Aided by technological advances, government agencies are constantly inventing new ways to collect information -- and it was only a matter of time before "drone surveillance" made it way onto college campuses.Last week's announcement that the University of Alabama-Huntsville had acquired a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles with an eye toward equipping them with police security cameras undoubtedly sent a shiver through public urinators and weed cultivators everywhere.
Tag: open records
The forecast for public access to teacher performance data under Florida’s Sunshine Law: Mostly cloudy
After a Florida court declared that reports about teacher performance must be kept confidential for a year after they are created, a state legislator is proposing to keep the information off-limits for even longer.A bill filed Monday by state Rep.
Bills aim to open private campus crime reports
In July 2003, Amanda Farahany, an attorney representing an alleged rape victim, filed the lawsuit. She was initially successful in her quest for the records when a superior court judge in February 2004 ruled that the department and its records were public.
Lawsuit filed by student journalists opens door to proposed law
State Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios (D-Cambridge) and Rep. Alice K. Wolf (D-Cambridge) introduced similar measures in the state Senate and House that would open records produced by special state police officers employed by educational institutions and hospitals.
Student journalists fighting for access to documents and records are not always found in the courtroom. More often these students are engaged in everyday battles
These obstacles can delay or prevent the public from obtaining information that could protect students from violent crime, potential health hazards or simply learning how state money is being used.
Foundations pushed to open
It's a question both sides think they know the answer to and one both sides hope the state's supreme court will take up soon: Are the names of individual donors to public university foundations public under the state open records law?
Open and shut
With frequent tuition hikes and steep taxes comes a desire from thoseconcerned with the use of tax dollars to know how money is allocated at publicuniversities across the country.
Calls to SPLC legal help hotline jump in 2003
A total of 355 high school and college student journalists contacted the Center for help on freedom of information-related matters last year, up from just 262 calls during the previous year. The Center's finding echoes reports by commercial news media and citizen groups nationwide that, in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, government agencies have tightened control over previously available government information.
What records should I request?
Experts say auditors must be sure that the requested records are public records.
It's a jungle out there
Georgia Dunn was not surprised when she learned that Ohio school districtsperformed poorly in an Ohio Coalition for Open Government study gaugingcompliance of the state’s open-records law.
The audit’sresults, released in June, showed school districts released records the same dayor the next less than 30 percent of the time -- the lowest rate of any typeof public body included in the statewide audit.
Dunn, Ohio JournalismEducation Association state director, said compliance with open-records laws hasnot been a high priority for schools.