The Iowa Utilities Board plans to seek public records exemptions from the Legislature so it can communicate more thoroughly with utilities and federal regulatory agencies about cybersecurity and cyberattacks.
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Read More… from Iowa utilities regulator to seek exemptions from public records law
Rep. Phil Phelps, D-Flushing, says it took months for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to respond to his Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Flint water crisis. The department initially said the documents did not exist, but months later the lawmaker received tens of thousands of documents the agency had withheld.
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Read More… from Michigan Environmental Office Repeatedly Stonewalls Record Requests
In an apparent bow to critics and to increase transparency in state government decisions, the state's oil-well regulator on Wednesday proposed notifying the public and accepting comments on applications for hydraulic fracturing operations.
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The Kentucky Attorney General has ruled that Western Kentucky University violated the open records law by turning down requests from two student newspapers for sexual misconduct investigations into school employees.
In a ruling issued Monday, Attorney General Andy Beshear and Assistant Attorney Gordon Slone found WKU did not follow state law and ordered the university to "make immediate provision" for student reporters to inspect documents related to the investigations.
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Read More… from Ky. Attorney General: WKU and KSU broke open records law in sex misconduct probes
Texas court clerks are resisting a state proposal they say would strip them of their constitutional authority by making court documents available online for easy public access.
The statewide database, re:SearchTX, holds records from all 254 counties and is backed by the state’s Supreme Court. It currently is used by judges and soon will be available to attorneys and the public — who could search for civil court records and review them, all from the comfort of home.
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Read More… from Texas clerks look to derail web-based public access to court records
A New Jersey appeals court has ruled citizens can seek public records requests filed by others.
One of the plaintiffs had sought all public records requests filed in connection with the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case. Others had sought records from the Motor Vehicle Commission and state Department of Education.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie's office and numerous state agencies had sought to reverse a judge's ruling granting the requests.
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Read More… from New Jersey court allows 3rd-party open records requests
Most state agencies are now systematically tracking requests for public records but can still take weeks to respond to relatively straightforward queries, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has found.
The newspaper made a records request to 22 key state agencies and officials to track their compliance with an order by Gov. Scott Walker in March 2016 seeking to strengthen the state's most important tool for providing information to the public.
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Read More… from Wi: State still slow to respond to some public records requests
Members of Congress, federal employee advocates and the general public have spoken out against recent White House directives on agency communications, and now Freedom of Information Act officers are weighing in on the open government debate.
National Archives and Records Administration Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee Chairwoman Alina Semo told Federal News Radio that her personal feeling was agencies’ FOIA employees need to “continue to be good government servants.”
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Read More… from NARA’s FOIA committee considers accountability for agency information offices
Colorado lawmakers are making an effort to revive the state treasurer's demands for unfettered access to all records of the state's largest pension plan.
House Bill 17-1114, sponsored by Rep. Justin Everett, R-Littleton, and Sen. Jake Tate, R-Centennial, would give the state treasurer access to any information kept by the Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA).
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Read More… from Colo.: Proposed bill revives state treasurer’s demands for access to PERA records
A few days before President Trump's inauguration, MuckRock opened up a Slack channel to help journalists better cover him and his administration.
As of Wednesday, 250 people signed up. Most are journalists, about half from national newsrooms and half from local newsrooms around the country. Update: As of Thursday, 1,500 people have signed up.
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