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National Stories
Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka’s office launched a website today that allows visitors to find information about local governments in the state. The comptroller’s office collects more than 9,200 reports from 5,200 local governments each year. Now, much of that information is available online. Dubbed The Warehouse, the site allows users to find financial reports and audits from counties; cities; special taxing districts, such as park districts; and other bodies of local governments. “We’re essentially allowing taxpayers to scour The Warehouse from wherever they are to seek whatever they want to learn,” Topinka said at a Chicago news conference. “It’s designed to be user friendly. In fact, we’re going to keep trying and trying and trying to make sure anything we put out [will] be as user friendly as possible.” She said the new site was made possible by a 2012 law that requires local governments to submit their information to her office electronically.
Illinois Issues
A Little Rock lawyer and blogger filed a lawsuit Monday accusing Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr of violating the state Freedom of Information Act by refusing to release his personal cell phone number in response to an open records request. Matt Campbell, who runs the Democrat-leaning Blue Hog Report website, filed the complaint in Pulaski County Circuit Court and asked a judge to order the state's No. 2 elected official to hand over the number. Darr is a Republican who was elected in 2010.
The Republic
A proposed rule change would make clear that members of the news media can use phones and laptops to report live on proceedings in Iowa courtrooms with permission. The Iowa Supreme Court released a plan Monday to revise rules for expanded media coverage, which has long allowed audio and video recording and photography in courtrooms. The plan would allow for live electronic reporting, including tweeting and blogging, by members of the news media with advance approval from the presiding judge. The rule would also expand the definition of the news media.
WCF Courier
A lawyer for one of three college friends who allegedly helped to cover the tracks of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev argued on Tuesday that a judge's order keeping most evidence in the case out of public view was unfair to his client. An attorney for Azamat Tazhayakov, who is charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy, said prosecutors had failed to give a specific reason for sealing evidence, other than concerns about pretrial publicity and protecting the litigants.
Reuters
Lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would effectively end the NSA’s bulk phone metadata collection program. The legislation has support from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate, and from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and National Rifle Association. But the USA FREEDOM Act’s passage into law remains uncertain.
Wired
The White House has long been aware in general terms of the National Security Agency’s overseas eavesdropping, the nation’s top spymaster told a House hearing on Tuesday.
New York Times
The court battle between two girls and their Pennsylvania school over "I (heart) Boobies!" bracelets could be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Easton Area School District board voted 7-1 Tuesday night to appeal a federal appeals court's decision that rejected its claim the bracelets are lewd and should be banned from school. The case started in 2010 when two girls, then ages 12 and 13, challenged the school's ban on the bracelets designed to promote breast cancer awareness among young people. The students, Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez, said they merely hoped to promote awareness of the disease at their middle school. They filed suit when they were suspended for defying the ban on their school's Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
Fox News
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