn attention to earlier:
#gov20 2011 Year in Review
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A few items selected from many of interest that we might not have drawn attention to earlier:
ACLU ready to challenge Clinton (Ia.) over records
CLINTON, Iowa — The Citizens for Open Government group has been denied its request for obtaining closed meeting records from the city of Clinton regarding the federal lawsuit over ambulance billings by the city.
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From The Baltimore Sun:
An effort to open Maryland state government to greater scrutiny, while making the General Assembly more "transparent," got off the ground Wednesday as a panel set up for that purpose convened for the first time.
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Read More… from Maryland General Assembly moves toward more ‘transparency’
