Daily Texan explores wait, costs involved in open records requests at UT-Austin
By Morgan O'Hanlon The Daily Texan Originally published Oct. 31. 2018 How many times have UT students appealed Title IX sanctions to the President’s Office? That’s the question former Daily Texanreporter Will Clark was trying to answer late last year as he reported the story “Presidential Power,” which explains UT President Gregory Fenves’ unique power as the final decision maker in appeals cases regarding student conduct. As part of his [...]
Editorial: Anderson County sheriff should release medical records of inmate’s death to family
Palestine Herald-Press Editorial Originally published Oct. 19, 2018 Over the last two months, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor has throttled every information source within reach that could shed light on prisoner Rhonda Newsome's death. Now, by withholding Newsome's medical records from her family, Taylor is not only stretching the limits of state public information laws to stiff the Herald-Press, but also ignoring federal regulations on the security of health information. [...]
In reversal, Texas Supreme Court accepts execution drug appeal
By Chuck Lindell Austin American-Statesman Originally published Oct. 19, 2018 The Texas Supreme Court has announced that it will review a lower court decision that required prison officials to identify the pharmacy that supplied the state with execution drugs under a 2014 legal challenge. The state’s highest civil court had rejected the case in June but reversed itself Friday — a rarely granted move that came after lawyers for Texas [...]
Facing complaints of excessive fees, Texas counties release billing records of their opioid lawyers for free
By Daniel Fisher Legal NewsLine Originally published Oct. 10, 2018 Texas counties that demanded tens of thousands of dollars to provide billing records from outside attorneys representing them in opioid lawsuits have mostly agreed to hand them over for free, after complaints were filed with the Texas Attorney General's Office alleging the cost estimates were excessive and violated the Texas Public Information Act. A number of counties initially quoted costs [...]
Travis County sheriff sues AG’s office to keep inmate’s death records confidential
By Katie Hall Austin American-Statesman Originally published Oct. 2, 2018 Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez is suing to keep some information about a man who died at the county jail confidential after the American-Statesman requested the internal investigation report into the inmate’s death. Justin Daniel Dominguez, 24, was brought into the Travis County Jail on a domestic violence assault charge the night of June 10, 2016, and was pronounced dead [...]
Austin American-Statesman, KBTX-TV receive Spirit of FOI Awards
For Immediate Release Sept. 21, 2018 Austin American-Statesman, KBTX-TV receive Spirit of FOI Awards for open government reporting AUSTIN - Two Texas news organizations have won the Spirit of FOI Award for reports exposing the secrecy behind Austin’s city manager selection process and the peculiar lack of information following the resignation of the Bryan Independent School District superintendent. The Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award, presented by the Freedom of [...]
FOI Foundation joins media coalition brief on Texas anti-SLAPP law in federal court
Reporters Committee and media coalition argue Texas anti-SLAPP law should apply in federal court Evan Popp | September 12, 2018 A Texas law aimed at making it easier to dismiss meritless lawsuits intended to chill speech should apply in federal court, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 39 media organizations argued in a friend-of-the-court brief filed last week in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the brief filed [...]
Show us the money, let us see how tax dollars are spent
By Kelley Shannon Executive Director Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas It’s quite simple, really. We Texans have a right to know how our taxpayer dollars are spent. It’s our money. We, the people, choose our government. Our elected public officials represent us. They manage and spend our tax money. But we, the people,get to decide whether they are doing it well. To do that, we need light shining on [...]
First Amendment attorney Laura Prather to receive James Madison Award
Aug. 27, 2018 For Immediate Release AUSTIN – First Amendment attorney Laura Lee Prather, a champion of free speech and government transparency, is the recipient of the 2018 James Madison Award presented by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. The award honors those who demonstrate outstanding commitment to upholding the principles of the First Amendment and open government. Prather will receive the award Sept. 21 at the John Henry [...]
Editorials defend First Amendment, take issue with the press as ‘enemy of the people’
Newspapers across the country are taking issue with President Trump's assertion that journalists are the enemy of the American people. Here are a few editorials and columns appearing in Texas emphasizing the importance of the news media and the First Amendment. Houston Chronicle: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/real-enemy-of-the-people-not-the-press-Trump-13159543.php The Dallas Morning News: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2018/08/15/first-amendment-helps-people-hold-elected-officials-accountable Fort Worth Star-Telegram: https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article216767650.html Austin American-Statesman: https://www.statesman.com/news/opinion/editorial-journalists-are-watchdog-neighbors-not-enemy-the-people/XzgIMMp6QYxURXoxFhazaI/ San Antonio Express-News: https://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/josh_brodesky/article/A-free-press-is-vital-to-the-people-not-the-enemy-13147915.php Victoria Advocate: https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/opinion/enemy-of-the-people-don-t-worry-we-have-your/article_3959e268-a09c-11e8-894b-27a62bdf885e.html
Why everyone should care about government transparency
Why Everyone Should Care About Government Transparency By Kathleen Stone Government transparency in the state of Texas is the big issue that no one is talking about. Or that’s how it seems to me, the public relations student who joined the FOI Foundation of Texas as the digital marketing intern roughly two months ago. I came aboard to revamp the Texas Sunshine Coalition website and lay out a new social media [...]
City manager: Open meetings, elections violations rampant in Haltom City
Violations of open meetings and elections laws are flagrant in the Fort Worth suburb of Haltom City, Haltom’s city manager told The Texas Monitor this week. The problem is so pervasive that City Manager Keith Lane asked the state attorney general’s office, the Tarrant County district attorney, and the Texas Rangers to investigate violations by Haltom City officials of Texas’ open meetings law, election code, the city charter, and other [...]
Mayor used personal email for arena talks
Photo by Jorge Salgado El Paso Mayor Dee Margo appears to have sidestepped the city’s public information rules and state law during negotiations with arena opponents earlier this year. An El Paso Inc. review of 155 pages of emails and documents, obtained from arena opponents and through public information requests, found that at least seven emails sent and received by the mayor from his personal email account were [...]
Houston Chronicle Editorial: The video the Houston firefighters union doesn’t want you to see
Recording of the Budget and Fiscal Affairs meeting on July 26. Whatever you’re doing, don’t read this editorial. Stop. Reading. Right now. Did we get your attention? Thought so. Anybody with a lick of sense knows that when you tell people not to look at something, they can’t help but look. All of which makes you wonder what the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association was thinking when it went to [...]
Attorney Joel White, former FOI Foundation president, remembered as strong advocate for press freedom, open government
First Amendment attorney Joel White, a former president of the FOI Foundation of Texas and longtime champion of open government, has passed away. White died July 21 in Cartagena, Colombia. He became ill during a trip, having suffered a perforated diverticulitis and septic shock, according to friends and his wife, Melinda Rainey. In his law practice in Austin, White represented news media clients in many types of cases including court access, [...]
Judge: Farenthold must testify in Open Meetings Act case
By Jessica Priest Victoria Advocate Originally published July 23, 2018 Former U.S. Congressman Blake Farenthold will have to testify in a Texas Open Meetings Act lawsuit, a judge ruled Monday. And so will Farenthold’s boss, Calhoun Port Authority Director Charles Hausmann, as well as the man who directed Hausmann to hire him, the Calhoun Port Authority’s Board Chairman Randy Boyd. The Victoria Advocate sued the port earlier this year, seeking [...]
Houston mayor’s former press secretary indicted, accused of withholding public records
By Mike Morris Houston Chronicle Originally published July 19, 2018 Mayor Sylvester Turner's former press secretary, Darian Ward, was indicted by a grand jury this week, accused of violating state law by failing to turn over public records in response to a reporter’s request late last year. The indictment, handed up Tuesday but released by Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s office Thursday, says Ward misrepresented the number of emails [...]
Phillips: Local newspapers help taxpayers as watchdogs on government
By Alberta Phillips Austin American-Statesman Originally published July 12, 2018 Daily newspapers long have been the barking – and oftentimes biting – watchdogs that keep the public informed about what their government is doing, be that rescuing people from massive flooding in Austin in 2015, or the mismanagement of $2 billion in contracts by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which came to light that same year. Find the [...]
AG tells Victoria school district to release superintendent search details
By Gabriella Canales Victoria Advocate Originally published July 1, 2018 Victoria school district officials must release public documents about the district’s superintendent hiring process, according to an opinion issued by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The opinion came about three months after Emett Alvarez, managing editor of the Revista de Victoria, requested information in May about the district’s superintendent search. Read the full story here.
Former Richardson ISD board member alleges board secretly deliberated before votes
By Nanette Light The Dallas Morning News Originally published July 9, 2018 A former Richardson ISD school board member has sued the school district and its board of trustees, alleging "continuous and systematic" violations of the state's open meetings law. David Tyson Jr. - a black businessman who has challenged the validity of the all-white board in the diverse district - said in the civil lawsuit that the school board has [...]