Public Records Archives - Page 47 of 74 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

11 Feb, 2016

Sumner Schools files emergency motion with Appeals Court over public records policy

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:56:17-05:00February 11, 2016|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Court of Appeals, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Sumner County Schools, Todd Presnell|0 Comments

The Sumner County Board of Education, whose legal bills have now mounted to more than $113,000, has made an emergency motion to the Court of Appeals to stay a judge's order to update their public records policy to come into compliance with the law. Read: Emergency Motion for Review of Stay Order They argue that receiving a citizen's request through the telephone would require system upgrades costing more than $45,660 and receiving requests through email would cost $22,500 annually, in addition to time training staff on how to use the equipment to receive public records requests by these methods. In November, Sumner County Judge Dee David Gay found that the school [...]

11 Feb, 2016

Nashville General hospital report outlining deficiencies exempt from public records law, attorney says

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-11T07:35:41-06:00February 11, 2016|Categories: exemptions|Tags: hospital, Metro Nashville, Nashville General, Walter F. Roche Jr.|0 Comments

Nashville General has declined to release its report from the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation that identified "serious deficiencies in several areas including patient safety, infection control and staffing," reports Walter F. Roche Jr. on his blog. Roche, a former investigative editor and reporter with The Tennessean who now writes a blog on Tennessee issues, requested to see the report after the hospital received an emergency infusion of $10 million from Davidson County Metro Council, part of which will be used to address the problems. In the blog post, Nashville General won't release critical report, Roche writes also that council members only received a summary of the report: Citing an exception [...]

31 Jan, 2016

Judge blasts Sumner Schools for refusing to update its public records policy, denies stay

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-02T12:26:08-06:00January 31, 2016|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Sumner County Schools, Todd Presnell|0 Comments

Last week, Sumner County Criminal Court Judge Dee David Gay unleashed a verbal whipping to the Sumner County School Board when they argued to stay his order to update its public records policy to come into compliance with the law. The Sumner County School Board wants to wait instead to see what the Court of Appeals says, and argued that allowing requests by phone or through its website would cost "significant public funds." Currently, its policy allows the school board to deny any request from citizens to see public records if the citizen fails to make the request in person or send a letter through the U.S. Postal Service. The dispute started when citizen [...]

5 Jan, 2016

Commercial Appeal: Focus on police shootings draws attention to policy secrecy

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-21T16:59:32-05:00January 5, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: crime records, police shootings, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, TBI, TBI files, The Commercial Appeal|0 Comments

Marc Perrusquia of The Commercial Appeal Memphis investigative reporter Marc Perrusquia provided an outstanding overview in The Commercial Appeal on Sunday of the legal exemption for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that allows it to keep files of long-closed cases confidential forever. A movement to open records of closed TBI cases -- at least for investigations into police shootings where citizens have been killed -- started last year as the city of Memphis began to grapple with the number of deaths, including a recent fatal shooting of a black teenager Darrius Stewart. The story is reprinted here, with permission from The Commercial Appeal: Tennessee not alone in sealing police investigations. By Marc [...]

15 Dec, 2015

TBI investigative file released in Memphis police shooting case

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:56:09-05:00December 15, 2015|Categories: crime records|Tags: Amy Weirich, James R. Newsom III, Mark Gywn, Memphis, police shootings, Shelby County, TBI|0 Comments

The Shelby County District Attorney has posted on her website TBI's investigative files into the shooting death of 19-year-old Darrius Stewart by a Memphis police officer in what may be one of the first times such TBI files have been made public. See Memphis Commercial Appeal story here: TBI files in Darrius Stewart case now open for public review Shelby County Chancellor James R. Newsom III ruled last week that the normally confidential files could be released after the district attorney, Amy Weirich, and TBI Director Mark Gwyn petitioned the court, saying that releasing the files would be in the public's interest. Weirich had recommended that the Shelby County grand jury indict Memphis police officer Connor [...]