News - Page 33 of 125 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

3 Feb, 2020

Hamilton County’s destruction of public records should set off fire alarms

By Deborah Fisher|2020-06-05T14:19:19-05:00February 3, 2020|Categories: Public Records, records management|Tags: county public records commission, Dana Beltramo, email, Hamilton County, Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor, Hamilton County Commmissioner Randy Fairbanks, public records requests, records retention policy, Times Free Press|1 Comment

Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor refused to allow inspection of its responses to public records requests without the Times Free Press paying more than $700. His office later got permission to destroy the records being requested by the newspaper, even as the newspaper continued to press to see them. Hamilton County government has found a new way to prevent access to public records: get rid of them. It’s not really new. It’s the oldest trick in the book. In late July last year, a reporter with the Chattanooga Times Free Press became concerned that the county government was not following state law in its responses to public records requests. So [...]

21 Jan, 2020

Press release: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press announces Local Legal Initiative launch in Tennessee

By Deborah Fisher|2020-01-21T08:49:35-06:00January 21, 2020|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|0 Comments

Local Legal Initiative will place lawyers in total of five states — Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — to provide local news organizations with pro bono legal support The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press announced today that it will launch its Local Legal Initiative this year in Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee to provide pro bono legal support to local journalists and news outlets throughout the states pursuing enterprise and investigative journalism. The Reporters Committee’s expansion to provide direct legal services to more journalists at the local level follows a $10 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced last year as [...]

21 Jan, 2020

New legal support will help reporters fight for public records in Tennessee

By Deborah Fisher|2020-01-21T08:30:32-06:00January 21, 2020|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|0 Comments

Tennessee has a rich news media environment with more than 120 traditional subscription-based weekly and daily newspapers, several free newspapers, alternative press, an established black press, 34 television news stations, public and commercial radio stations, niche news outlets focused on single topics like education or the legislature, business journals, a new nonprofit news organization in Memphis, a new university-based Institute for Public Service Reporting also in Memphis, independent student-run college newspapers and TV stations, and a variety of one- or two-person digital-only shops run on grants, grit or both. All of these news outlets utilize our public records laws, open meetings laws and rights to court records and proceedings for [...]

20 Jan, 2020

Newspapers continue to play a vital role in public notice

By Deborah Fisher|2020-01-20T14:41:18-06:00January 20, 2020|Categories: adequate public notice, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: adequate public notice, Tennessee Press Association|1 Comment

When I talk with citizen groups in Tennessee about open government, people tell me they want more information about what their government is doing, not less. An informed citizenry results in better and more accountable government. But in plain language, people just want to know what’s going on, particularly when it affects their lives directly. How do people get informed? How does information about what government is doing flow to the public? And in this day and age, what methods are reliable, trustworthy and accurate? One reliable way is through the public notice laws. Government entities in Tennessee are required by law to publish public notices in local newspapers about [...]

19 Dec, 2019

Williamson County mother files public records suit against Tennessee School Boards Association

By Deborah Fisher|2020-02-23T10:12:43-06:00December 19, 2019|Categories: functional equivalent, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Beacon Center, functional equivalent, Tennessee School Boards Association|0 Comments

A Williamson County mother, represented by the Beacon Center of Tennessee, has filed a public records lawsuit against the Tennessee School Boards Association after being denied access to the association's records. The lawsuit, Marren v. Tennessee School Boards Association, claims that the association is the "functional equivalent" of a government entity under the functional equivalent doctrine established by the Tennessee Supreme Court, and thus its records are subject to the Public Records Act. The school board association, in denying public records requests from Karrie Marren, claimed it was "a private, nonprofit organization" and was not subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act. Marren had requested: TSBA's training materials for school [...]