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*** RECOVERED EMAIL ***: RAIN 0714 Weekly Update: Government (26)



Bloomberg.com 7/8/02
Grassley Suggests Disclosure of Corporate Tax Returns (Update1)
By Ryan J. Donmoyer
Washington, July 8 (Bloomberg) -- The top Republican on the Senate Finance
Committee is suggesting the government release corporate tax returns to the public, a
step to calm investors that would reverse decades of taxpayer privacy laws.
Iowa Senator Charles Grassley said a company's tax returns would provide a better
picture of its financial health to shareholders and regulators if they can be made public without compromising trade secrets or interfering with tax planning.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=uspolitics_news.ht&s=APSoCxxclR3Jhc3Ns



Federal Computer Week 7/8/02
FBI hot on records management case
by William Matthews
For most of its 94-year history, records management at the FBI was as basic as
paper documents stashed in a cardboard box and stuffed under an agent's desk. But
William Hooton intends to change that.
Hooton, who helped introduce digital imaging to the Internal Revenue Service in the 1970s and to the National Archives and Records Administration in the 1980s, was hired in March to bring modern electronic records management to the FBI. His mission, he said, is to move the FBI "from the era of Hoover to the modern age."
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0708/news-fbi-07-08-02.asp


The Wall Street Journal 7/9/02
How Outdated Filing Hampers FBI Effort to Fight Terrorism
By JOHN R. WILKE
WASHINGTON -- On a day last month when her boss, FBI Director Robert Mueller, was telling Congress about the agency's crippling computer problems, office assistant Alice Liberto offered a case study of just how antiquated the system is.
To open a file on a bank robbery here, Ms. Liberto filled out an initial incident report in neat longhand, got out a manila binder and inserted the form using a two-hole punch. From her desktop computer, she roused the Federal Bureau of Investigation's aging mainframe and got a number assigned to the new case. She wrote the number on the folder, got a supervisor's signature, then filed it in a long white cabinet with scores of other recent bank jobs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1026164881307136720,00.html



Press of Atlantic City 7/8/02
Public records law goes on books
By MICHAEL DIAMOND and JOHN FROONJIAN Special Reports Unit, (609) 272-
7227
You have more power today than you did yesterday.
A new state law greatly expanding the public's right to government information goes
into effect today.
The Open Public Records Act lets people view and copy all government documents,
including electronic records, unless the law specifically exempts the record. Under the
1963 law, records were public only if a law required them to be maintained.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/newjersey/070802RECORDS.html

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?level_3_id=7&page=4191540

Courier Post 7/8/02
Clerks say they're ready for open records law
By LILO H. STAINTON
Gannett State Bureau
TRENTON
Kathy Vigilante, the city clerk in South Amboy, doesn't know what to expect.
The keeper of all official records for the compact Middlesex County municipality of almost 8,000, Vigilante doubts a crowd will line up in front of the brick City Hall on Broadway, with requests for government documents in hand. But then, given the sweeping changes to New Jersey's public access law, who knows? Either way, she's ready.
http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/july/m070802c.htm


The Ledger 7/8/02
City to Update Computer Systems
http://www.theledger.com/local/east_polk/08comp.htm


Sun-Herald 7/8/02
Venice clerk heads state group
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/070802/tp9ew10.htm?date=070802&story=tp9ew10.htm


FCW.com 7/9/02
Pa. updates open records law
http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0708/web-penn-07-09-02.asp


AP 7/9/02
Auditor says 'virtual audits' could save Mississippi money
Bryant wants to replace traditional paper documents
BY EMILY WAGSTER
The Associated Press
JACKSON - State Auditor Phil Bryant says the state could save untold money and work
hours by using electronic data, instead of traditional paper documents, to review
counties' spending records.
http://www.djournal.com/djournal/site/articles/news/1144163.htm


Richmond Times Dispatch 7/10/02
Gilmore papers feared destroyed
Call concerns state librarian
BY JEFF E. SCHAPIRO
The state librarian fears the Gilmore administration may have destroyed records that should be available to the public.
In their escalating dispute over missing official papers, Librarian of Virginia Nolan T. Yelich told former Gov. Jim Gilmore archivists learned - apparently unintentionally - of the possible destruction of official papers shortly before Gilmore left office six months ago.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/more/MGBHFGKLG3D.html


Wall Street Journal 7/10/02
IRS Leans on KPMG, BDO Seidman To Compel Tax-Shelter Disclosures
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1026246470858253320,00.html


The Philadelphia Inquirer 7/10/02
McGreevey shuts door on access to records
His order shields his own documents and those of 15 state agencies. A new law provided for public access.
By Kaitlin Gurney
Inquirer Suburban Staff
Just two days after New Jersey's groundbreaking public records law took effect, Gov. McGreevey signed an executive order that limits access to his office and the 15 state agencies he oversees.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/3634115.htm

http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/july/m071002d.htm


AP 7/10/02
Lawyers: R.I. Officials Shredded Files
By RICHARD LEWIS, Associated Press Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Attorneys for the former manufacturers of lead paint accused state officials Wednesday of shredding documents tied to the state's lawsuit against the paint companies.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020711/ap_on_bi_ge/lead_paint_lawsuit_2


New York Times 7/11/02
Sept. 11 Tape Heard in Secret in Fire Inquiry
By JIM DWYER and KEVIN FLYNN
Amid concern about the scope and depth of an inquiry by the Fire Department into its Sept. 11 response, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that fire officials would immediately listen to taped radio transmissions among firefighters at the World Trade Center that were discovered five or six months ago but never played.
At the same time, the mayor found no fault with the department for not listening to the tape, even though the consultant retained to examine the department's performance has already completed a draft report on its response that day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/11/nyregion/11FIRE.html


Dayton Daily News 7/12/02
Fire erupts in national archives records facility
No serious damage to materials
By Angelle Haney
Dayton Daily News
MORAINE | A fire Thursday that started on the roof of a federal records center quickly became a two- and then three-alarm call, more from the contents of the building than from the seriousness of the blaze.
http://www.activedayton.com/ddn/local/0712archivefire.html



The Daily Star 7/12/02
Judge: Kyle's papers open records
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4726152&BRD=1423&PAG=461&dept_id=169546&rfi=6


AP 7/12/02
Germany OKs Opening of Spy Files
BERLIN (AP) - Parliament gave final approval Friday to a hotly disputed law
granting researchers and journalists access to the East German spy files of
prominent public figures, overturning legislation passed to protect former
Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Conservatives tried unsuccessfully to block the legislation at its final hurdle in the
upper house. The new law effectively overturns a federal court ruling in Kohl's
favor which said a public figure had to give permission for release of files kept by
the communist-era Stasi secret police.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/i/1103/7-12-2002/20020712074501_17.html


New York Times 7/13/02
Ruling Favors Limited Access to 9/11 Data
By BENJAMIN WEISER
federal judge, acknowledging national security concerns, ruled yesterday that the government should have a say in what is turned over to the families that have sued airlines, security firms, and others in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan, ordered a temporary halt to the progress of the lawsuits until the government and lawyers for the families come up with a way to screen information and satisfy the government's concerns that sensitive material is not disclosed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/13/nyregion/13HEAR.html



AP 7/13/02
Fla. Caseworker Charged in Abuse Case
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020713/ap_on_re_us/toddler_death_6


Washington Post 7/13/02
Outed by the IRS for Asking
Simon, Winnick Among Those Seeking Tax Shelter Advice
By Jonathan Weisman
The Internal Revenue Service stirred up concerns yesterday over political meddling and
taxpayer abuse by identifying hundreds of people, including the Republican candidate for governor of California, who sought advice on tax shelters that the government says may be illegal.
The unusual disclosures came in court papers filed this week to back up an IRS lawsuit
against the accounting firm KPMG LLP. The Justice Department, on behalf of the IRS,
filed suit Tuesday, seeking thousands of KPMG documents, which the government hopes
to use to prove that the firm is peddling illegal tax shelters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63515-2002Jul12.html


Lawrence Journal-World 7/13/02
Decision opens more records on parolees
The Associated Press
Topeka — The Department of Corrections must make more records about parolees available to the public, the state's highest court ruled Friday.
http://www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/99279


Orlando Sentinel 7/13/02
Court upholds law that bars access to photos
By Ludmilla Lelis
DAYTONA BEACH -- An appeals court on Friday upheld a state law passed after Dale Earnhardt's death that restricts access to autopsy photos, bringing the debate between the right to privacy and the public's right to see government records one step closer to the Florida Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach ruled the law is constitutional and that it prevents the Independent Florida Alligator from viewing Earnhardt's autopsy photos, even though the student-run newspaper made its request before the law was passed.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/or...rdt13071302jul13.story?coll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines


Houston Chronicle 7/13/02
Tapping into stink over SlimHouston
By THOM MARSHALL
Keeping up with the kaleidoscope of fiscal controversies at City Hall can be difficult.
Consider the current furor over a $9.5 million contract for a computer software program called SimHouston developed by Internet Access Technologies.
IAT won the contract just last month, when eight city council members voted for it. Now, both the city's Office of Inspector General and the Harris County District Attorney's Governmental Affairs Bureau are putting it under magnifying glasses. The OIG's assignment involves examination of contract negotiations. The DA wants to find out whether the city broke any laws.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/metropolitan/1493044


Houston Chronicle 7/14/02
Access to Social Security files granted only after legal battle
By ALAN BERNSTEIN
Starting in 2000, the Social Security Administration said it was unable to tell the Houston Chronicle how often each of the agency's Houston-area judges granted disability benefits to the sick or injured.
The statistics "are not maintained for individual administrative law judges," an official wrote.
That was true -- to a degree. But a series of requests and legal arguments by the Chronicle eventually unearthed the raw data that yielded the answers. An embargo of almost two decades was broken.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/metropolitan/1493689




Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Va