Sparkling new buildings are in the works in the ongoing modernization of D.C. schools, begun in 2006 and slated for $1.3 billion more in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s six-year plan. But the D.C. Council’s auditor reported Wednesday (1) that the program “failed to comply with D.C. Code and lacks accountability, transparency and basic financial management.”
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When lawmakers race to pass budgets and bills by working into the early morning hours, as they did Tuesday and Wednesday, advocates of open government say they are working in the dark in more ways than one.
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Read More… from Washington: Critics say legislative all-nighters mean less transparency
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s effort to outfit District police officers with body cameras hit a fresh obstacle Tuesday, when council members tried to block implementation of the program next year unless she ensures public transparency.
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Read More… from D.C. Council wants to see public transparency for police body cameras
NORFOLK, Va., June 29, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PRA Government Services, a division of PRA Group (Nasdaq:PRAA), has launched EZTransparency™, a user-friendly, interactive tool to help council members, municipal staff and the public quickly visualize and understand complex city and county budgets.
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After last year's debacle involving the Hartford-based Jumoke Academy charter school operation, many legislators arrived at the Capitol this year on a mission to improve the control and regulation of charter schools. A new law, passed with overwhelming support in the General Assembly but not yet signed by the governor, is designed to make charter schools and the charter management organizations that oversee them more accountable and transparent.
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Read More… from Connecticut: Is State’s New Transparency Law For Charter Managers Strong Enough?
BRIDGEPORT — If elected City Council members want information from Mayor Bill Finch’s administration, they can always do what John and Jane Q Public does — file a Freedom of Information request and get in line.
That can mean waiting weeks and sometimes months for the data.
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Read More… from Connecticut: City Attorney, Council members fight over transparency
Tim Draper wants to make California county governments more transparent — and the venture capitalist said Wednesday that he will spend up to $500,000 to make it happen.
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Read More… from Draper, backer of Six Californias, funds government transparency
After 19 months at the helm of the National Institute of Justice, Greg Ridgeway quit last summer to join the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Just days before he left, NIJ gave one of his new colleagues at Penn a $3 million grant.
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Read More… from Feds’ $3M grant to Penn raises questions about transparency
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is developing several tools to make information on natural gas drilling more accessible to the public. This includes a new fracking chemical disclosure site, a web portal for information on each natural gas well, and opportunities for the public to comment on proposed DEP policies.
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