Knoxville News Sentinel Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

30 Oct, 2024

TVA fights public records lawsuit over its grants to cryptocurrency mines
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TVA fights public records lawsuit over its grants to cryptocurrency mines

Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

TVA fights public records lawsuit over its grants to cryptocurrency mines

By Deborah Fisher|2024-10-30T12:25:51-05:00October 30, 2024|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: economic development records, Knoxville News Sentinel, Paul McAdoo, public records lawsuit, TVA|0 Comments

The Tennessee Valley Authority has refused to release documents about its grants to cryptocurrency companies, including one in Knoxville, and is now fighting a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from a journalist and UT professor over it. TVA claims that releasing how much it gave the company in economic incentives would reveal its own trade secrets and violate the privacy rights of the employees in the companies that received the grants.

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 [...]

16 May, 2018

UT uses new exemption to keep confidential how much it pays investment, hedge fund managers

By Deborah Fisher|2018-05-18T06:30:16-05:00May 16, 2018|Categories: exemptions|Tags: college endowments, Daniel Connolly, investments, Knoxville News Sentinel, Rip Mercherle, State Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, State Rep. Harry Brooks, University of Tennessee|0 Comments

Daniel Connolly wrote today in the Knoxville News Sentinel about how the University of Tennessee lobbied for a public records law exemption that is now being used to hide how much the public university pays hedge fund managers. Doesn't seem quite right, does it? Connolly, a reporter with the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, did a story about the rising amount of endowment money that public colleges are pumping into private equity funds and alternative investments -- mostly hedge funds -- often in offshore accounts. The University of Tennessee system has $345 million in such funds, about 38 percent of all of its investments. From the story: Under the new law, [...]

30 Jun, 2017

7-month quest for Gatlinburg fire records reflects poorly on state transparency

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T08:50:37-05:00June 30, 2017|Categories: investigative exemption, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Deputy Attorney General Janet Kleinfelter, Gatlinburg fire, Knoxville News Sentinel, Sevier County District Attorney Jimmy Dunn, Sevier County Judge Jeff Rader, TEMA|4 Comments

The November 2016 Gatlinburg fire killed 14 people and cost millions of dollars in damages. It was one of Tennessee’s worst disasters. A central question remains: Why did state and local officials wait so long to order an evacuation, until after the fire had already swept into residential areas? Some who lived through last-minute escapes have told news reporters that they had called 911 and were instructed it was safe to stay put. The answer to the evacuation question, and many others, could lay in the communication records and other post-fire reports held by state and local officials. But almost as soon as news organizations and citizens started requesting to [...]

27 Jun, 2017

Knoxville News Sentinel: Judge lifts blackout on Gatlinburg fire records

By Deborah Fisher|2017-06-29T10:46:47-05:00June 27, 2017|Categories: Public Records|Tags: Gatlinburg fire, Knoxville News Sentinel, Sevier County District Attorney Jimmy Dunn, Sevier County Judge Jeff Rader|0 Comments

After months of unfulfilled public records requests to state and local government agencies for Gatlinburg fire records, the Knoxville News Sentinel learned that a judge issued an order three weeks ago saying nothing in the case before him precluded the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency from releasing public records about the fire. "This court did not intend to direct or address the actions of any other entities or parties not specifically involved in these cases. ... TEMA has not been ordered to provide nor precluded from providing any information pertaining to its duties under the Public Records Act." The Tennessee Attorney General's office, which petitioned the judge for guidance, received the [...]