Public records

At a hearing today on Capitol Hill, members of Congress focused on the increasing need for the National Archives and Records Administration to have a leader who understands electronic records management and declassification of records.

The Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on the Archives. Several leaders in the open government community testified. Acting Archivist Adrienne Thomas herself declined the committee’s invitation to testify.

The names of individuals buried in a state cemetery are death records, the Nebraska Supreme Court said today, ruling that they must be released in accordance with the state's open records law.

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he will allow the public to see e-mail he sent privately in his first two years in office -- even as counterparts in other states fight for the opposite result.

After a years-long battle to withhold images of abuse and torture at U.S.-run military facilities -- a battle lost in court -- the White House is being urged to reverse its position to release them to the public by two U.S. senators who still don't seem to get it.

A Seattle blogger will receive a $250,000 settlement after suing King County for taking years to disclose election records from the state's 2004 governor's race, the Associated Press reports.

Minnesota legislators are at odds over whether to keep information on public employees' on-the-side financial matters out of the public eye, the Star Tribune reports. A bill before the Senate would appear to keep that information from the public while the House version supports its release.

A Wyoming court's policy of banning public access to child endangerment cases files violates the state public records law, a judge ruled Thursday, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

A 35-year-old court order barring the state of Tennessee from publicly releasing the arrest records of people suspected, but not charged or convicted, of committing crimes was overturned Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (6th Cir.)

Public records requests in New Mexico can now be made over e-mail or by fax, and state lawmakers will open their final bill negotiations process, in two pro-transparency changes Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law last week.

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