Maryland’s highest court voted unanimously Tuesday to restore the names of police officers to a statewide database of court records and for the fix to take place by the end of the week. The judges moved quickly to reverse a controversial decision that had blocked online public access to information previously available about arresting…
Tag: Maryland open government
NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for September 13, 2013
From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.
…
Open government organization provides grant to fight county petition
From Carroll County Times: A nonpartisan organization dedicated to the freedom of information has awarded the Carroll County Times a $12,500 grant to help cover litigation costs to fight a petition filed by the Carroll County Board of Commissioners that asks a judge to approve the county’s policy of redacting email addresses from Maryland Public Information Act requests.
…
Seeing like a citizen: How activists are making state laws legible
From Tech President: The Open Government Foundation announced Friday that it had released MarylandCode.org, a web-friendly and restriction free publication of the Maryland Code of Public Laws.
…
NFOIC supports newspaper in legal action
Press release from NFOIC: COLUMBIA, Mo. (May 9, 2013) – A small daily newspaper has been awarded a $12,500 litigation grant from the Knight FOI Fund after being rebuffed and stonewalled for months in its efforts to get email distribution lists from the board of commissioners in a rural Maryland county.
…
Accidentally released text messages give peek at O’Malley discussions
From The Baltimore Sun:
The text messages were pinging to and from Gov. Martin O’Malley’s BlackBerry. It was the latter part of October, and Election Day was just around the corner.
[…]
…
It’s Sunshine Week
Opinion from myEasternShore.com:
Government is big business, probably the biggest business in the nation. Just as businesses are beholden to stockholders, the government is beholden to its stakeholders – us, the citizens.
Sunshine Week is being celebrated by news organizations throughout the country this week. It coincides with March 16, the birthday of the man who wrote the Bill of Rights, President James Madison.
…
Maryland public records ruling could let more sunshine in
From The Baltimore Sun:
The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled recently that state police personnel files are not completely off-limits under the Maryland Public Information Act, a finding that could broaden access to a whole range of information, experts say.
…