Information Games: How Many Animals Killed?

Jeff Barnard, who covers environmental issues for the Associated Press, weighs in with this fascinating tale of information control...shall we say selective presentation? Perhaps the national picture is less flattering than your individual state...do you want to go back and request the national tabular data?

Until now, anyone who wanted to know how many wolves, skunks or even robins that hunters for the U.S. Department of Agriculture shot, poisoned or snared across the nation could look it up on an agency Web site.

The department's Wildlife Services agency, whose job is "creating a balance that allows people and wildlife to coexist peacefully," spent $117 million in fiscal year 2007 to kill 2.4 million wild animals representing 319 species, up significantly from the year before.

But the latest report obscured the nationwide numbers.

The report on fiscal year 2007 posted on the agency's Web site last week requires anyone interested in nationwide totals to call up individual reports from each of the 50 states and then do the math.

The new color pie charts and drop-down menus of state-by-state listings came on the heels of the agency's refusal even to post the information for fiscal 2005 and 2006 until after conservation groups sent a formal demand letter reminding Deputy Director William Clay of a 2000 federal court ruling requiring the agency to do so under the Freedom of Information Act, said Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians. The group does an annual analysis of the numbers as part of a campaign to cut federal funding for killing predators.

More here.

PA Ombuds Steps In...

Welcome, Terry, a veteran FOI stalwart...

An East Stroudsburg native and former local reporter will play a key role in implementing Pennsylvania's most sweeping reform to government records access in 50 years.

Terry Mutchler was named by Gov. Ed Rendell as the first executive director of the Office of Open Records. The office was created as part of the new open records law approved this year by the state Legislature. Most law provisions take effect in January 2009.

Mutchler, who held a similar job in Illinois, said she was consulted by a Pennsylvania official about what changes were needed here to improve citizen and media access to state and local government documents.

"I was very surprised that Pennsylvania had the presumption that records were closed," she recalled during a visit Wednesday to Monroe County. "I said, 'You have to change the presumption.' The burden should be on the agency all the way to say why records shouldn't be open."

The new law does place the onus on government agencies to justify why records shouldn't be released, rather than on the requester to justify why the records should be provided. Mutchler calls this the most significant improvement to the state's open records law.

More here.

How To Make A $155 Video...

Ah, the games we play...

She knew copies of public records weren't handed out free of charge, but Overland resident Courtney Cerulo didn't expect the fee that would be attached to a videodisc of a City Council session.

Cerulo would have to pay $155 for the recording, which she wanted in hopes of bolstering her complaint that Ward 1 Councilwoman Eedie Cuminale is serving on the council even though she lacks an occupancy permit.

"I was shocked," Cerulo said.City Administrator Jason McConachie said the fee reflects the cost of producing a copy of the video, which Charter Communications provides the city.

"Charter makes the tape and provides a copy of the tape to the city," he said. "At that point, it becomes a public record."

He said the city is allowed by state law to recoup its costs of providing public records. He confirmed the price quotes to Cerulo, explaining there is a $35-an-hour charge (at a minimum of three hours) for duplicating a copy of a council broadcast and a cost of $25 (each way, for a total of $50) to pay a courier to take the tape from City Hall to a contractor to duplicate it and the return trip back to City Hall.

More here.

Huge Ruling in Tennessee: Private Prison Company's Records Are Public

Welcome news from Tennessee, on a subject I have frequently opined about:

A Nashville judge ruled Tuesday that private prison company Corrections Corp. of America is subject to Tennessee's open records law.

Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ordered CCA to provide information on settlements, judgments and complaints against the company to Alex Friedmann, who first requested the information in an April 2007 letter.

Joe Welborn, an attorney representing CCA, said the company will appeal.

Bonnyman said the overriding issue was whether the company performs a government function.

"The court finds that CCA is the equivalent of a government agency based first and foremost on the fact that the Tennessee constitution makes the maintenance of prisons and keeping of prisoners a state function," she said.

The ruling only applies to records of Tennessee prisons, not to federal prisons the company runs, or prisons in other states.

More here.

Stiff Price Tag for E-Mails: $1700

A Vermont request comes with a steep price tag:

The Douglas administration is demanding $1,700 from the Vermont State Employees' Association if the union wants to look at public records related to the 400 state job cuts Gov. Jim Douglas has ordered.

"The time (and associated cost) are high because the request will require review of many thousands of e-mail messages to or from the named individuals" -- named in the union's request for access to the documents, wrote Harold Scwartz, administrative services director at the Department of Human Resources.

The union, which had sought e-mails and other internal documents related to the cuts dating back to last fall, called the charge exorbitant.

"The fact is, the public has a vested interest in knowing what government services and operations are impacted by the governor's position reduction’ initiativebut the public should not be required to pay to examine internal correspondence about those effects," VSEA Interim Director Michael Casey said in an e-mail.

Administration officials referred questions to Linda McIntire, deputy secretary of administration, whose agency includes the Department of Human Resources. She said the department and agency want to be responsive to the union's request, but found the costs in staff time to reply to the VSEA request would be high.

She pointed to a provision in Vermont law that allows a government agency targeted by a public records request to charge for the time it takes to respond to the request.

More here.

96% Support for Openness in Wisconsin...

In an editorial by the Wisconsin State Journal comes this little nugget:

If you think the public doesn’t care about open government laws — think again.

Virtually every Wisconsin resident — 96 percent — who responded to a recent survey expressed support for keeping government transparent and honest. In fact, Wisconsin citizens favored right-to-know laws more than any other proposal for making government work better.

The public made its views clear in 400 interviews recently conducted for the Midwest Democracy Network, an alliance of civic and political reform groups.

More here.

Nursing Home Records Paing Grim Picture

An extremely detailed and well-reported series on nursing home standards in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel revolves around an FOI-driven database of 20,000 pages of reports...Poston, by the way, is a Mizzou alum (shameless plug):

For many people approaching the end of their lives — frail, ill and often suffering from some form of dementia — the final refuge is a nursing home. In many cases, the care they and younger, disabled patients receive in those homes is satisfactory, sometimes even excellent.

Unfortunately, an extensive Journal Sentinel investigation has revealed that too many nursing homes in Wisconsin are failing to properly care for some of society's most vulnerable members. And when that happens, the results can be catastrophic.

Like the 87-year-old woman who died of an allergic reaction to a drug that, as her chart clearly indicated, she should never have been given. Or the 45-year-old man who suffocated 45 minutes after he vainly requested a nurse to suction his tracheotomy tube.

Those were just two of the 56 deaths of patients in Wisconsin nursing homes since 2005 that resulted in dozens of homes being cited for serious violations.

Although none of the nursing home inspection reports examined by the Journal Sentinel's Mary Zahn and Ben Poston concluded that the 56 deaths were the direct result of poor care, the reports did document how inadequate training and lack of supervision of nursing home staff along with other problems contributed to a disturbing rise in injuries, including broken bones and bruises.

More here.

Here is a nice little nugget on FOI 2.0

From a column on Web 2.0:

Web 2.0 impacts government in many ways. One is simply whistle-blowing –– take IllegalSigns.ca, the clever Toronto "mashup" of government data and Google mapping. It pinpoints the location of illegal billboards and holds city government accountable to remove them.

In Los Angeles, academics and neighborhood activists are collaborating to apply city data to identify blocks with suspiciously high numbers of code violations and property tax delinquencies. The idea: Use "real-time" (current) data to pinpoint problem areas before they escalate.

Plus, CrimeReports.com is trying to get police departments nationwide to show and renew daily data on criminal activity by precise street location. A scattering of cities have agreed, among them our nation's capital. (You can test the system yourself –– enter a well-known address such as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C.).

There's a fascinating twist to the Web 2.0 story –– its lead city is America's often-maligned national capital. Stephenson argues convincingly that "Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and his chief technology officer, Vivek Kundra, are this country's hands-down leaders on use of data feeds and data visualization."

Why? I asked Kundra. "There's very little government does that needs to be locked up, sealed, behind closed doors," he replied. Recalling his wonder on coming to America at age 11 (he'd been born in India, raised in Tanzania), Kundra talks with excitement of government focused on serving citizens.

More here.

The Safety of Our Bridges: None of Our Business, Apparently...

Under the "the less you know, the safer you surely must feel" category comes this one:

Nearly a year after the pavement gave way, sending her Volvo plunging toward the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Interstate 35W bridge collapse survivor Sara Miller is convinced full bridge inspection reports should be made public.

Bridge ratings are available from states and the federal government, but in many states, the detailed inspection reports are off-limits over terrorism concerns.

The reports "should absolutely be public," said Miller, 32, of St. Paul, who climbed out of her car and escaped serious injury.

Michael Keegan, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, says it's up to states to follow their own laws but "we definitely provide guidance to the local governments to be aware and vigilant" for people who "might be developing some type of plan to attack the bridge."

Policies vary from one state to the next, and how much information they release about bridges "is different across the board," said Kelley Rehm with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

More here.

An Interesting Case: Judicial E-Mail

West Virginians can read electronic mail exchanges between judges and private citizens even if the e-mails mix public and private business, The West Virginia Record argues in Kanawha Circuit Court.

The Record sought leave to file a brief July 24 as a "friend of the court" in a suit the Associated Press news service filed against state Court Administrator Steve Canterbury.

The AP wants Canterbury to produce e-mails between Chief Justice Spike Maynard of the Supreme Court of Appeals and Massey Energy president Don Blankenship.

Canterbury has resisted, claiming the e-mails contain private information exempting them from the state Freedom of Information Act.

More here.

Latest Torture Memo Released Under FOIA

In the Washington Post and a host of other papers came stories today of a 2002 memo, or bits and pieces of it anyway...

The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday released three heavily blacked-out documents it received as a result of its ongoing, four-year-old Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. One document is a previously undisclosed August 2002 memo to the CIA from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, which essentially offers a guide to how to torture and get away with it.

Here's an excerpt:

"To violate the statute, an individual must have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering. Because specific intent is an element of the offense, the absence of specific intent negates the charge of torture. As we previously opined, to have the required specific intent, an individual must expressly intend to cause such severe pain or suffering. . . . We have further found that if a defendant acts with the good faith belief that his actions will not cause such suffering, he has not acted with specific intent. . . . A defendant acts in good faith when he has an honest belief that his actions will not result in severe pain and suffering. . . . Although an honest belief need not be reasonable, such a belief is easier to establish where there is a reasonable basis for it.

"Based on the information you have provided us, we believe that those carrying out these procedures would not have the specific intent to inflict severe physical pain or suffering. . . .

More here.

FOI Delays and the Webs They Weave...

An intriguing tale of why FOI delays hurt us all. I enjoy the tone, as it is soooooo deserved:

If anyone is still wondering about the safety of a circus that came through Norfolk more than six years ago, we now have the answer.

A computer file of nearly decade-old federal inspections of a business that no longer exists, addressed to a reporter who no longer works at The Pilot, arrived this week.

The records show that Sterling & Reid Brothers Circus, which was investigated after a worker beat an elephant at the Scope, had problems ranging from poor care to inexperienced staff to animals getting loose.

If only we had known that, oh, six years ago, when then-Pilot reporter Lou Misselhorn requested the documents under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

More here.

FOI At Work: Army Transport Prone to Tipping?

The towering trucks that give U.S. troops the best protection against roadside bombs and enemy bullets also make them vulnerable to routine hazards like sharp turns, rutted roads and rickety bridges.

Five deaths caused by rollovers and dozens of other accidents in Iraq and Afghanistan have led U.S. military leaders to warn troops to be smart behind the wheel, according to military documents obtained by The Associated Press and accident reports released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The message is especially relevant in Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban has boosted demand for these steel cocoons, known as MRAPs. Due to the country's mountainous terrain and unpaved roads, officials will send nearly 800 more RG-31s, the smallest of several different MRAPs the military now uses.

More here.

Nigerian FOI Bill: Introduced in 1999...and still waiting

On the 14 July, This Day announced the freedom of information bill brought before the Nigerian National Assembly in 1999 has now become the oldest unpassed legislation still pending before that body.

The articles says the bill has been subject to “unprecedented debate, wrangling and bickering between the nation’s law makers and various stakeholders.”

This situation is certainly troubling, with an article featuring in the Nigerian newspaper Punch titled ’Pass the FOI Bill now or history will mock you’. It quotes the National Chairman of the Peoples Salvation Party, Dr. Junaid Mohammad, as saying:

There cannot be democracy without the rule of law. The essence of the rule of law is to hold power and those who wield power are accountable to the people. This necessitates transparency and full protection of the media, otherwise the very essence of democracy is in peril…

The Freedom of Information Bill will be passed into law by the present National Assembly or another one will do that and put the incumbent legislators to shame…

Lawmakers have, to date, been reluctant to pass the bill because of a fear that it will give too much power to the media, which the BBC describes as one of the most vibrant in Africa.

FOI At Work: Urbana, Illinois Bonuses

For more than 10 years, Urbana employees have gotten bonuses when worker's compensation claims are lower than expected. Last year, the mayor and city clerk started getting them, too.

Mayor Laurel Prussing's salary is set by ordinance at $50,000, but city records show she and City Clerk Phyllis Clark also received $940 bonus payments.

The bonus payments, which all regular city employees get, are part of a worker's compensation self-insurance program in which city employees share 50 percent in overall savings when worker's compensation claims are lower than expected.

The bonus payments were made in November. The News-Gazette recently requested information about the payments, after learning about them, through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

More here.

Pennsylvania Contracts Coming Online

In Pennsylvania, the sunshine just keeps on coming these days...

The state Department of Community and Economic Development has posted more than 400 grants and contracts on the Department of Treasury's new contract database as required by the state's new Right-to-Know Law. But as of Wednesday only a few dozen grants had been posted on the website by other state agencies. And at least five agencies have not posted any at all.

Read more here.

Salary studies are public, judge says

Salary studies used by the Radnor school board when it granted raises for administrators are public records, a Delaware County Court judge has ruled.

The decision by Robert C. Wright is the latest round in a dispute that began last year when former Radnor school board member Judy Sherry asked for the data.

In a sharp rebuke to the board, which contended that the documents were not public records, Wright, in a June 30 decision, also ordered the board to pay $26,070 for Sherry's attorneys' fees and $2,901 in other costs.

The board must pay, the judge said, because in withholding one salary study that was clearly covered by Pennsylvania's Right to Know Act, it "willfully or with wanton disregard deprived [Sherry] of access to a public record" and "asserted exemptions, exclusions or defenses that were not based on a reasonable interpretation of the law."

The Radnor School District, which has spent $13,258 for its own attorney's fees and costs with more yet to come, has asked Wright to reconsider both his verdict and awarding of the fees, saying he made several factual and legal errors.

The documents' release is on hold until the judge decides. The district can appeal his ruling.

Sherry, who has clashed with the Radnor board on many issues and has long pushed for open records, said the decision will encourage the public to get involved in district affairs.

"We want to be able to hold people accountable" for their actions, she said.

In May 2007, Sherry asked the Radnor board for a Pennsylvania School Boards Association analysis of administrator salaries and an in-house document outlining compensation for administrators in neighboring school districts. She also asked the board for the cost to the district of an unrelated court filing.

The board had recently signed a contract with district administrators and had given four administrators additional salary increases. "I wanted to see exactly what facts they considered when they reached their decision," Sherry said.

More here.

FOI At Work: When Yonkers Police Shoot...

When police in one of the biggest cities in New York City's northern suburbs fire their guns, it's almost always at an animal.

Yonkers police records show officers have discharged their weapons 66 times in the last two years. Last year, the police fired 46 times: 45 were at animals including dogs and deer, one was accidental. The year before, they fired 20 times: 19 were at animals, one was at a person.

Yonkers released the data this month in response to a Freedom of Information Law request by The Journal News. The newspaper says it's investigating a man's claims that police shot him when they executed a search warrant on his apartment and shot his three pit bulls to death.

Link here.

Bill Would Bring Smithsonian Within FOIA

The Washington Post reports on the rarest of rarities: an attempt to bring something within the FOIA...

A longtime critic of the Smithsonian Institution introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate this week that would wipe out the national museum complex's exemption from the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Finance Committee, and Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, would require the Smithsonian to hold meetings in public and make records available to the public upon request.

The Smithsonian, created by Congress as a federal trust, was exempted from FOIA in two rulings in the mid-1990s. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided FOIA would apply to the Smithsonian only if Congress changed the law to say so explicitly.

In Rhode Island, Secrecy Plagues Immigration Detentions

Since the middle of last month, at least 84 suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested throughout Rhode Island, including two highly publicized mass arrests — one at state courthouses last week.

The arrests raise many questions.

Has the federal bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeted Rhode Island for a crackdown on illegal immigration? Exactly how many people have been arrested so far this year? Where are they being detained? And, are these stepped-up raids driven by Governor Carcieri’s executive order on illegal immigration?

Unlike other law enforcement agencies that are compelled to release such information, ICE often operates in secret, say lawyers, advocates for freedom of the press and civil libertarians.

Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Rhode Island raids represent “the same story” as ACLU has experienced in past dealings with ICE.

“Many detainees end up in an impenetrable rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland,” said Brown. “They are often impossible to find, ICE is often unable to tell family members where they are held — and then, when you finally find them, a chess game begins, where these detainees get transferred to distant places across the country.”

More here.