Texas Public Information Act

Denied Evidence: KXAN examines denial of information in another death in police custody

2018-11-20T18:37:05-06:00

By Josh Hinkle KXAN, Austin Originally published Nov. 19, 2018 Citing an obscure legal loophole, the Travis County Sheriff's Office blocked a grieving mother's request for evidence of how her 21-year-old son died in jail. Now, KXAN uncovers video and other records of the painful days leading up to his death and his interactions with jail staff in those final hours. The ongoing report has sparked a new investigation into the response to his medical needs and prompted a legislative effort to eliminate that loophole, as we reveal police agencies across Texas using it to keep details about dozens of other [...]

Denied Evidence: KXAN examines denial of information in another death in police custody2018-11-20T18:37:05-06:00

Aligning open government ideals with law enforcement provisions

2018-11-20T18:17:23-06:00

By Paul C. Watler Dallas Partner, Jackson Walker Past president, FOI Foundation of Texas Originally published Oct. 30, 2018 In Texas, our public information act is founded on the proposition that the people are sovereign and entitled to full disclosure of governmental affairs in order to retain control of public institutions. Embedded in our state FOI law is the policy that the people “do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.” As a ringing enunciation of Jeffersonian democracy, the language is without [...]

Aligning open government ideals with law enforcement provisions2018-11-20T18:17:23-06:00

Daily Texan explores wait, costs involved in open records requests at UT-Austin

2018-11-01T14:36:57-05:00

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 reporting, Clark, a radio-television-film junior, asked the University that question via an open records request, but the request was denied on basis that confidential student information could be released in the [...]

Daily Texan explores wait, costs involved in open records requests at UT-Austin2018-11-01T14:36:57-05:00

Editorial: Anderson County sheriff should release medical records of inmate’s death to family

2018-10-24T15:21:19-05:00

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. He is becoming a law onto himself. On Oct. 4, Anderson County rejected a legally sound request from Newsome's son, Regan Kimbrough, for his mother's medical records during the three months [...]

Editorial: Anderson County sheriff should release medical records of inmate’s death to family2018-10-24T15:21:19-05:00

In reversal, Texas Supreme Court accepts execution drug appeal

2018-10-22T17:34:51-05:00

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 Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the effort to unmask the pharmacy was an attack on the death penalty that will jeopardize the continued availability of lethal-injection drugs. Once identified, pharmacies [...]

In reversal, Texas Supreme Court accepts execution drug appeal2018-10-22T17:34:51-05:00

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