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National Stories
A judge presiding over the Colorado theater massacre case ruled on Tuesday that he will allow the murder trial of accused gunman James Holmes to be recorded for television despite opposition from lawyers on both sides, a court ruling showed. The request by media outlets for such coverage had been opposed by both prosecutors and defense lawyers, who argued that allowing cameras in the courtroom could expose witnesses and attorneys to threats, intimidation or other forms of harassment. Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour, in allowing expanded media coverage of proceedings due to begin in December, ruled that closed-circuit recordings of the trial be made accessible to electronic media outlets.
Reuters
Tennessee's attorney general is considering appealing a court ruling requiring the state to disclose the names of doctors, pharmacists and others involved in executions to attorneys representing 11 death row inmates, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The death row inmates are challenging the secrecy of the lethal injection process as well as Tennessee's plan to use its electric chair as a backup method if it cannot obtain the drugs necessary to perform lethal injections. A state appeals court panel ruled on Monday that Tennessee must turn over the names of the executioners, pharmacists and doctors involved in executions to the inmates' lawyers, upholding a ruling by a lower court judge.
Reuters
Pharmaceutical and device makers paid doctors roughly $380 million in speaking and consulting fees, with some doctors reaping over half a million dollars each, during a five-month period last year, according to an analysis of federal data released Tuesday. Other doctors made millions of dollars in royalties from products they helped develop. The data sheds new light on the often murky financial ties between physicians and the health care industry. From August to December 2013, drug and device companies made 4.4 million payments to more than half a million health care professionals and teaching hospitals — adding up to about $3.5 billion. The lucrative arrangements are just some of the findings of the online database, which provides one of the most detailed looks at the payments health care professionals receive from drug and medical device companies. The website also allows consumers to find information about their own doctors to determine whether they might have conflicts of interest. The site, required by the recent health care law, is part of a broader push for transparency.
New York Times
Complying with the 1966 Freedom of Information Act these days is a hugely complex technological feat that goes far beyond filing cabinets, good judgment and black markers. One trick to organizing and handling mind-boggling numbers of documents is keeping in mind the requesters' needs, according to experts looking to make this government service more effective. Last year, federal agencies received a total of 704,394 FOIA requests, with more than 230,000 going to the Department of Homeland Security alone. The Transportation Department took in 10,552 requests in 2013, with most — 6,650 — going to the Federal Aviation Administration and its 18 full-time FOIA employees, according to a request for information about FOIA systems on the market. To process its requests, Transportation relied on 11 separate FOIA operations running simultaneously. Six used a FOIA-tracking software system developed within the department, one used a separate in-house system, two used store-bought systems, one used a jerry-rigged correspondence system and one just uses Excel spreadsheets, according to solicitation documents posted earlier this year.
NextGov
The scene captured on video by a onetime aspiring filmmaker had neither actors nor dialogue, but it spoke volumes: A stream of water from a leaking sprinkler pooled on the ground, creating a miniature marsh. Above the glistening pond, silver block letters on the building in the backdrop spelled out: "Department of Water and Power, City of Los Angeles, Receiving Station K." To Matt Chapman, who gave up his film dreams for a software engineer's more reliable paycheck, it was a case of hypocrisy worth documenting on YouTube. And he's not the only one scrutinizing how public agencies use water. As officials crack down on homeowners who waste water, more drought-conscious Californians are using social media to broadcast video of what appear to be government agencies breaking their own water-use rules:
Governing
Government watchdog groups and transparency advocates are asking the Obama administration to review its policy of having the White House sign off on an expanded number of Freedom of Information Act requests—a procedure they say causes significant delays. In a letter to the White House released Monday, 25 transparency organizations said the Obama administration’s policy of reviewing FOIA requests that contain so-called “White House equities” has “caused significant confusion and delay among agencies in their compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.”
Fox News
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