Transparency

By Caroline Ghisolfi Austin American-Statesman Originally published March 10, 2023 Nine months after the massacre at Robb Elementary School that left 21 dead and 17 injured, the Uvalde district attorney and the Texas Department of Public Safety continue to fight the release of records, First Amendment attorney Laura Lee Prather told a district judge. “Calls for transparency and accountability have run loud and clear. They’ve reverberated in public settings throughout the state,” said Prather, lead counsel for a consortium of more than a dozen news organizations who have sued to obtain a trove of records to report on the law enforcement [...]

By Caroline Love KERA Originally published Feb. 15, 2023 Editor’s note: After reports that Collin County Constable Joe Wright’s name had appeared on a membership list for an antigovernment extremist group, KERA government accountability reporter Caroline Love wanted to find out more about him. She obtained records from the Collin County Sheriff’s Office — where Wright had once worked — only after a lengthy open records battle. We asked her to find out if her experiences are symptomatic of a bigger problem. Texas citizens and journalists often face drawn-out legal battles over open records requests. Advocates for transparency in government say [...]