Public Records Archives - Page 17 of 78 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

19 Oct, 2020

WUOT reporter obtains White House COVID-19 report

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-19T15:14:21-05:00October 19, 2020|Categories: Journalism, state records|Tags: COVID-19, WUOT|1 Comment

WUOT 91.9 FM reporter Claire Heddles demonstrated last week that making a public records request to the right person is sometimes all it takes. The White House Coronavirus Task Force is distributing to governors a weekly report on the COVID-19 epidemic. The task force does not make the reports available to the public, but they have been released in some states by local and state officials. In Tennessee, however, Gov. Bill Lee downplayed the importance of releasing those reports in a press conference last week with Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey. And the Center for Public Integrity, which has been compiling the task force reports from various states, lists Tennessee among [...]

19 Oct, 2020

ACOG subcommittee to meet on Friday to review college president search confidentiality

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-19T13:29:07-05:00October 19, 2020|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Legislature, state records|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, college president selection, University of Tennessee|1 Comment

A subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Open Government will meet on Friday to review a 2018 change in the law that expanded confidentiality for college president candidates at state colleges. The subcommittee will meet at 3 p.m. Friday via a Webex conference call. The public may attend with this link. The subcommittee has been asked to discuss the effectiveness of the 2018 amendment to the higher education executive search statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-7-154) in preparation of a report from ACOG to the governor and speakers of the House and Senate. 2018 law expanded confidentiality of finalist candidates In 2018, the Legislature expanded the confidentiality of college president [...]

7 Sep, 2020

Advisory committee to meet on legislation to limit ‘harassing’ requesters

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-07T11:33:08-05:00September 7, 2020|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Legislature, requests|Tags: ACOG, harassment, legislation, public records requests, State Sen. Ferrell Haile|1 Comment

The Advisory Committee on Open Government will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss legislation that would limit public records requests from people found to be harassing the government. The meeting will be livestreamed and can be viewed by the public through the following link: https://tngov.webex.com/tngov/onstage/g.php?MTID=ebf38667b9ad074a64ca63d6e491c9ab1. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, asked the 14-member committee to review his proposed bill that would allow a government entity to seek an injunction against a person whose behavior met a harassment definition outlined in the bill. Haile has worked on the bill for two years. He introduced it in 2019 and presented an amended version in February to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee [...]

9 Jul, 2020

Memphis police limits media requests to view public records to one journalist per day

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-02T12:17:08-05:00July 9, 2020|Categories: requests|Tags: COVID-19, excessive force complaints, inspection, Institute for Public Service Reporting, Marc Perrusquia, Memphis Police, public records requests|0 Comments

The Memphis police department is limiting journalists who want to view its public records, allowing only one media appointment per day and limiting that appointment to three hours. Mark Perrusquia learned that he could only inspect records a maximum of twice a week at the Memphis Police Department, slowing his review of five years of excessive force reports. Now, police are limiting access even further, saying they'll only allow one journalist per day. Marc Perrusquia, a longtime Memphis journalist at The Commercial Appeal and now director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis, in early June requested copies of excessive report complaints against Memphis police [...]

7 Jul, 2020

Judge affirms ruling in case against Knox County sheriff, information emerges about withheld records

By Deborah Fisher|2020-07-07T14:33:05-05:00July 7, 2020|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: arrest records, Knox County Sheriff, Meghan Conley, public records requests|0 Comments

Knox County Chancellor John Weaver last week declined a motion by the Knox County Sheriff to alter his order in a recent public records case, even as new information emerged that even more requested records had been withheld. The sheriff had argued that parts of the order were too onerous, such as making arrest reports freely available for public inspection and having to respond to requests that might be generally phrased. Weaver in April had ruled in Conley v. Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler that the Knox County Sheriff’s Office violated the public records law in denying access to public records sought by a University of Tennessee sociology professor related to immigration enforcement. [...]