From The Freedom Foundation:
OLYMPIA (Nov 28, 2012) – The Freedom Foundation today released Best Practices for Public Agency Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, a go-to source of information on a number of issues related to Washington State’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).
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Read More… from Freedom Foundation releases best practices for Open Public Meetings Act
From Bloomberg:
Glen Milner wanted to know the dangers posed by the Navy’s Indian Island munitions facility near Port Townsend, Washington. So in 2003, he filed a Freedom of Information request.
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Read More… from Activist’s nine-year navy FOIA fight ends in Supreme Court win
From Courthouse News:
SEATTLE, Wash. (CN) – A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to remove redactions from records that track violent gangs and terrorist organizations, and gave the agency two weeks to hand over the files to the ACLU.
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Read More… from Justice Dept. must turn over full gang records
From Oregon Live:
For years, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen made the nonprofit Strategies for Youth an extension of his official government duties, even as it paid his wife a salary.
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Read More… from Lobbyists, state staff helped Washington lawmaker’s charity, records show
From The Olympian:
The state Court of Appeals has upheld a $2,175 fine against Gov. Chris Gregoire’s staff for illegally withholding a three-page briefing document that Olympia activist Arthur West requested in 2009.
Gregoire initially claimed the record was protected by “executive privilege” – a controversial legal position that is now under legal challenge by open-government advocates in a separate case being heard Thursday in the state Supreme Court.
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Read More… from Washington state court upholds fine against governor’s staff in records case
From The News Tribune:
Location seems to be a key factor in determining whether citizens can successfully obtain public records they’re entitled to by state law. At least that what News Tribune reporter Sean Robinson discovered when he requested public documents regarding cases adjudicated in 22 district and municipal courts in the South Sound.
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Read More… from Many courts in Washington State need a refresher on open records rights
From The News Tribune:
Republican Rob McKenna and Democrat Jay Inslee both pledge to, if elected, open public access to more government records.
How each would fulfill that promise differs, except in one significant way: Both gubernatorial hopefuls said they would decline to claim a special exception to disclosure for the governor’s office.
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Read More… from Washington State candidates seek open records
From NextGov
The Obama administration takes petitions posted to its We the People website seriously and during weekly meetings discusses responses to those that cross the 25,000-signature threshold, officials said in a response and video posted Thursday.
The White House launched We the People in September, touting it as a one-stop shop for citizens to petition the federal government and as part of the Obama administration's larger commitment to open government.
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Read More… from White House to petitioners: We ARE listening
A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier. Be sure to check out Sunshine Week 2012 News while you're at it.
Hacking as a Civic Duty
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