Amanda Farber still doesn’t know why Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan blocked her from his Facebook group. A resident of Bethesda and full-time parent and volunteer, Farber identifies as a Democrat but voted for the Republican Hogan in 2014. Farber says she doesn’t post on her representatives’ pages often. But earlier this year, she said she […]
Read More… from Governors, federal agencies are blocking nearly 1,300 social media accounts
The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Public Records Office has changed the way people make public records requests to the University.
They now use Next Request, a web-based portal, to field public records requests. Before this change, requests were made via email and displayed as open or closed on the public records website.
Gavin Young, senior director for the Public Records Office, said the University of New Mexico is the only other school using Next Request.
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Read More… from UNC one of two universities to use new public records request portal
The House State Government committee unanimously passed H.B. 58 this week, which would make clear that citizens may send records requests by email to records custodians.
The email bill also contains a section meant to deal with multiple requests to view records from someone who never comes to review them, and requests for copies for which a person never pays for or retrieves.
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Despite the push for government dashboards and open data portals, much of the data we use at Reveal still must be obtained through public records requests.
Summary data on government websites often comes from more granular and detailed databases.
But asking for that data can be a challenge because of the technical issues you might face. The first time I requested data from a government agency, I had no idea where to begin. How would I get the appropriate dataset for my story? How could I avoid getting summary or aggregate data or data in PDFs?
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Read More… from Data diplomacy: Speak softly and carry a big FOIA
Governor Charlie Baker unveiled sweeping new rules Thursday for how the executive branch will handle public records requests. Previously, every agency had its own procedure for handling requests.
The move comes as several state agencies have come under fire for the way they handle requests. Continue>>>
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Read More… from Massachusetts: Governor Baker unveils new rules for public records requests
From MuckRock.com: It's been almost 50 years since the Freedom of Information Act's enactment and accessing information at the federal, state and local level has almost turned into a document lottery.
Over the past few days we have been breaking down what to expect when sending a response and today we take a better look at the difference between federal and state/local agencies.
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Read More… from Hunting local public records is faster than federal FOIA — but with a catch
From The American Civil Liberties Union:
On October 23, 2012, the ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act requests with five federal agencies seeking records related to the federal government’s domestic use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) – better known as drones – as well as plans for the future rollout of drones in the United States.
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The FOIA requests ask questions including:
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From 10TV:
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some critics said on Tuesday that they were worried that it could be easier for universities to hide scandals after the state Supreme Court sided with Ohio State University about open records.
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An expert said that the Supreme Court's decision would make it harder to get records in the future.
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Read More… from State Supreme Court sides with Ohio State University about open records
