From The Chicago Reporter’s Angela Caputo: About this time last year, Mick Dumke, a senior writer at the Chicago Reader, decided that he wasn’t going to bite his tongue any more. Dumke and I had privately been going back and forth about how to pry court records from the office […]
The Better Government Association’s (BGA) Andy Shaw helped the Chicago Headline Club kick off their first annual FOIA FEST. Learn more about the power of FOIA by visiting the BGA online at www.bettergov.org. Learn more about FOIA FEST here. Also: How to file a FOIA in Illinois And: FOIA Clinics
Last April, the Department of Justice unveiled an Open Government Plan that vowed to improve public access to FOIA materials. To accomplish that, a new plan focuses on making FOIA materials searchable, mimicking “commercial search engines that are already used by millions of people every day.” Think: Google. Ensuring that “web searches effectively […]
Geneva Township Highway District Freedom of Information Act officer Sheri McMurray was removed from her post March 20 amid allegations that she released information that violated attorney-client privilege, among other offenses. The issue centers on highway commissioner Mark Wissing and his opponent in a consolidated election, Michale Abts. Abts filed […]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission last week supporting several of the agency’s changes to its FOIA regulations. In addition to applauding the reduction of their request fees, the organization made the following statements [from EPIC’s website]: EPIC applauded the agency for reducing […]
A recent court case involving death row inmates who filed a FOIA request for documents about lethal injection drugs continues in Arkansas. A circuit court ruled last months that the states’ open records law did not apply to the inmates’ request for documents relating to “the origin, history of quality […]
The National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) and SPJ announced last week that Brian Sonntag will be added to Heroes of the 50 States: The State Open Government Hall of Fame. Sonntag recently retired after serving five terms as the elected State Auditor in Washington state. The State Open Government […]
The Society of Professional Journalists send a letter to the University of Kentucky last week, encouraging the school to turn over documents requested by WUKY reporter Brenna Angel about the director of its pediatric and congenital heart program. From an SPJ release: University officials, citing HIPAA, have denied Angel access […]
A series of FOIA requests initiated by Illinois media outlets are the basis for Senate Bill 1514, which would “allow citizens and the media to recover attorney fees when prevailing in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disputes that are not determined in court,” according to the Rock River Times, one of the newspapers […]
A recent Supreme Court decision could make it harder for information to be freely accessed across state lines. The gist, penned by Justice Samuel Alito, for noncitizens? “There is no constitutional right to obtain all the information provided by FOIA laws.” Some background: A Rhode Island resident who had divorced his wife […]
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