FOIA Files

Sauk Valley Media ran a letter to the editor this week that offers an interesting perspective into the FOIA system from a non-journalist applicant: Tyberius Mays, an inmate at Dixon Correctional Center in Dixon, Ill. The newspaper has for months been covering a series of transparency road blocks encountered by its […]

The Society of Professional Journalists went on the offensive Friday over “the possible weakening of existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve the news media.” SPJ President Sonny Albarado sent letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in response to the “off the record” meeting Holder offered journalists to […]

Bruce Ruston of the Illinois Times commented on our post “SPJ Calls on Attorney General To Uphold Government’s Media Guidelines.” We wanted to share his thoughts with our readers: Friends, I have been invited to start blogging here, and so I will. My purpose is to prod the SPJ into […]

A seven-member board created to review concealed carry applications in Illinois could be exempt from the state’s Freedom of Information Act if Gov. Pat Quinn approves a measure that recently landed on his desk. WUIS.org reports: [T]he board’s records and activities would be off-limits to the public. The board would […]

As a transparency nerd, big projects like these are a dream come true. The Illinois Policy Institute released a roundup on the public accessibility of suburban government info yesterday, and it is thorough. It’s results? Troubling, to say the least. Three governments got a perfect score: Hanover Township, Kane County, […]

…That’s the good news in the Better Government Association’s latest “Integrity Index” report. The bad news? Illinois scored a paltry 68.5 percent out of 100. Overall, not one state had an integrity index mark higher than 70 percent, and the national average was a meager 55 percent. Rhode Island had […]

WICS News in Springfield reports that an investigation from the station titled “Ready, Set, Shred” has prompted the city to change its FOIA policies. WICS’s eight-week investigation found evidence that the city destroyed documents the same day it answered a FOIA request saying those documents didn’t exist. On Wednesday, WICS […]

More FOIA problems for a non-Chicago Illinois city. This time, the village of Sparland, near Peoria, was found “in violation” of state FOIA law following a complaint from a resident whose request for meeting agendas was ignored. Village Clerk Cora Ulrich told  the Journal Star: “I guess I’ve been baptized” […]

Reprinted with permission from jeasprc.org: One of the interesting things about starting a school year is to find out why students are taking “J-1” – Introduction to Journalism.  The answers, to no surprise, run the gamut. “Because my friend did.” “Because my parents made me.” “Because I like to write.” […]