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Thursday
March 15, 2018
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Join us this morning at 10:00 for our third Sunshine Week YouTube live webinar, this one on the basics of FOIA's open meetings provisions. Click here to join.
Or, watch yesterday's webinar update on the basics of requesting records under FOIA.
Tomorrow, we're hosting Pop-Up Sunshine Day at the Virginia Credit Union House on 8th Street in Richmond. Stop by to join us for quick-hit transparency updates, lunch and a showing of "All the President's Men."
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state & local news stories
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Daily Press reporter Peter Dujardin talks about some of the obstacles and hurdles he encountered while trying to investigate the suicide of a Hampton man in prison. The family was desperate for information, but Dujardin and reporter Lisa Vernon Sparks ran into difficulty despite being familiar with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Listen to Dujardin share some of the difficulties — and some of the victories — in this video. This was created as part of a series of videos to recognize Sunshine Week — which began Sunday, March 11, to recognize the importance of access to public information.
Daily Press
In light of ongoing budget discussions and proposed tax increases, the Star-Tribune filed a Freedom of Information Act request for salaries of all Pittsylvania County government employees. By law, salaries of local and state government employees earning $10,000 a year or more are public record and must be made available for public inspection. Information sought included the employee’s name, job title or classification, department, and salary.
Star-Tribune
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national stories of interest
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The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) and the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) announced that NFOIC will be relocating its headquarters to the University of Florida. UFCJC will now be home to three units at the forefront of freedom of information and First Amendment issues: NFOIC, the Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project. NFOIC will be located inside the Brechner Center and the two organizations will collaborate to create research and public-awareness projects advancing the access rights of journalists, and all citizens, to information about issues of public concern. NFOIC, currently located at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, is a nonpartisan alliance of state and regional organizations promoting collaboration, education and advocacy for open government, transparency and freedom of information (FOI). Its affiliates include citizen-driven nonprofit FOI organizations, academic and First Amendment centers and journalistic societies.
NFOIC
For Sunshine Week, MuckRock has launched a new collaboration that makes it easy to explore every state’s public records laws, find details on specific exemptions as well as sample appeals, and more. The database builds on and updates work by Miranda Spivack, an independent journalist. She developed the project in collaboration with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, students at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication, and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
MuckRock
The US Air Force is suspending media embeds, base visits and interviews "until further notice" and it "will temporarily limit the number and type of public engagements" by public affairs officers and others while they are retrained to protect sensitive information, according to guidance obtained by Defense News. "In line with the new National Defense Strategy, the Air Force must hone its culture of engagement to include a heightened focus on practicing sound operational security," the new guidance memo said. "As we engage the public, we must avoid giving insights to our adversaries which could erode our military advantage. We must now adapt to the reemergence of great power competition and the reality that our adversaries are learning from what we say in public." Notably, the new Air Force guidance does not distinguish between classified and unclassified information. Nor does it define the scope of "sensitive operational information" which must be protected.
Secrecy News
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 March 16, 2018
Virginia Credit Union House
Details
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editorials & columns
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 "Lest you think the Freedom of Information Act is just some dusty words somewhere, let’s look at all the ways in which FOIA is a living, breathing thing that opens government to inspection."
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A Daily Press review of Mr. Charity’s death and its subsequent handling by the Department of Corrections and state police show the DOC conducts its business behind a curtain which restricts access to information and does not encourage public inquiry. The way these entities operate is in need of both increased accountability and reform. The Daily Press, in its reporting on a story published Sunday, also found the DOC is allowed to operate without public scrutiny afforded to other state departments. Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act shields death reports from the public, and the DOC is under no obligation to inform the public about whether Mr. Charity was on suicide watch or kept in isolation during his time at Red Onion. The Daily Press learned Mr. Charity was kept in segregation — alone in his cell nearly all day, every day — and that no opioids, alcohol or street drugs were found in his body only from his mother. The agency would not even release Mr. Charity’s last official DOC photograph. In comparison, Florida has created an online database detailing key facts about how inmates died that is available to the public.
Daily Press
Patrick Henry, he of “give me liberty or give me death” fame, was not one to mince words. So when he stood to speak on June 9, 1788, he let it all out. The occasion was the Virginia convention that had been called to vote on whether to ratify the new U.S. Constitution. Henry was against it. Today, that puts Henry on the wrong side of history but we’ve named high schools and counties after him anyway. Patrick Henry, he of “give me liberty or give me death” fame, was not one to mince words. So when he stood to speak on June 9, 1788, he let it all out. The occasion was the Virginia convention that had been called to vote on whether to ratify the new U.S. Constitution. Henry was against it. This week, whatever the weather outside today may be, is Sunshine Week — the annual week in which newspapers across the country call attention to “sunshine laws” or “open government” laws. Henry may have been wrong about the U.S. Constitution, but he was right about the desirability of allowing citizens to see exactly what their governments are doing in their name. Lest you think the Freedom of Information Act is just some dusty words somewhere, let’s look at all the ways in which FOIA is a living, breathing thing that opens government to inspection.
The Roanoke Times
IN 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote of the university he had founded: “This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left to combat it.” Fast forward to Feb. 22, 2018. The spotlight is on the University of Virginia to see if it will honor its founder’s vision in the wake of a grave offense against campus freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech. The evening started with a scheduled, thoughtfully conceived program called “Building Bridges,” designed to bring opposing viewpoints into respectful dialogue and intellectual exchange. It was, one might say, exactly what the founder of U.Va. and our nation’s third president would have wanted. Yet the jarring reaction by some to this program, which included a panel featuring Israeli military reservists, highlighted a disturbing impediment to rational debate. A small group comprised of students and non-students decided that since it disagreed with the Israeli panelists’ viewpoints, it would come in with a megaphone and prevent the speakers from being heard.
Michael Poliakoff, The Virginian-Pilot
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