|
stories of national interest
|
The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to release its report on the Spokane (Washington) Police Department’s reforms after a public records request and appeal by The Spokesman-Review. The report details how well Spokane police implemented 42 recommendations from the Justice Department’s collaborative reform process, a voluntary review the department undertook starting in 2012. The reform was focused on evaluating Spokane police policies and practices related to use of force. Collaborative reforms were a program of the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services, known as COPS, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions ended after President Donald Trump took office. Spokane police were to receive a final report in the summer of 2016, but after a long wait, the COPS program told Chief Craig Meidl in the fall of 2017 they wouldn’t be getting one.
The Spokesman-Review
A University of Arkansas, Fayetteville athletics spokesman encouraged the nonprofit Razorback Foundation to sidestep a reporter's questions to avoid setting a "precedent," one of several instances found in emails of the nonprofit and the university coordinating on public messaging. The foundation has blocked access to its records by saying it is a separate legal organization not subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Emails obtained from the university through the open-records law show the two regularly give and take feedback on how to communicate with media, fans, trustees and donors. Discussions ranged from minor edits on newsletters to strategy about what financial information to release, how and when. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has reviewed nearly 22,000 pages of emails exchanged between three dozen UA employees and the Razorback Foundation as part of an effort to examine whether the nonprofit operates as the "functional equivalent" of UA. That is one of the legal standards that would determine whether the foundation is subject to the state's Freedom of Information Act, a lawyer said.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
In an extraordinary series of admissions, three members of the Columbus (Ohio) Board of Education voted Tuesday for a resolution admitting they made official decisions about their superintendent search in private meetings, in apparent violation of state law. But the proposal, which called for the district’s entire superintendent’s search to be scrapped and started anew, fell one vote short of approval. The board voted 4-3 Tuesday to reject member Mary Jo Hudson’s proposed resolution, which called for the search to be terminated. Board members Dominic Paretti and Eric Brown supported the resolution.
The Columbus Dispatch
Former Obama administration EPA directors spent as much or even more on international travel than the agency’s current chief, Scott Pruitt, who is facing widespread criticism for wasteful spending. The Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency has gotten in hot water after revelations that taxpayers had to foot the bill for Pruitt's $120,000 trip to Italy last summer to attend a meeting of G-7 ministers and a private tour of the Vatican. Lisa Jackson, who was Obama's EPA director between 2009 and 2013, spent more than $332,000 on airfare and security for four international trips, on average $83,000 per trip, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Gina McCarthy, the agency’s director between 2013 and 2017, embarked on 10 international trips, spending nearly $630,000 on airfare and security, on average $63,000 per trip.
Fox News
|
|
