News - Page 31 of 128 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

9 May, 2020

Knoxville reporter barred from COVID-19 briefing after critical story

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-10T09:14:37-05:00May 9, 2020|Categories: Journalism|Tags: COVID-19, Knox County, Knoxville News Sentinel, Mike Donila, press briefing, Vincent Gabrielle|0 Comments

Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Vincent Gabrielle was shut out of a COVID-19 daily press briefing after writing a story highlighting the city's lack of data-sharing on its re-opening benchmarks. Knox County's communications director shut out a Knoxville News Sentinel reporter from the daily COVID-19 briefings on Friday, shortly after his story published about the county not sharing data behind its re-opening benchmarks. The daily briefing is held through Zoom, and news reporters across the city have been given access to the meeting code. However, when news reporter Vincent Gabrielle tried to enter the press briefing where reporters could ask questions through a chat function, he was not allowed in. When [...]

6 May, 2020

Gov. Lee extends order allowing governing bodies to meet electronically through June 30

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:09:12-05:00May 6, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: COVID-19, electronic meetings, executive order, Gov. Bill Lee, open meetings|0 Comments

Gov. Bill Lee extended provisions in Executive Order No. 16 allowing members of governing bodies to meet electronically through June 30. The order previously was scheduled to expire on May 18. The new order makes no changes in the earlier provisions other than extending the date. Under Executive Order No. 16, a governing body subject to the Open Meetings Act in Tennessee may "meet and conduct its essential business by electronic means, rather than being required to gather a quorum of members physically present at the same location, if the governing body determines that meeting electronically is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Tennesseans in light of [...]

29 Apr, 2020

TCOG joins open meetings lawsuit against Registry of Election Finance board over email vote

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:11:31-05:00April 29, 2020|Categories: open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: attorney-client privilege, Bill Young, email vote, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General, Tom Lawless|1 Comment

In an effort to uphold the Open Meetings Act, the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government today joined news media organizations, journalists and press associations in filing an open meetings lawsuit against the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. See lawsuit here. (Read: Media groups sue campaign finance board over email vote, contend violation of open meetings law - By Joel Ebert, The Tennessean, Tennessee media groups, watchdog sue over vote by email - By Travis Loller, AP, Reporters Committee group files lawsuit over Towns decision - By Sam Stockard, The Daily Memphian.) On the evening of April 1, the election finance board took an email vote in secret to reduce by [...]

29 Apr, 2020

Electronic meetings survey: We need your observations!

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:12:54-05:00April 29, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: COVID-19, electronic meetings|0 Comments

Knoxville City Council using Zoom on March 24, 2020. Tennessee Coalition for Open Government is collecting information on how governing bodies have conducted meetings during COVID-19, including electronic meetings. What went well? What didn't? And how can things be improved? Governor Bill Lee on March 20 issued Executive Order No. 16, temporarily suspending the requirement that members of a governing body gather a quorum of members physically present at the same location to conduct business. It allowed governing bodies to instead meet by electronic means in light of the COVID-19 outbreak so long as they provided live access, or a clear audio or video recording afterward. The order expires on [...]

28 Apr, 2020

Georgia can’t copyright its annotated code, says Supreme Court in ruling that could affect Tennessee

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:13:54-05:00April 28, 2020|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: copyright, Tennessee Code Annotated, U.S. Supreme Court|0 Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision on Monday ruled that non-binding legal materials created by a state legislative body cannot be copyrighted, expanding the understanding of what government works are in the public domain. In a decision delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia can't copyright the annotations in its official state code. At issue in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. was whether Georgia could copyright the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) and prevent the nonprofit Public.Resource.Org from copying the annotated version and distributing it for free on its website. “Under the government edicts doctrine, judges — and, we [...]