Charter school board member sues, claiming open meetings violation
By Jeff Mosier The Dallas Morning News Originally published Jan. 7, 2014 A Prime Prep Academy board member has filed a lawsuit accusing the board chairman and the school’s sponsoring nonprofit of violating state open meetings laws. The lawsuit, filed the week before Christmas, seeks to overturn the board’s votes to suspend executive director Kimberly Carlisle and to appoint former Dallas ISD trustee Ron Price as interim superintendent. Plaintiff Okey [...]
State Bar seeks Texas Gavel Awards entries
The State Bar of Texas began seeking entries Tuesday for its 2014 Gavel Awards, which recognize excellence in legal reporting. The prestigious awards will be presented Sept. 12 in Austin during the annual conference of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. Entries will be accepted in print, broadcast and online categories until April 1. Submissions are for journalism produced in the 2013 calendar year. "Excellent journalism about our laws [...]
Fight over UT’s Powers buried university in records requests
By David Barer The Dallas Morning News Originally published Jan. 5, 2014 AUSTIN — A University of Texas System regent’s requests for hundreds of thousands of documents from UT-Austin sparked accusations of a witch hunt against the school’s president. But the avalanche of demands on UT had only begun. Wallace Hall’s requests totaled 800,000 records, and university officials have said they felt besieged and had difficulty complying. Documents have to [...]
Bush Center prepares for open records onslaught in 2014
By Caty Hirst Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Dec. 21, 2013 UNIVERSITY PARK — Though hundreds of thousands of people have visited the George W. Bush Presidential Center over the past six months, the lifeblood of the library — the billions of pages of archives — has yet to open. Presidential records are not available to the public for five years after a president leaves office, but that period is up Jan. 20 for [...]
San Benito mayor’s case to be dismissed after probation program, including Open Meetings Act training
By Fernando Del Valle Valley Morning Star Originally published Dec. 18, 2013 SAN BENITO — A special prosecutor said Wednesday that he will dismiss a misdemeanor charge against San Benito Mayor Joe Hernandez upon his completion of a Cameron County District Attorney’s Office probation program. State District Judge Rolando Olvera heard the status of Hernandez’s case Wednesday in 445th District Court in Brownsville. Special Prosecutor Ruben Peña said he will [...]
Privately run taxpayer-funded Texas schools often withhold information
By Morgan Smith The Texas Tribune Originally published Dec. 16, 2013 On a recently approved Texas charter school application, blacked-out paragraphs appear on almost 100 of its 393 pages. Redactions on the publicly available online version of the application often extend for pages at a time. They include sections on the school’s plan to support students’ academic success, its extracurricular activities and the “extent to which any private entity, including [...]
Light of Day project stories under way
University students have been using the Texas Public Information Act to request details on student fees as part of this year's Light of Day project of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. The first story in the project this school year was recently published by Texas State University students. Read the report in The University Star. Reporting is continuing the rest of this semester and early spring as students [...]
Texas Supreme Court justice: Open government ‘difficult, serious’ business
Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Boyd said Monday his judicial perspective on open government comes from years spent on both sides of the issue and that public access laws can be too easily abused from either end. "The great challenge in this business is figuring out where to draw the line," said Boyd, who has worked in the Texas Attorney General's Office and as chief of staff for Gov. Rick [...]
Suit alleges SAPD withheld puppy shooting records
By Guillermo Contreras San Antonio Express-News Originally published Dec. 4, 2013 SAN ANTONIO — What happened during a San Antonio police raid at a Babcock Road apartment last spring in which two puppies were allegedly shot and killed? Only police know, and they refuse to release details, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the city and its police chief, William McManus. Patricia Taylor, a member of the grass-roots organization Texas [...]
Houston Chronicle: Secret Police Beatings and Public Records
Editorial Houston Chronicle Originally published December 3 On a list of Texas higher education stereotypes, the entry for Rice University begins: "I live in the fourth biggest city in the country, yet I can go weeks without leaving campus." That inside-the-hedges mentality is fine for studious undergrads, but not the campus police department. With the Rice University Police Department (RUPD) refusing to open the books on a recent police beating, those green hedges are [...]
Victoria Advocate: Calhoun County delay tactics show sunshine laws need more teeth
Victoria Advocate Editorial Board Originally published Nov. 30, 2013 Calhoun County's fight to keep public information away from the public is revealing in many ways. First, we're reminded yet again that government needs to be watched. These county commissioners and the Calhoun County district attorney aren't bad people by nature, but many public officials have an alarming tendency to forget they serve the public. Next, the Texas Open Meetings Act [...]
Longview News-Journal: Online access gives Texans needed look at government
Longview News-Journal Editorial Originally published Nov. 26, 2013 The Texas Public Information Act is clear about who gets access to government documents: You do, with a few exceptions. But just because our state has a strong open records law doesn’t always mean it’s easy to get your hands on the records you need to find out what your government is doing, how it’s spending your money, and who it’s [...]
Abbott Suggests New Privacy Laws
By Alexa Ura Texas Tribune Originally published Nov 21, 2013 Attorney General Greg Abbott's support for more stringent privacy laws is getting some notice, as privacy rights activists say his proposals would lead to more protections for Texans. But concerns tied to the enforcement of the proposed policies are also being raised. The Republican gubernatorial candidate has recommended requiring state agencies that collect personal information to acquire individual consent before selling or [...]
Tarrant water district hires expert to address open government, ethics
By Gordon Dickson Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Nov. 19, 2013 FORT WORTH — A former Texas Ethics Commission chairman has been hired to help the Tarrant Regional Water District resolve some of its problems with open-government issues. Ross Fischer, an Austin lawyer, will help the agency, which provides long-term water resources for North Texas, deal with an increasing number of open-records requests, as well as other matters related to [...]
Weslaco leaders oust public from city commission meeting, citing anonymous threat
By Elizabeth Findell The Monitor Originally published Nov. 14, 2013 City Manager Leo Olivares said police Chief Michael Kelley had notified him shortly before the City Commission meeting began at 5:30 p.m. that someone had called the department earlier in the afternoon saying there needed to be extra security at the meeting because there might be violence. Followers of Weslaco politics knew it would be a controversial evening. After a [...]
AG rules in favor of Victoria Advocate records request
The Texas Attorney General's Office has ruled Calhoun County must release the records of a federal employment lawsuit settlement that were requested by the Victoria Advocate. The newspaper asked for the records of a June settlement in a case brought by a former county employee. The county maintained the settlement agreement was not a public document and that the record was not in its possession, but the Attorney General's Office [...]
City of Austin launches social media archive
The city of Austin is making thousands of social media records available to the public on its website in a free, searchable archive. City officials announced this week that because of Austin's "commitment to an open and transparent government" the social media archive is being offered to further the goals of the Texas Public Information Act. The archive was developed by the company ArchiveSocial and can be found at http://austintexas.gov/social. [...]
FOI Focus: Fall 2013 Newsletter
Find out what the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas has been up to in our quarterly newsletter FOI Focus.
Save Our Springs sues for emails on proposed Texas 45 tollway
By Farzad Mashhood Austin American-Statesman Originally published Nov. 13, 2013 The Save Our Springs Alliance is suing to get access to a Travis County commissioner’s conversations on the controversial Texas 45 Southwest tollway. Commissioner Gerald Daugherty has been a vehement advocate for the proposed highway, a 3.6-mile toll road connecting the southern end of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) with FM 1626 in Hays County. His campaign to return to public [...]
Annexation deal still under seal
By Emma Perez-Treviño Valley Morning Star Originally published Nov. 12, 2013 HARLINGEN — The city is asking Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott if it must release a copy of its settlement agreement with annexation opponent Charles “Chuck” Lee. The city also wants Abbott to determine if it must release how much money it agreed to pay Lee to settle the five-year conflict over annexation of land on the city’s west [...]