Aiming Nuclear Weapons at Academic Molehills

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

I warned you last year that this was likely coming somewhere… In Virginia, the attorney general, skeptical of global warming, tried to use his subpoena powers to build a fraud case against a climatology professor. In Wisconsin, Republican Party officials sought the emails of a history professor, trying to demonstrate that he had misused his public account [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 3. Access law | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

New Jersey Court: Hand Over E-Mails Detailing Facebook Donation

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

An Essex County judge today ordered Newark to turn over an itemized list of e-mails surrounding Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to the city’s schools. The order by Superior Court Judge Rachel Davidson is the latest chapter in an ongoing legal battle between the city and the ACLU of New Jersey, which is [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

U.S. Conference of Mayors Secretly Coordinated Occupy Response…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

After denying that they are coordinating responses to Occupy Wall Street, the U.S. Conference of Mayors recently surveyed city administrations across the country about the movement. In late November, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request , the District of Columbia mayor’s office received a request to update its answers to the survey. [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

We Need Secrecy for Drones, So We Need Secrecy For…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

The Justice Department has a new legal argument for why the government should be allowed to conceal the postmortem photographs of Osama bin Laden: It’s doing the same thing with the CIA’s classified drone program. On Wednesday, the department filed court papers [PDF] asking a federal judge to rule against the government watchdog group Judicial Watch, which [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Delaware Re-Evaluates Secret Juvenile Justice System…

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

I have long argued that a bit of sunshine would do a great deal of good in the world of juvenile justice, as secretive an institution as exists in American life. Delaware officials might just agree, at least in part. Good for them: State lawmakers are considering whether to order a study of the feasibility [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 3. Access law, Transparency | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Toyota, NHTSAA sued; allegations of video coverup spur FOI case

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

Passing this little nugget along… Today there is another significant development in the ongoing saga of the Toyota sudden unintended acceleration story.  As revealed in a Freedom of Information Act suit that was filed today by Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. (SRS), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has withheld materials and documents that might show [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 3. Access law | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

What’s the Worst FOI Fail of 2011? Nominate it for the Black Hole Award…

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

The Society of Professional Journalists is seeking nominations for its Black Hole Award. The Black Hole serves as the counterpoint to the Sunshine Award, highlighting particularly heinous violations of the public’s right to know. By exposing the bad actors, we hope to educate members of the public to their rights and call attention to those [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind, 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

The Kind of Reporting FOI Makes Possible….

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

Kudos to Milwaukee (Wis.) Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Gina Barton, whose excellent October 2011 three-part series “Both Sides of the Law” found that at least 93 Milwaukee police officers had been disciplined for violating laws and ordinances, but didn’t lose their jobs. Barton said it took nearly two years of records requests, a court case, and $7,500 in [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind, 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Florida bill would usher breathtaking secrecy into private prison deals…

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

It never, ever ceases to amaze me how lawmakers can embrace secrecy when farming out prisons to for-profit corporations that have such a well-documented history of abuse, corruption and mismanagement. Could they not just do a little reading about the many problems private prisons have caused in, say, Texas? I mean, heck, a little Google [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 3. Access law | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

In Chesterfield, Missouri, Driving So Drunk You Pee Your Pants = Illegal Parking Citation

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

A Patch columnist spins a tale sure to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck: I filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office about Chesterfield refusing to release a 2011 arrest report, incident and accident reports of ex-sports announcer Dan McLaughlin, as required by state law. McLaughlin was arrested DWI [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 339 other followers