TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer and the state’s top child welfare official are backing legislation to require disclosure of some records when a child dies of abuse or neglect. Colyer and Department for Children Families Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel announced Monday that they’re supporting a bill introduced last week in the Kansas House. The […]
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Londonderry Township has drawn the state Office of Open Records into its legal battle with a persistent Susquehanna River islander. In a petition filed with Dauphin County Court, township officials are seeking to overturn multiple OOR rulings requiring them to hand over information Glenn Harmon requested under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law. Londonderry leaders claim […]
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The Vermont Attorney General’s Office this week began posting online all public records requests and responses from 2017 and 2018. The decision to make the information public was driven by criticism from media organizations, according to TJ Donovan, who assumed the office of Vermont Attorney General last year. Battles over public records have made headlines […]
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A bill to require state agencies to report spending and revenues on a state website will be considered by lawmakers during the 2018 legislative session. Senate File 77, sponsored by Sen. Anthony Bouchard (R-Laramie County), would also include the salaries of state employees, state contracts for supplies and services, and a variety of other information […]
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The Coalition to Save Jackson Park has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Park District for violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Coalition is an organization that aims to address South Side community members’ concerns about the Obama Presidential Center before plans are finalized. The organization filed the suit after the Chicago Park […]
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — New Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer is promising that state government will launch two new accountability websites within four months. Colyer signed four executive orders Thursday aimed at promoting government transparency. He took office last week. One order requires state agencies to set performance goals and develop ways to measure their progress […]
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BOSTON (AP) — A special commission examining whether the Legislature should continue to enjoy an exemption from the state’s open records law is about to meet publicly for the first time. The review was required under a 2017 bill that modernized the public records law. The panel chaired by Democratic Sen. Walter Timilty of Milton […]
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine is demanding the release of a secret memo outlining President Trump’s interpretation of his legal authority to wage war. Kaine, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, sent a letter Thursday night to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seeking a 7-page memo the administration has kept […]
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The Century Foundation, a public policy think tank, sued the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday seeking the release of records on controversial higher education accrediting agencies that are linked to lax regulation. The American Bar Association and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools are among more than a dozen private accrediting bodies that will […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is forcing state lawmakers to use the public-records law to get emails regarding a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy. Illinois Public Health Director Nirav Shah told a joint House-Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that his agency denied Senate committee chairman Tom Cullerton’s […]
Read More… from Illinois Health chief requires FOIA from senator to release emails
