Open records

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was ordered to turn over the computer and software of a senior aide after his office provided only 18 e-mail messages from the aide over a six-month period in response to a request from the Boston Globe, the newspaper reported.

Staff shortages and budgetary constraints do not excuse a failure to timely comply with Kentucky's Open Records Act, the state's attorney general ruled on Aug. 25.

The case began when Kentucky New Era reporter Sarah Hogsed requested restaurant health reports for 2008 and 2009 from the Pennyrile District Health Department and encountered a 21-day delay. Under the law, the government has only three days to respond to a request.

A Wisconsin city must release the complete personnel file of a local police officer convicted of drunk driving in a settlement reached with the Herald Times Reporter.

The Obama Administration’s approach to transparency in government is, thus far, only a slight improvement over the Bush Administration’s policies, reports OpenTheGovernment.org in its annual Secrecy Report Card.

The NCAA was dealt a blow in Florida court Thursday when a judge ruled that records concerning athletes at Florida State University must be released.

The Orlando Sentinel reported the documents were part of a case involving more than 60 student-athletes who had cheated, and about which FSU officials met with National College Athletics Association officials.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today overhauling the state’s freedom of information law.

The legislation has been sitting on Quinn’s desk for several months since squeaking out of the last legislative session at its very end.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled recently that a Detroit police officers union could not contract around the state’s open records laws in an employment contract.

Using the state's open records law, the Detroit Free Press had sought a photograph of a police officer that had been suspended after allegations he was taking department money from an anti-car theft program. The police officer's union filed a lawsuit trying to stop the release of the photo.

The chief of police in Alexandria, Va., was arrested last month on a DUI charge in neighboring Arlington County. A local event, but as the Alexandria Gazette Packet reports, the fallout points to a statewide and even national concern: What's to be done when police agencies hide even basic evidence of their work from public scrutiny?

The North Myrtle Beach, S.C. city council approved a new policy last week ramping up the charges for public records, in a bid to keep citizens from requesting information "just to have it," the Palmetto Scoop reports.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today that the names of public employees must be released as public records, despite a union agreement to the contrary.

The decision came in a case centering around two records requests: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had sought the names of employees who lost the privilege of driving state-owned vehicles because of a poor driving record, while the Lakeland Times wanted the names of Department of Natural Resources employees.