Transparency News 3/20/14
Thursday, March 20, 2014
State and Local Stories
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
As states look for new ways to save money through data sharing and analytics, prison costs have come into focus. The National Governors Association (NGA) announced on Feb. 20 the selection of three states — Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee — that will receive grants to participate in a program targeted at justice information sharing that could lead to cost savings. The program, called the Cross Boundary Corrections Information Exchange Policy Academy, shows high-level officials of participating states how they can share information between departments to reduce prisoner recidivism, save money and increase public safety. Funded primarily through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the program is designed to help governors and other top officials establish the policy framework necessary so that information can be shared between departments.
Governing
More than two-thirds of Americans like their public libraries and use them often, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center. The Pew analysis suggests that new forms of information technology are enhancing people's experience of libraries, rather than substituting for them. Even among Americans who don’t use libraries, many maintain positive views of them anyway. “We’ve touched the vast percentage of our communities and have drawn strong support,” said Jamie LaRue, former director of the Douglas County library system in Colorado and a proponent of having libraries publish e-books. LaRue said he hoped the Pew report would signal to government officials across the country that libraries continue to play a critical role at certain stages in people's lives. For instance, more than half of library users say libraries are important for helping them find and apply for jobs.
Governing
The top lawyer for the National Security Agency and others from the Obama administration made it clear to the U.S. government’s independent oversight board that tech titans knew about government surveillance while it was going on. NSA general counsel Rajesh De told the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that tech titans were aware that the NSA was collecting communications and related metadata both for the NSA’s “PRISM” program and for “upstream” communications crossing the Internet.
CNET News
D.C. residents are getting a big present for this year’s Sunshine Week: a new Web site that should make it easier than ever to search, browse and use District law.
DCdecoded.org is a project of the nonpartisan OpenGov Foundation and the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability’s Office of Open Government. While the D.C. Code has long been available in libraries and through the D.C. Council Web site, it has long been accessible online only through clunky, proprietary Web sites geared toward lawyers and lawmakers, not the general public. The new Web site, which went live Wednesday, is part of the “America Decoded” project that has already put the legal codes of three states and four cities in a free, modern and accessible format that offers an attractive user interface, mouse-over definitions for many legal terms, easy-to-use permanent links to specific lines of the code, and the ability for programmers to interact with the Web site to build new applications.
Washington Post
A Suffolk, Mass., Superior Court jury has found that the Boston Herald committed actual malice in a story which falsely reported a woman had engaged in “sexual acts” with a Bridgewater inmate during a 2009 visit. David H. Rich of Todd & Weld in Boston, who represented Joanna Marinova, said a 15-person jury deliberated for two and half days before awarding $550,000 in emotional distress damages and $13,052 in compensatory damages. Rich — who helped secure a $2.1 million verdict in 2005 against the newspaper on behalf of former Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy — argued that the story was intended to sensationalize a trip that his client and Rep. Gloria Fox made to the prison to investigate alleged incidents of inmate abuse.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
In her first newspaper job with The Frederick News-Post in Frederick, Md., Kelly Hinchcliffe got a call that the school district called a news conference. Why? she asked many times, but no one explained. So when Hinchcliffe showed up and saw a stack of press releases on the table, she grabbed one and sat down. A public information officer rushed over and said she couldn’t have the release until after the press conference. “I said, well, it becomes a public record when it’s created, not when you say you want to hand it to me,” Hinchcliffe told the woman.
Poynter
The Senate chairwoman of the Iowa Legislature’s Oversight Committee is demanding answers about six secret settlements paid to former state employees. “Spending almost $300,000 provided by taxpayers to pay former state employers to keep silent is outrageous,” said Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines. “How did this happen? What information was intended to be concealed by these payments?” Most of the employees claimed they had lost their jobs because of Republican cronyism.
Des Moines Register
Christian Trejbal, Times-Dispatch
Sunshine Week is not just a contrivance of the news media to make our jobs a little easier. The week, like Old Sol itself, is for everyone. Any Virginia citizen can require records from his or her officials. There is much talk of freedom in the country these days. One of the greatest freedoms is the freedom to know how those who you chose to manage your locality or state are spending your money and furthering your interests. Why is it tied to James Madison’s birthday? That eminent Virginian, our fourth president, pretty much summed it up: “A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” Exactly. Knowledge is power. And, on Sunshine Week and every other week, you have it at your disposal. Shine a light.
Free Lance-Star
If federal prosecutors are now trying to prove a quid pro quo in the influence-peddling criminal case against former Gov. Bob McDonnell, Terry McAuliffe has just provided a menu of the way quids are traded legally in the Governor's Mansion.
Virginian-Pilot
Virginians hoping that Gov. Terry McAuliffe will add some heft to the bantamweight ethics bill passed by legislators were instead greeted this week by - what else? - a fundraising appeal from the chief executive. Donors giving from $10,000 to $100,000 to the Democrat's political action committee were offered a menu of "sponsorship packages" that include a private dinner and roundtable discussion with the governor and monthly chitchats with "policy experts." PAC officials hastened to clarify that those experts won't be members of the administration but rather outsiders, such as governors from other states, who may or may not be aware that they are being shilled out to tricorn tightwads in the "Colonial Circle" by virtue of a lousy $10,000 donation, presumably in tobacco leaves and beaver pelts. Such events date back, if not to British rule, at least through modern administrations in both parties.
Roanoke Times
Democracy thrives where there is freedom of expression & good government depends on meaningful input between officials & constituents. The Internet enables a new era for resident-government collaboration. However, informal or unstructured online public comment is akin to the demonstration or rally where many people share anonymous voices. While the collective impact usually conveys sentiment to its intended recipient, it is not necessarily enlightening. Public officials cannot determine who is commenting. Residents aren’t sure their message is delivered. Formal, structured public comment allows for validation and attribution of comment and contributor. Officials can identify constituents. Residents know comments are received & recorded.
Dan Bevarly, Knight News Challenge
State and Local Stories
The new FCPD News blog is replacing the traditional “news release.” As of April 1, the agency will no longer email releases; all information will be posted on the new, easy-to-read blog. Residents are urged to subscribe to the blog athttp://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/ today. All releases will immediately be pushed to the agency’s Twitter feed. The Public Information Office issues dozens of releases each year, covering crime, traffic issues, public events, community concerns, trends and a wide variety of other relevant and important safety issues. All of this information will now be found in one spot; the News blog.
Fairfax County Police Department
Chesterfield County Circuit Court Clerk Judy L. Worthington has announced she is retiring April 1 for health reasons, ending a 22-year tenure filled with many accomplishments and periodic public skirmishes with the county’s Circuit Court judges. In a letter dated Tuesday to Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman James M. “Jim” Holland, Worthington said her decision was based on “ongoing problems with recovery from spinal surgery” and other health issues. She is currently on medical leave, according to her automatic email reply. In her letter, Worthington listed her accomplishments as clerk and noted that her office has been nationally and internationally recognized and received awards relating to office efficiency, customer service and technological innovations.
Times-Dispatch
A student who says he was prevented from preaching on campus is suing the Virginia Community College System, alleging unconstitutional infringement on his freedom of speech and religious expression. Christian Parks, a student at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, cites a policy governing all 23 of the state's community colleges that he says gives officials "unbridled discretion over whether, when, and where" students may engage in public speech on campus. The policy limits "demonstrations" to recognized college organizations, requires them to file a form in triplicate four days in advance and says the events must be contained within precise, preset boundaries.
Virginian-Pilot
National Stories
The Ohio Supreme Court decided Monday not to hold a reporter in contempt of court for refusing to testify in a disciplinary hearing against an attorney. While the case was poised to answer the question of whether the state's reporter's privilege applied in quasi-judicial or administrative proceedings, the state's high court did not squarely answer this question. Instead of issuing a full opinion, the court briefly announced that it was dismissing the case and denying the Akron Bar Association's request to hold the reporter in contempt. According to the newspaper's attorney, Karen C. Lefton, as reported in the Akron Beacon Journal, this means that the bar association cannot force Akron Beacon Journal reporter Phil Trexler to testify at the lawyer's disciplinary hearing.Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
As states look for new ways to save money through data sharing and analytics, prison costs have come into focus. The National Governors Association (NGA) announced on Feb. 20 the selection of three states — Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee — that will receive grants to participate in a program targeted at justice information sharing that could lead to cost savings. The program, called the Cross Boundary Corrections Information Exchange Policy Academy, shows high-level officials of participating states how they can share information between departments to reduce prisoner recidivism, save money and increase public safety. Funded primarily through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the program is designed to help governors and other top officials establish the policy framework necessary so that information can be shared between departments.
Governing
More than two-thirds of Americans like their public libraries and use them often, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center. The Pew analysis suggests that new forms of information technology are enhancing people's experience of libraries, rather than substituting for them. Even among Americans who don’t use libraries, many maintain positive views of them anyway. “We’ve touched the vast percentage of our communities and have drawn strong support,” said Jamie LaRue, former director of the Douglas County library system in Colorado and a proponent of having libraries publish e-books. LaRue said he hoped the Pew report would signal to government officials across the country that libraries continue to play a critical role at certain stages in people's lives. For instance, more than half of library users say libraries are important for helping them find and apply for jobs.
Governing
The top lawyer for the National Security Agency and others from the Obama administration made it clear to the U.S. government’s independent oversight board that tech titans knew about government surveillance while it was going on. NSA general counsel Rajesh De told the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that tech titans were aware that the NSA was collecting communications and related metadata both for the NSA’s “PRISM” program and for “upstream” communications crossing the Internet.
CNET News
D.C. residents are getting a big present for this year’s Sunshine Week: a new Web site that should make it easier than ever to search, browse and use District law.
DCdecoded.org is a project of the nonpartisan OpenGov Foundation and the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability’s Office of Open Government. While the D.C. Code has long been available in libraries and through the D.C. Council Web site, it has long been accessible online only through clunky, proprietary Web sites geared toward lawyers and lawmakers, not the general public. The new Web site, which went live Wednesday, is part of the “America Decoded” project that has already put the legal codes of three states and four cities in a free, modern and accessible format that offers an attractive user interface, mouse-over definitions for many legal terms, easy-to-use permanent links to specific lines of the code, and the ability for programmers to interact with the Web site to build new applications.
Washington Post
A Suffolk, Mass., Superior Court jury has found that the Boston Herald committed actual malice in a story which falsely reported a woman had engaged in “sexual acts” with a Bridgewater inmate during a 2009 visit. David H. Rich of Todd & Weld in Boston, who represented Joanna Marinova, said a 15-person jury deliberated for two and half days before awarding $550,000 in emotional distress damages and $13,052 in compensatory damages. Rich — who helped secure a $2.1 million verdict in 2005 against the newspaper on behalf of former Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy — argued that the story was intended to sensationalize a trip that his client and Rep. Gloria Fox made to the prison to investigate alleged incidents of inmate abuse.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
In her first newspaper job with The Frederick News-Post in Frederick, Md., Kelly Hinchcliffe got a call that the school district called a news conference. Why? she asked many times, but no one explained. So when Hinchcliffe showed up and saw a stack of press releases on the table, she grabbed one and sat down. A public information officer rushed over and said she couldn’t have the release until after the press conference. “I said, well, it becomes a public record when it’s created, not when you say you want to hand it to me,” Hinchcliffe told the woman.
Poynter
The Senate chairwoman of the Iowa Legislature’s Oversight Committee is demanding answers about six secret settlements paid to former state employees. “Spending almost $300,000 provided by taxpayers to pay former state employers to keep silent is outrageous,” said Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines. “How did this happen? What information was intended to be concealed by these payments?” Most of the employees claimed they had lost their jobs because of Republican cronyism.
Des Moines Register
Editorials/Columns
It was, perhaps, no coincidence that a century of “sunlight” was born during the winter holidays, when celebrants burn yule logs, place stars atop trees and light candles to hold back the darkness during these longest nights.Christian Trejbal, Times-Dispatch
Sunshine Week is not just a contrivance of the news media to make our jobs a little easier. The week, like Old Sol itself, is for everyone. Any Virginia citizen can require records from his or her officials. There is much talk of freedom in the country these days. One of the greatest freedoms is the freedom to know how those who you chose to manage your locality or state are spending your money and furthering your interests. Why is it tied to James Madison’s birthday? That eminent Virginian, our fourth president, pretty much summed it up: “A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” Exactly. Knowledge is power. And, on Sunshine Week and every other week, you have it at your disposal. Shine a light.
Free Lance-Star
If federal prosecutors are now trying to prove a quid pro quo in the influence-peddling criminal case against former Gov. Bob McDonnell, Terry McAuliffe has just provided a menu of the way quids are traded legally in the Governor's Mansion.
Virginian-Pilot
Virginians hoping that Gov. Terry McAuliffe will add some heft to the bantamweight ethics bill passed by legislators were instead greeted this week by - what else? - a fundraising appeal from the chief executive. Donors giving from $10,000 to $100,000 to the Democrat's political action committee were offered a menu of "sponsorship packages" that include a private dinner and roundtable discussion with the governor and monthly chitchats with "policy experts." PAC officials hastened to clarify that those experts won't be members of the administration but rather outsiders, such as governors from other states, who may or may not be aware that they are being shilled out to tricorn tightwads in the "Colonial Circle" by virtue of a lousy $10,000 donation, presumably in tobacco leaves and beaver pelts. Such events date back, if not to British rule, at least through modern administrations in both parties.
Roanoke Times
Democracy thrives where there is freedom of expression & good government depends on meaningful input between officials & constituents. The Internet enables a new era for resident-government collaboration. However, informal or unstructured online public comment is akin to the demonstration or rally where many people share anonymous voices. While the collective impact usually conveys sentiment to its intended recipient, it is not necessarily enlightening. Public officials cannot determine who is commenting. Residents aren’t sure their message is delivered. Formal, structured public comment allows for validation and attribution of comment and contributor. Officials can identify constituents. Residents know comments are received & recorded.
Dan Bevarly, Knight News Challenge
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