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Pennsylvania's new open records law gives you a stronger tool for keeping an eye on how government spends your money. We'll be watching, too.-
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Monthly Archives: March 2009
N. Codorus residents question access to tapes of meetings
Last night’s North Codorus Township meeting included some discussion about whether the public has access to the township’s tape recordings of meetings. (They do; tapes of meetings are public records). At the meeting, some residents complained about the township’s policy … Continue reading
Update: Fighting open records — to the max
Tom Saul, who wrote the story referred to in the previous post, got back to me with the list of records the town of Riverdale, Iowa is fighting to withhold. It’s an interesting list, and you can see in each … Continue reading
Posted in Scott Blanchard
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Fighting open records — to the max
Here’s a fascinating, and somewhat scary, story out of Davenport, Iowa. A town there refuses to release records, despite a judge’s order to do so, and has repeatedly gone to court to seek judgments that it doesn’t have to release … Continue reading
Posted in Scott Blanchard
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Sunshine Week kicks off with a bang
Here’s a roundup of open records news in honor of Sunshine Week:
Former FOIA czar speaks
Propublica interviewed Dan Metcalfe, former director of the federal justice department’s Office of Information Policy, about changes to how the federal government handled the Freedom of Information Act during the Bush administration and the Obama administration’s attempt to undo some … Continue reading
Posted in FOIA, Scott Blanchard
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More on Pa. right-to-know appeal decisions
The Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition’s Web site is providing excellent summaries of decisions by the state’s open records office on appeals of right-to-know requests that were denied. We’ll have more to say about some of the more interesting decisions, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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In Canada, a debate over sex offender records
Sometimes news from other countries puts U.S. public information laws into perspective. In the U.S., sex offenders have to register with local law enforcement, and an offender’s name, criminal record and address is made public online through the Megan’s Law … Continue reading
Posted in Scott Blanchard
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Borough argues that ‘public’ is ‘personal’ — and loses
The state’s Office of Open Records continues to crank out decisions on appeals of the right to know law, and those appeals show that the law’s presumption that a record is public does not mean that municipalities and agencies will … Continue reading
