A federal district judge is scheduled to hold a bench trial in Nashville late this summer to decide if a ban on livestreaming meetings of the Montgomery County Commission violates the First Amendment. His decision could turn on whether the ban is narrowly tailored enough to address the government’s concern about security of commission chambers.
Update: Scoop Media won its public records case in August 2020. Montgomery County Chancellor Laurence M. McMillan ruled that T.C.A. § 4-38-111(i) does not make confidential the names and address of alleged victims of criminal conduct found in warrants and affidavits of complaints, but rather applies to identifying information about a victim obtained when the person requests notifications regarding the status of criminal proceedings. He ordered Montgomery County to stop redacting the information. However, he denied attorney's fees to Scoop Media because the Office of Open Records Counsel had advised Montgomery County that the confidentiality provision would "probably apply to domestic violence situations where an officer responds to a scene" [...]
The Montgomery County Commission voted this week to prohibit live broadcasts, or livestreaming, from within the commission chambers during meetings despite advice that such a prohibition could be unconstitutional. The purpose of the amended rules, which also included other new restrictions, stated they were “to preserve the function, dignity and order of the proceedings.” But the county sheriff also told commissioners during the meeting that allowing live broadcasts created a security concern. The sheriff said he could not discuss details about the security problem caused by live broadcasts because that in itself would cause a security issue. County provides video on YouTube Montgomery County Commissioner Jason Knight argued that just [...]
A Washington Post story last week has detailed how Google, often acting through a newly formed company with a different name, secured non-disclosure agreements with government entities around the country as it negotiated and landed economic development deals valued in the millions of dollars. The city of Clarksville and the Montgomery County Industrial Development Board are among the government entities that signed non-disclosure agreements with Google, which eventually agreed to locate a data center in the county with a target investment of $600 million and 34 direct hires. From the Washington Post story, Google reaped millions in tax breaks as it secretly expanded its real estate footprint across the U.S.: Google — which [...]