Reporters from @Comm_Daily found "major errors" in D.C. 911 responses that put lives at risk.
The District's response?
It stopped responding to FOIA requests for 911 dispatch records.
https://communicationsdaily.com/article/1969/12/31/audit-finds-dc-911-center-failed-us-standards-2110190048
"State data on school cases is incomplete and likely an undercount. TEA suppresses some districts’ case counts to protect student privacy, and not all districts report student and staff cases to the state"
Texas schools started this year with record high coronavirus cases, but weekly totals have now declined
Nearly three months into this school year, districts have reported 202,186 cases in students. But state data on sc...
www.kwtx.com
“If … classic books like To Kill a Mockingbird are being removed from the curriculum for no reason other than political ideology,” @BrechnerCenter’s @FrankLoMonte told @small_asher, “then that is a First Amendment injury to the students” @The74
ACLU Lawsuit Looks to Take Down Oklahoma’s CRT Teaching Ban as Free Speech Violation
An American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s restriction of public school instruction on race ...
www.the74million.org
Maryland lawmakers assured the public that they'd finally get access to complaint files involving law enforcement officers. But at least one major jurisdiction is saying: Not so fast.
Prince George's County Police resist release of misconduct records, despite law change - MarylandReporter.com
Anton’s Law was part of a group of police and criminal justice laws that passed in 2021 in the wake of ...
marylandreporter.com
What state universities pay their vendors is a core matter of public concern. Redacting financial terms from government contracts violates both the spirit and the letter of FOI law. https://www.cm-life.com/article/2021/10/chartwells-contract
Virginia school district sues to "claw back" documents inadvertently included in FOIA response, and demands that they be "unpublished" from a local mom's blog.
Va. school board sues moms after docs 'inadvertently and mistakenly' released through FOIA request
A Virginia school board is suing two mothers, arguing that documents "inadvertently and mistakenly" released through a...
www.foxnews.com
Just 14% of survey respondents tell Freedom Forum that they believe journalists are trustworthy. The survey results point toward a need for schools and colleges to practice, as well as teach, First Amendment values and principles.
4 First Amendment ‘Where America Stands’ findings that surprised experts (and 3 that didn’t) | Freedom Forum
The Freedom Forum’s newly released “The First Amendment: Where America Stands” survey gives a deep and...
www.freedomforum.org
A small win for transparency, but we'll take it 💪
NJ's largest school district finally shared its COVID case count after @ChalkbeatNWK reported on lack of info. Now board members are pushing the district to post the data online.
75 Newark district students tested positive for COVID since reopening
Just 75 of the roughly 37,000 students in Newark Public Schools have tested positive since classes began Sept. 7, officials said.
newark.chalkbeat.org
Useful research about how states adapted their open-meeting laws to "Zoom world," and how the public's need for access is (or isn't) being accommodated. https://targethiv.org/planning-chatt/state-laws-remote-meetings
Can law school clinics challenge government gag orders that prevent employees from speaking to journalists? @KathF @gregg_leslie @MichaelLinhorst & @FrankLoMonte explore potential collaborations this Saturday at #AAC2021
cc @ASULawFAC @BrechnerCenter @YaleLawSch @craignewmark
