The sudden and mysterious death of an infant is a tragedy so wrenching that the justice system faces especially intense pressure to make certain that no killing goes unpunished.
Tag: public records
Green light for public access to police records in Washington, STOP sign in Kentucky
Write-ups of police investigations are among journalists' most-wanted public records -- and among the hardest to obtain.
State open-records practices are (gradually) getting as smart as your phone
In what's being hailed as a "game-changer" for citizen watchdogs, Arizona's attorney general says government agencies shouldn't impose fees for inspecting public records and making copies with your own electronic device.Attorney General Tom Horne's Dec.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Does the right to “inspect” public records include the right to Instagram them?
A Colorado city council drew the ire of open-government advocates this summer by voting to ban members of the public from snapping photos of public records to avoid paying copying charges.
Campus crime statistics unavailable from government during shutdown, but we have ’em
We often encourage student journalists to look up campus crime statistics reported by their school using the Department of Education's "Data Analysis Cutting Tool." On that website, students can look up statistics reported annually by their school as required by the Jeanne Clery Act, as well as those reported by other schools.Students (and members of the public) trying to do that today won't be able to.
Relief for records requestors? Schools ordered to pay fines, attorney’s fees in open records lawsuits
Violating state open records laws could actually cost you a lot of money, officials in Washington and Iowa have learned this month.First, the University of Washington was ordered last week to pay more than $720,000 in fines for withholding 12,000 pages of public records from a former professor who wanted to see whether she was wrongfully denied tenure at the University of Washington's Tacoma campus because of her gender or heritage.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Public records — delivered hot and oven-fresh… or they’re free?
Next to waiting for the cable TV installer, there's not much more irritating for us first-worlders than waiting for the public records that never come.Many state open-records laws require an agency to respond to a request for public documents within three, five or 10 days.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: This school year, let’s resolve to fix FERPA — by “breaking” it
At the University of Oklahoma, if you ask for the chance to inspect your own education records, the university knows just what to do.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: “Personal privacy” exception to open-records access can’t be allowed to swallow the rule
Government obfuscation in the face of requests for public records can be irritating. At times, maddening.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Illinois ruling confirms U can FOIA txts — 2G2BT
The public is entitled to know what city council members are talking about during meetings. Even when their thumbs are doing the talking.That's the takeaway from a new ruling from an Illinois court, which affirms that messages exchanged by government officials -- even on their personal cellphones -- are public records that must be produced on request.In City of Champaign v.