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RAIN 03/02 Weekly Update: Open Records/FOIA (12)



The Spokesman-Review 02/20/02
House passes public records measure
Bill would allow judge to decide if public can have access to contested government documents
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=022002&ID=s1104387


Des Moines Register 02/23/02
State seeks to restrict records
By CLARK KAUFFMAN
Register Staff Writer
A lawyer for the Iowa attorney general's office argued in federal court Friday that the state isn't required to give a federally chartered agency certain records pertaining to the death of a patient at a state-run mental hospital.
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4780934/17424437.html


Washington Post 02/24/02
Risks Prompt U.S. to Limit Access to Data
Security, Rights Advocates Clash Over Need to Know
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
The letter from the government told Joy Suh to destroy the CD-ROM of the nation's water supply data "by any means." Suh, the documents librarian at George Mason University, immediately asked her assistant to get out her scissors and cut the silver disk into tiny shards.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58430-2002Feb23.html



The Indianapolis Star 02/25/02
Gregg says veto of access bill should stand
Associated Press
The speaker of the Indiana House says he will urge lawmakers not to override the
governor's veto of a bill that would exempt the General Assembly from the state's
open-records laws.
House Speaker John Gregg, D-Sandborn, said today that he planned to encourage
members to sustain the veto next month, allowing the governor's decision to stand
and preventing the bill from becoming law.
http://www.starnews.com/article.php?accesspm0225.html



Dallas Morning News 02/26/02
Editorial: Let the sun shine
Government business isn't a secret
It has come down to this point. Unfortunately.
The General Accounting Office finds itself forced to sue the White House over its
unwillingness to turn over the names of people or groups who met with Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force last year. The two sides have gone round and round over this matter. And finally there was no alternative: The GAO decided Friday to file its first suit – ever – to obtain White House records.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/stories/letsunshine_26edi.ART.Zone1.Edition1.68aa5.html



Associated Press 02/26/02
Names of sex-crime victims can be removed from Kentucky arrest reports
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A new attorney general's opinion says police can blot names and addresses of sex-crime victims from arrest reports before releasing them under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
It is a change of position prompted by "a developing body of state and federal case law," according to the opinion by Assistant Attorney General Amye L. Bensenhaver.
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15788


Norwich Bulletin 02/26/02
Town told papers must be public
By MICHAEL LEMANSKI
PLAINFIELD -- Town officials will not fight a Freedom of Information ruling that said the town wrongly withheld legal bills and zoning application information from embattled Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman James Gallow.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/stories/20020226/localnews/1715988.html



New York Times 02/26/02
State Pulls Data From Internet in
Attempt to Thwart Terrorists
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
ALBANY, Feb. 25-The Pataki administration has quietly ordered state agencies to restrict information available on the Internet and limit its release through New York's Freedom of Information Law to prevent terrorists from using the material, which includes maps of electrical grids and reservoirs as well as building floor plans.
The new policy, laid out in a confidential memorandum to agency heads from the state's director of public security, James K. Kallstrom, is one of the most farreaching and restrictive in the nation, according to research librarians and advocates for open government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/26/nyregion/26ALBA.html



Washington Times 02/26/02
U.S. law bars giving Colombians data
by Rowan Scarborough
The U.S. military has compiled reams of satellite photographs and communication intercepts that could aid Colombia in its revived war against left-wing rebel terrorists, Bush administration official say.
But a leftover Clinton administration policy (Presidential Decision Directive 73), and an accompanying federal law, is keeping the Pentagon from sharing the vital  intelligence with Colombian President Andres Pastrana and his armed forces.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020226-76879070.htm


New York Times 02/27/01
Critics Say New Rule Limits Access to Records
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Scholars and researchers say people will have a harder time getting information from the government because of a new Bush administration guideline on releasing federal records.
The guideline, issued in October by Attorney General John Ashcroft, describes how the administration intends to carry out the Freedom of Information Act, which says federal agencies must make their records available to the public. Since President Gerald R. Ford, it has been customary for new administrations to outline their interpretation of the act soon after taking office A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List! To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt