Government records

President Obama asked his national security adviser on Wednesday to review how the country classifies its secrets. He also asked agency heads to lean toward leaving documents unclassified unless necessary.

The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to seal from public view records of airplane bird strikes, according to a USA Today report.

 A California appeals court ordered Santa Clara County to disclose detailed map data Friday in response to an open records request from the California First Amendment Coalition.

Santa Clara County had argued the data was protected critical infrastructure information – a designation found in federal law after Sept. 11 to protect information submitted to the federal government that might affect security.

 The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on whether a deleted government e-mail file qualifies as a public document subject to state open records requests, according to The (Toledo) Blade.  

Two Democratic lawmakers are looking to hold private prisons housing federal inmates to the same Freedom of Information Act standards as federal facilities. But while their bills sit in Congress, the First Amendment Center reports, open government advocates are coming at the issue from a different angle. 

The United States Small Business Association (SBA) must reveal the names of businesses to which it provides government contracts, U.S. District Judge Marilyn H. Patel ruled Tuesday.

Legislation that would restrict the public’s access to government records in Maryland has been tabled for further study, after opponents of the bill asserted the measure went too far.