An attorney for the Medical University of South Carolina says it could cost $275,000 to search email servers in connection with an open records inquiry into allegations that two students cheated on exams.
In a letter to The Post and Courier, the university’s attorney also warned a reporter not to contact members of MUSC’s Honor Council, students or employees about university disciplinary proceedings.
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When a coroner announced earlier this year that a USC Upstate student was drunk when he crashed and killed himself and three fellow student athletes, it felt like a little bit of sanity had been restored to our state’s public records law.
After all, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger received an opinion from the attorney general blessing his release of the information.
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Read More… from Dead men don’t tell tales; in South Carolina, neither do their blood tests
South Carolina’s water regulatory agency told the Environmental Protection Agency it has asked water systems to share more information with the public about lead sampling results and the location of lead service lines but that the state doesn’t have the information and utilities may not have it either.
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Read More… from South Carolina wrestles with transparency of lead in drinking water
South Carolina’s high court has shed light on documents in a dispute between Attorney General Alan Wilson and a special prosecutor he appointed to oversee a legislative corruption investigation.
Unsealed late Thursday were papers that Wilson had filed in response to Solicitor David Pascoe.
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Read More… from South Carolina high court rules prosecutors’ dispute should be made public
The Senate has given key approval to legislation that provides a process for releasing dash cam videos of police shootings and protects the last utterances of victims in 911 calls.
The Senate on Tuesday voted 40-0 to give the bill second reading.
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Read More… from South Carolina Senate gives key approval to police dash cam bill
The South Carolina Department of Transportation is reducing the fees it charges for public information requests in an effort to be more transparent.
The state’s transportation agency will no longer charge for staff time in fulfilling requests that take less than two hours to complete. That includes time researching, retrieving and copying information or documents.
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Read More… from South Carolina DOT reducing open records fees
A South Carolina bill that would force public bodies to respond more quickly to state Freedom of Information Act requests is headed to the Senate floor after approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The 17-1 vote for a favorable report on the bill comes after years of attempts by lawmakers to reach agreement on changes to the law governing access to public records in the state.
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Read More… from South Carolina Senate panel OKs bill requiring faster FOIA responses
Year after year, the state’s open-records law cracks a door to the activities of government that might otherwise stay secret. Information gleaned with its help has a power to change lives for the better and make governments more accountable.
But some officials continue to ignore the S.C. Freedom of Information Act or find ways around it.
When it has worked, the law has helped expose faults in the system for investigating police shootings and lifted a veil hiding shoddy care of foster children.
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Read More… from For South Carolina’s open-government law, a time of triumphs and setbacks
If an agenda for a special city council meeting doesn’t say that members will vote on something, are they allowed to vote anyway?
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Read More… from FOIA suit could affect meeting agendas in South Carolina
Anyone with doubts about the value of open government need only look to Summerville, South Carolina, for assurance.
Because Summerville police and municipal court officials refused to release public information, citizens were unaware that a man who had been charged with rape was on bail, walking freely among them for five days.
They didn’t even know to be cautious. Continue…
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