Author: NFOIC

As of the early morning hours on Dec. 2, Douglas County law enforcement radios faded from public access. Channels once available for anyone to hear now broadcast a stream of garbled talk and indistinguishable chatter that sporadically break up stretches of otherwise silent airwaves. The agencies’ channels are officially encrypted, a move law enforcement leaders […]

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Local governments say OPRA is “fraught with abuse and misuse.” Bordentown City, Florence, Willingboro are among municipalities asking for OPRA reform. Bordentown City, Florence and Willingboro are among the local governments calling for a re-examination of the Open Public Records Act. Better known as OPRA, the act was established in 2002 to allow the public easier […]

Read More… from OPRA needs to be re-examined, according to local governments

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia ethics commission filed a lawsuit Friday seeking communications between Democrat Stacey Abrams’ unsuccessful 2018 campaign for governor and several third-party organizations. But Abrams’ former campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said they’ve already turned over thousands of financial records. She called the investigation politically motivated. (Read more here…) […]

Read More… from Georgia ethics commission files lawsuit over Abrams emails

Millions of publicly available data points about Denver’s government disappeared last Friday after the website that hosted them went dark. The city’s open data catalog reappeared Tuesday, apparently after Arvada’s government renewed the domain name. The database is a one-stop shop for reams of information both granular and meta. The public can access data about […]

Read More… from Denver’s open records database went dark for days, unannounced, and just reappeared

Transparency has suffered greatly in local government this year. The Mecklenburg Board of Commissioners effectively voted on a budget via email. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board withheld information about the departing superintendent. City Council members’ expenditures came under fire. Some elected officials believe certain work is best achieved behind closed doors. The public does not. The […]

Read More… from An eye-opening public records request for a former Charlotte City Council member

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Office executed a search warrant Friday related to its Make Your Date investigation, seeking information from the city’s information technology department. A spokesman for Nessel could not describe what authorities took during their search, but did confirm the search warrant involved the city’s information technology operations at the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters on Third […]

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House Bill 195 would make it illegal for any local or state government agency to sue members of the public for requesting records. Floridians shouldn’t have to worry about being sued for exercising their legal right to obtain public records. Florida’s public records law is supposed to help keep government accountable to taxpayers, but in […]

Read More… from OUR VIEW: Don’t put barriers up to get records

Wisconsin’s tradition of government transparency rests on the state’s open records and open meetings laws. They declare that nearly every government document is open to public inspection, and nearly every meeting of groups formed to do governmental work must be open to the public. Unfortunately, those laws are woefully underenforced. District attorneys and the state’s […]

Read More… from Op-Ed: Protect your right to open government