An organization that works quietly on your behalf celebrated its 25th anniversary with an event at the Statehouse. The Ohio Coalition for Open Government has pushed for open government and access to public records in our state. It works to ensure that state and local governments remain open, operate with transparency and serve the people […]
Read More… from Alan Miller: Coalition works on your behalf to keep government open
Ohioans who want to check out their school district or city won't learn much from a fraud-complaint database maintained by Auditor Dave Yost.
Since lawmakers mandated the list — and limited, specified information — be placed online in 2012, the auditor's office has received nearly 2,500 complaints. Continue…
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Read More… from Ohio: Complaints of government fraud often kept confidential
Some people not prone to hyperbole are praising the General Assembly’s unanimous — and long-needed — passage of a bill leveling the public-records playing field between government and citizens.
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Read More… from Mark it done: Cheap, quick public-records appeals (Ohio)
From Cleveland.com: COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a person granted a pardon by the governor is not automatically entitled to have the records of their crime and conviction sealed from public view.
Rather, absent requirements in Ohio’s law that it be granted automatically, it should be evaluated on a case by case basis to determine if it is appropriate, the court ruled.
Visit Ceveland.com for more.
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From Cleveland.com: OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio — Mayor Robert Blomquist has filed a public records request against Councilwoman at Large Ann Marie Donegan. He is seeking emails related to a health fair for senior citizens she organized with another council member.
To date, Donegan has not provided the requested emails, and Blomquist said he will seek further legal action.
Visit Cleveland.com for more.
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Read More… from Mayor files public record request against council member, seeks damages
From Hudson Hub-Times: Columbus — Not too long after I started covering the Statehouse six years ago, I began keeping tabs on Ohio's Tax Credit Authority.
Each month, I look over the panel's agenda, searching for companies of local interest. Wherever one from Youngstown or Defiance or Cambridge or Wooster or other communities is up for a tax break, I try to attend.
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Read More… from Opinion: Another week, another dustup over public records issue in Ohio
From Sandusky Register: In 2010, Tod Wagner sued Huron County Commissioners and the Huron County Airport Authority for what he believed were delayed responses to public records requests — and evidence that other public records had been wrongfully destroyed, according to court documents.
Wagner, whose wife Debbie Lake-Wagner, was a former airport authority board member, first submitted the records requests in October 2010.
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From The Columbus Dispatch: The latest effort by state lawmakers to close public records in Ohio would eliminate the ability for journalists to view concealed-handgun-license records.
Sen. Joseph Uecker, R-Loveland, said other states are moving toward closing off access to concealed-carry-license information. Journalists currently are the only members of the public with any ability to view the records in Ohio.
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From Athens News: A thorny dispute over Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly’s allegedly improper disposal of county records continues to evolve on a daily basis.
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Read More… from State cop transfers disputed records as part of sheriff probe
Opinion from The Columbus Dispatch:
It’s time for the Ohio General Assembly to kill the stealth exemption.
The stealth exemption is a nickname for a series of misguided rulings by the Ohio Supreme Court in interpreting Ohio’s open-records law, our most potent catalyst for accountable government.
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