News - Page 46 of 125 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

6 Aug, 2018

TCOG founder Frank Gibson named to Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-19T08:34:48-05:00August 6, 2018|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Frank Gibson|0 Comments

Frank Gibson, longtime Tennessee journalist and open records advocate, will be among seven people inducted into the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame tomorrow night. Frank Gibson Gibson, while working at The Tennessean in 2003, founded Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and became its first executive director. Gibson was a longtime reporter and political editor for the Nashville newspaper, working there 37 years. With the encouragement of then-editor John Seigenthaler, Gibson became active in freedom of information activities with the Society of Professional Journalists, serving as the lead person for FOI issues in the state for several years. In 2003, he worked with others to form Tennessee Coalition for [...]

6 Aug, 2018

Legislature’s Open Records Ad Hoc Committee to hold first meeting Aug. 14

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T20:08:43-05:00August 6, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Legislature, Public Records|Tags: exemptions, Open Records Ad Hoc Committee, State Rep. Bob Ramsey, State Rep. Jason Zachary, State Rep. Jeremy Faison, State Rep. Raumesh Akbari, State Sen. Jeff Yarbro, State Sen. Kerry Roberts, State Sen. Mike Bell, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire|0 Comments

The Open Records Ad Hoc Committee will hold its first meeting at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Cordell Hull building as part of an effort to review a growing list of exemptions to the public records act. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Beth Harwell formed the committee in June after a report showed the number of statutory exemptions to Tennessee Public Records Act had grown to 538. State Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, is the House chairman of the joint Open Records Ad Hoc Committee, which was formed after a report showed the number of statutory exemptions to the public records law had grown to 538. [...]

6 Aug, 2018

NewsChannel 5 files suit after denied access to Jason Locke travel reimbursement records

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T08:46:08-05:00August 6, 2018|Categories: investigative exemption, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Russell Perkins, Deputy Attorney General Janet Kleinfelter, emails, Glenn Funk, Jason Locke, NewsChannel 5, Phil Williams, Ron Harris, TBI, Tennessean v. Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County, travel records|0 Comments

NewsChannel 5 has filed a public records lawsuit after it was denied access to travel reimbursement and phone records related to former acting TBI director Jason Locke's alleged affair with another state official. Jason Locke, former acting director of the TBI. A public records request for his travel reimbursements was denied on the basis that Locke was under criminal investigation. Locke is being investigated for misuse of state funds during an affair with another state official. The Nashville news station's chief investigative reporter Phil Williams also was denied access to email communications between Locke and the official, Sejal West, who was the deputy commission of the Tennessee Department of [...]

13 Jul, 2018

Beacon Center CEO Justin Owen on secret tax credits

By Deborah Fisher|2018-07-13T17:09:34-05:00July 13, 2018|Categories: economic development|Tags: AllianceBernstein, Beacon Center, tax credits|0 Comments

The Beacon Center's Justin Owen describes why it's important that the value of all tax incentives, including tax credits, be disclosed when the government grants them to a private company.

11 Jul, 2018

How much is AllianceBernstein getting in incentives? Sorry, that’s redacted

By Deborah Fisher|2018-07-13T17:03:33-05:00July 11, 2018|Categories: economic development, exemptions|Tags: economic development, industrial development board, Metro Nashville|1 Comment

The Nashville Business Journal reported today that government attorneys believe it's OK to redact information in a document put before a vote of Metro Nashville's industrial development board. That members of a governing body were kept in the dark and apparently had no concern about it demonstrates just how far we've come in our local and state government culture. It's sloppy government and the citizens of Tennessee deserve better. It concerns AllianceBernstein, which is moving its global headquarters from New York to Nashville. From the Business Journal, as reported by Adam Sichko: What the state has disclosed is a $17.5 million jobs grant tied to the money manager's decision to [...]