News - Page 72 of 125 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

2 Jun, 2016

Knox County judge refuses to lift his seal on court records in UT case

By Deborah Fisher|2016-06-02T11:24:57-05:00June 2, 2016|Categories: court records|Tags: Knox County, Knox County Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee, Knoxville News Sentinel, Richard Hollow, sealed court records, University of Tennessee rape case|0 Comments

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee refused this week a request by the Knoxville News Sentinel to lift the seal on court records entered in the case of former University of Tennessee football players accused of rape. Former UT football players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams. The news organization filed a petition months ago, arguing that the judge had put the records under seal without any hearing on why secrecy was needed. The judge did not grant the News Sentinel's request for a hearing, but allowed its attorney to argue the point during another hearing on Tuesday related to the prosecutors' request to delay the trials. McGee said he [...]

26 May, 2016

Haslam staff used private email accounts for state business

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-27T08:20:35-05:00May 26, 2016|Categories: email|Tags: Bill Haslam, Janet McGaha, Mark Cate, Phil Williams, private email, Will Cromer|0 Comments

While the U.S. State Department's inspector general on Wednesday released a blistering analysis of Hillary Clinton's use of private email, back in Tennessee reporter Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 reported a nugget about the use of private email by Governor Bill Haslam and his staff. NewsChannel 5 reporter uncovers Haslam staff using private email for government business. Williams made a public records request of emails on the state email server of a handful of administrators that either were received from or sent to a private email address containing @billhaslam.com, a domain for the governor's campaign webpage. Although it was only a snapshot for a defined slice of time, [...]

25 May, 2016

Performance evaluation of UT-M chancellor off limits to public under new law

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-25T14:45:32-05:00May 25, 2016|Categories: exemptions|Tags: exemptions, performance evaluations, public records exemptions, The Jackson Sun, University of Tennessee at Martin|0 Comments

The Jackson Sun hit a public records roadblock in its ongoing probe into the accreditation problems at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Here's the short story: Tom Rakes resigned his position as chancellor at UT-Martin on May 31, 2015, and is now teaching a few online classes at the university for a lowered salary of $185,520. The university was placed on academic probation in December 2015 after years of notification to the university of key problems from its accrediting body. UT system President Joe DiPietro declined to say whether performance issues were a factor in the chancellor's resignation. So the newspaper asked for Rakes' personnel file, expecting to see Rakes' [...]

9 May, 2016

Now is the time to address runaway labor fees to access public records

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-09T12:47:11-05:00May 9, 2016|Categories: fees|Tags: fees for public records, Louis Graham, State Rep. Ulysses Jones, The Commercial Appeal|1 Comment

An editorial published in the Sunday editions of the three largest newspapers in Tennessee sent a message about public records: Louis Graham, editor of The Commercial Appeal Now is the time to address the inadequate system of charging citizens and media labor fees to review public records. The editorial points out a recent $1,600 bill paid by The Jackson Sun to track the problems that have put University of Tennessee-Martin at risk of losing accreditation. Part of that bill included $108 per hour for the interim chancellor to review emails before releasing them. The editorial, penned by Commercial Appeal editor Louis Graham, also lists other charges that newspapers have faced in [...]

5 May, 2016

Chattanooga police agree to release crime, other police data

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-05T19:15:50-05:00May 5, 2016|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chattanooga, crime records, open data, police shootings|1 Comment

Something good on the police data front. From the Chattanooga Times Free Press today: Police are considering posting information online about officer-involved shootings, assaults on officers, use-of-force incidents and complaints so that anyone can access it without filing open records requests. Chattanooga Police Department Chief of Staff David Roddy The department is one of 53 jurisdictions across the country that have committed to Obama's Police Data Initiative, which aims to increase transparency, trust and accountability through the release of data. The initiative was created in 2015 after a report by the president's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Police already provide some data through the Chattanooga Public Library's [...]