Author: NFOIC

Police who exercise arrest powers at private universities should abide by the same transparency standards as all other law-enforcement agencies, a coalition of open-government advocates argues in a brief filed with the Utah Supreme Court. In a brief filed on June 28, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of […]

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) — One city in eastern Iowa is not saying why it fired its city clerk, a move that could leave taxpayers on the hook for her unemployment benefits. It’s one of several examples of agencies violating open records law. Early this month, Anamosa’s City Clerk, Tammy Coons, was arrested for OWI charges […]

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While South Dakota has made progress on opening government records to the public, more needs to be done. That was one of the conclusions from a panel discussion about open records hosted Friday by the South Dakota Newspaper Association at the Minnehaha Country Club.  The discussion marked the 10-year anniversary of major open records legislation […]

Read More… from S.D. needs to make more progress on open records

Sex, lies and bullets flying wildly. Then there are the stolen drugs, illegal chokeholds, planted evidence, falsified reports and a police officer who lied to move up the adoption list for a puppy. Those are among the misadventures uncovered during the first six months of disclosures under California’s new police transparency law, Senate Bill 1421, […]

Read More… from California police agencies holding back misconduct records despite new transparency law

Portland Public Schools may allow teachers to delay the release of certain records for up to seven days, according to a new agreement the district has negotiated with its teachers union. When the district receives public records requests pertaining to a teacher, the agreement would give the employee seven days to object to the documents’ […]

Read More… from Portland school board to vote Tuesday on whether to allow teachers to delay release of public records

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) – A judge has sided with WDRB News in an open records dispute with Kentucky State Police, ruling he could not “fathom” how the law enforcement agency justified withholding the internal investigations of troopers. Friday’s ruling by Franklin Circuit Court judge Thomas Wingate found that reporters are entitled to the records but gives […]

Read More… from Judge rules Kentucky State Police must turn over trooper investigations to WDRB

BERRYVILLE — It is not all that unusual for a city, town or county to receive a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from one of its elected officials, according to an expert. Alan Gernhardt, executive director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Council, declined to give an opinion about Berryville Mayor Patricia Dickinson’s recent submission […]

Read More… from Expert: FOIA requests from officials not that unusual

The new and improved Red Book is now available.  The Georgia First Amendment Foundation’s Sunshine Laws: A Guide to Open Government in Georgia, commonly just called The Red Book, has been revised, updated and reissued. It should be required reading for every elected and appointed public official in the state, and every household in Georgia should have […]

Read More… from ZACHARY: Don’t be caught without your Red Book

Proponents of government transparency are warning that a little-noticed bill, now sitting on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, could gut public access to the Texas Legislature’s internal communications. Some are urging Abbott to reject the measure before the deadline to veto bills ends this weekend. Among them is First Amendment lawyer Joe Larsen, a member of the […]

Read More… from Advocates say lawmakers largely exempted themselves from Texas’ public records law, prompting calls for a veto

Now we wait. The Washington state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in an appeal of a 2018 Superior Court decision that held that state lawmakers, just as with nearly every other public official and agency, are required to provide documents to the public, including correspondence, written reports, investigative reports and more under the Public Records Act, adopted […]

Read More… from Editorial: Don’t excuse state lawmakers from transparency law