When a stealth legislative move to dismantle Wisconsin's open records law was revealed this month, a statewide uproar caused sponsors to back off. Appropro that the old lesson "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" would be taught once again around July 4, 2015.
A new pilot program would make available to the public automatically and immediately any information released to an individual FOIA requester. But some journalists would rather not have their pending scoops revealed before they are ripe. Image source: U.S. government.
"The Obama administration on Tuesday strongly criticized a Republican budget proposal that would undermine regulatory work at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior."
"Twenty local governments, representing areas producing 5 percent of global climate-changing emissions, have committed to targets to cut those emissions, with the majority also setting goals for renewable energy, a platform uniting them said on Thursday."
The WatchDog has long whined about Congress' mystifying refusal to let taxpayers read Congressional Research Service reports the taxpayers have paid for. A June 17, 2015, editorial in the New York Times called the situation "absurd," expressing hope that a new director of the Library of Congress (home of the CRS) would manage to get the policy changed.
"Strife within the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has burst into the open again with one board member seizing control and ordering immediate suspension of the agency’s entire executive staff."
Journalists, think tanks, and advocacy groups all gave low marks to the Obama administration's performance under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) at a House hearing June 2 and 3, 2015. Some GOP members used the occasion to score partisan points; see the video and document archives.
The Congressional Research Service, a taxpayer-funded agency, produces a steady stream of fact-filled and objective background reports on many issues of interest to environment and energy reporters but refuses to share them with the public. But there are other ways to access them...
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and SEJ sent a letter to Josh Earnest (pictured), White House Press Secretary, May 29, 2015, asking for a meeting to discuss restrictions that infringe on journalists' abilities to report on the federal government. The letter follows up on earlier pleas from some 38 journalism groups to the White House for more openness.
"President Obama has chosen officials to fill the long-vacant roles leading federal agencies that oversee the safety of railroads and pipelines and of hazardous materials."
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