Florida bill would usher breathtaking secrecy into private prison deals…

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 [...]

Casey Anthony Trial: The Hits Just Keep Comin’

A bad trial with a disliked outcome produces a legislative overreach of titanic proportions: Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, on Thursday filed a bill that would call for a nine-month “cooling off” period after jurors are dismissed before they could consider accepting money for sharing details about a trial. The moves comes just days before Casey Anthony is [...]

Florida Guv Signs Mindless Exemption Into Law…

From the Reporters Committee: Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Thursday that exempts any photographs, video or audio recordings that depict or record the “killing of a person” from the mandatory disclosure requirements under the state’s public records laws. The bill, which Florida media organizations have fought against, would allow access to such recordings by certain [...]

The Bad Exemption Factory Just Keeps on Pumping ‘Em Out

And in news of the truly inane…has anyone considered what happens when the death involves, say, a controversial police shooting??? A bill seeking to exempt depictions of deaths from Florida’s public records laws is making its way through the legislature, and freedom-of-information advocates are warning that the repercussions of such a broad measure could be [...]

A Tough Exemption to Battle In Florida…

This is a toughie, and it’s where FOI stalwarts really have their work cut out for them in making the case for openness: Lawmakers are considering exempting photos, audio recordings and videos “that depict or record the killing of a person” from public records laws. The bill was spurred by last summer’s brutal murders of [...]

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 319 other followers