Public Records Archives - Page 15 of 74 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

24 Apr, 2020

After public pressure, state releases nursing home COVID-19 data on website

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:14:56-05:00April 24, 2020|Categories: Public Records|Tags: COVID-19, nursing homes|0 Comments

In "Tennessee keeps nursing homes' COVID-19 numbers secret," NC5 investigative reporter Phil Williams presses the Lee administration on why data is being withheld. After multiple weeks of pressure and questions from news media organizations and journalists, the Tennessee Department of Health today began posting on its website COVID-19 infection rates and deaths in nursing homes. Data was released on the state Health Department's COVID-19 website showing reported COVID-19 infection rates and death rates. The health department said it would update the data weekly at 2 p.m. on Fridays. The data will be updated each Friday at 2 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the state said. On Friday, the data showed 44 [...]

13 Apr, 2020

Judge rules against Knox County sheriff in public records case, puts department under court orders

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:17:02-05:00April 13, 2020|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Knox County Sheriff, Meghan Conley|1 Comment

Chancellor John Weaver ruled on April 9, 2020, in favor of Meghan Conley, who sued the Knox County sheriff over its responses to her public records requests. In an important win for access to public records, Knox County Chancellor John Weaver found the Knox County Sheriff's Office violated the public records law in its responses to a sociology professor seeking access to records related to immigration enforcement. Knox County Chancellor John Weaver After a public records case that stretched on for a year, Weaver issued a court order on April 9 in Meghan Conley v. Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler that requires the sheriff's office to comply with provisions of [...]

9 Apr, 2020

Memphis ordered to pay attorney’s fees for violating public records law over traffic accident reports

By Deborah Fisher|2020-04-09T12:54:36-05:00April 9, 2020|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: attorney's fees, Bradley Jetmore, Doug Pierce, Memphis, traffic accident reports|1 Comment

Memphis and Nashville have both lost public records lawsuits over the past two years in which they were found to willfully violate the public records law in not releasing traffic accident report information or delaying release. Combined, the cities had to pay more than $234,690 in attorney's fees and court costs to Bradley Jetmore, who brought the litigation. (Photo, public domain via Wikimedia) The City of Memphis in March was ordered to pay $107,687 in attorney's fees in a public records case in which it was found to willfully violate the law in redacting public information from traffic accident reports. It was the second case won by Bradley Jetmore involving [...]

30 Mar, 2020

Other states outpace Tennessee in COVID-19 data provided to citizens

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:23:02-05:00March 30, 2020|Categories: Public Records|Tags: COVID-19|0 Comments

Several other states are releasing more information to its citizens than Tennessee about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus. For example, several states are releasing on their websites deaths by COVID-19 by county, and others are announcing the city or county location of deaths in press briefings. In contrast, the Tennessee Department of Health has declined to release the number of COVID-19 deaths by county. The state's website with data on COVID-19 in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Lee is also giving 3 p.m. (CDT) daily press briefings, which are streamed live here and remain available on the website. "We are providing numbers of deaths at the state level only due to the [...]

23 Feb, 2020

Lawsuit by Scoop Media Group challenges redaction of victim names

By Deborah Fisher|2021-01-11T16:55:23-06:00February 23, 2020|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Laurence M. McMcMillan, crime records, Jason Steen, Montgomery County, Office of Open Records Council, Scoop Media|0 Comments

Update: Scoop Media won its public records case in August 2020. Montgomery County Chancellor Laurence M. McMillan ruled that T.C.A. § 4-38-111(i) does not make confidential the names and address of alleged victims of criminal conduct found in warrants and affidavits of complaints, but rather applies to identifying information about a victim obtained when the person requests notifications regarding the status of criminal proceedings. He ordered Montgomery County to stop redacting the information. However, he denied attorney's fees to Scoop Media because the Office of Open Records Counsel had advised Montgomery County that the confidentiality provision would "probably apply to domestic violence situations where an officer responds to a scene" [...]