tennessee

About Deborah Fisher

Deborah Fisher has been executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government since 2013. Previously she spent 25 years in the news industry as a journalist.
20 Jun, 2023

Release the Covenant crime records: An aware public can help stop additional attacks

By |2023-06-21T09:22:43-05:00June 20, 2023|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

The mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville has led to an extraordinary legal battle over the public records law and transparency of our criminal justice system. The school, the church that owns the school and the parents of the schoolchildren are seeking to stop the public from seeing evidence collected by police in one of the most horrific crimes in Nashville in recent memory, saying that it would be too painful and inspire more school shootings.

Read More
25 May, 2023

Chancellor says victim rights warrant consideration in access to police records

By |2023-05-25T10:18:56-05:00May 25, 2023|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

A judge said victim rights in the Tennessee constitution and in statute warranted review as to whether they would block access to the writings of a mass shooter and other records collected by police in their investigation. She granted permission to parents of Covenant School children to intervene in a lawsuit to pursue the claim.

Read More
24 May, 2023

Judge allows Covenant school, church to intervene in public records case

By |2023-05-24T18:32:19-05:00May 24, 2023|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , |0 Comments

A Davidson County chancellor presiding over a public records case related to the shooting at The Covenant School has granted motions for the school and the Covenant Presbyterian Church to intervene to argue why "private documents" created by the school and church and given to police during the investigation should be kept confidential.

Read More
24 May, 2023

New laws require local government to provide agenda, public comment periods

By |2023-05-24T11:54:07-05:00May 24, 2023|Categories: Legislature, meeting agenda, public comment|Tags: , , , , , , |1 Comment

The General Assembly made two major changes to the Open Meetings Act this year. One new law requires that county and city legislative bodies provide an agenda 48 hours in advance of the meeting. The agenda must "reasonably describe" each agenda item. The other requires all governing bodies set aside a period for public comment, allowing citizens to speak about items on the agenda.

Read More
18 May, 2023

Sen. Gardenhire, Tennessean file public records lawsuits; Covenant parents seek to intervene

By |2023-05-19T11:39:51-05:00May 18, 2023|Categories: crime records, investigative exemption, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

The fight over the release of the Covenant School shooter's manifesto and other writings escalated Wednesday with state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, and The Tennessean filing a public records lawsuit against Metro Nashville, and unnamed Covenant School parents filing motions to intervene in the current cases. Also, Assistant Police Chief Mike Hagar and police Lt. Brent Gibson filed declarations that police are still trying to determine if the shooter had any assistance planning the shooting or purchasing the weapons, with Gibson stating that it will take about 12 months to finish the investigation.

Read More
Go to Top