Colorado Court of Appeals rules voted ballots should be public records

"The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled today that electronic images of voted ballots should be open for public inspection, provided the voter's identity cannot be discerned from the ballot.

The ruling could have a major impact on Colorado election law, though today's decision likely is not the end of the fight.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Scott Gessler said he would use the court's decision as guidance to begin the rulemaking process for how public reviews of voted ballots should be conducted. Gessler has said that public access to voted ballots will improve transparency, and therefore increase voter confidence in elections."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: San Diego newspaper sued over accidental records release

"A California judge denied earlier this week a hospital district's application for a temporary restraining order in connection with a lawsuit it filed against a San Diego newspaper over the healthcare provider's botched response to a public records request.

Tri-City Healthcare District filed a lawsuit against The San Diego Union-Tribune to bar the paper from "publishing, disclosing, disseminating, or otherwise using" communications that the healthcare provider claims it inadvertently disclosed, in violation of the attorney-client privilege, in response to a reporter's request for executive expense reports and receipts."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: California Gov. Signs Bill Requiring University Disclosure

"Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill this month that will require California’s public colleges, including Cal State Fullerton, to reveal all financial records, contracts and correspondences.

The AFSCME 3299 Transparency Bill SB 8 requires the governing board of a community college district and the Board of Governors of the California Community to make important records public. It was drafted after the CSU refused to release how much Sarah Palin, former Republican Alaska governor, was being paid to speak."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Florida Supreme Court rule will limit personal data in court documents

"Private information in public court documents will receive a layer of protection by Oct. 1 at the latest under a deadline set by the Florida Supreme Court in July.
According to the Palm Beach County clerk’s office, attorneys and those representing themselves must limit personal information in court documents as part of the ongoing fight against identity theft. Sharon Bock, Clerk and Comptroller for Palm Beach County, lauded the Supreme Court decision when it was issued this summer. “In addition to guarding against crimes like identity theft, this latest rule change is a critical step toward making the judicial system more transparent,” she said in a prepared statement. The state Supreme Court had barred access to court documents on the Internet because of potential harm to a person’s privacy, according to the clerk’s office, so tightening up on private information is expected to lead to public access to court records via the Internet. The new rules include limiting the identification of minors to their initials; limiting date-of-birth information to the year; using only the last four digits of a driver license number, passport or other identifying number; allowing only truncated versions of e-mail addresses; and prohibiting in many cases the use of any portion of a Social Security number and bank account, credit and debit card numbers, according to the clerk’s office." Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Montana Supreme Court suspends public access rules

"The Montana Supreme Court has suspended its rules governing access to court records, a move that a freedom of information advocate says may result in a step backward in the public's ability to obtain or view those documents.

The rules for privacy and public access to court records in Montana, adopted in 2007 and amended the next year, were meant to provide a uniform policy for the state court system in anticipation of the records becoming available on the Internet. The aim was to maximize public access while protecting individual privacy rights."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Chicago crime database goes online

"Chicago is now posting online every crime over the past 10 years.

Starting today, more than 4.6 million crime incident reports dating to 2001 are posted online in a searchable database. It will be updated daily, providing fodder for residents to evaluate their own neighborhoods, academics to study crime and techie types to create websites or apps.

Until now, crime data was only publicly released in aggregate form on a monthly basis, with data going back 90 days on the Police Department's Clearmap geographic data system."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California University foundations no longer immune to public record laws

"After three years of legal wrangling, the quasi-public California State University, University of California, and state community college foundations will no longer have immunity from public record laws.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed The Richard McKee Transparency Act of 2011 into law on Wednesday, requiring foundations to disclose financial records, contracts, and correspondence upon request."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

New Philadelphia Ohio Court Dockets Online

"General information regarding New Philadelphia Municipal Court has been available online for some time.

On Thursday, court records became available online.

Visitors to the website, www.npmunicipalcourt.org, can search court dockets, current caseload and hearing information, as well as closed- case information.

“We have been working toward this for several years,” Judge Mary Wade Space said. “We actually began to upgrade our computer system in 2009, which improved efficiency in transferring data to such agencies as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Supreme Court of Ohio.”

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Jefferson Parish records requests to be posted online

"Anyone requesting public records from Jefferson Parish under the state's sunshine laws can now expect some light to be shined on their inquiries. The name of anyone making a records request and the cost to the parish for compiling the information will be posted on the parish's website under an ordinance the Jefferson Parish Council unanimously approved Wednesday."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Illinois Physician Disciplinary Database Is Revived

"The Illinois Patient Right to Know Act is testament that some ideas are so responsible, even the monied forces of entrenched self-interest can’t defeat them.

 State Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) has worked for 10 years to guarantee that Illinois patients can find out if their doctor is good or bad, based on work history.

 She accomplished her goal, a state website with such information, only to see it removed after two years because of an Illinois Supreme Court ruling.

 Gov. Pat Quinn signed a revised bill into law this month and pronounced it the best customer rights bill the Legislature passed this year.

 He’s right about that.

 The centerpiece of the law is a computer database, first launched in 2008, that provides a physician’s disciplinary history, practice specialties, insurance information, hospital affiliations and, perhaps most importantly, a list of malpractice judgments or settlements involving the doctor during the previous five years. The state’s roughly 48,000 physicians and chiropractors will all be listed when the site returns in a couple of months."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Rockingham County North Carolina to make public record of crimes

"Local law enforcement agencies are launching a program that will make available a list of crimes happening in their jurisdictions.

The Eden and Reidsville police departments and the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office have all launched this program, called Map Nimbus.

“It’s a crime mapping system where you can identify information and basically different types of events,” Sheriff Sam Page said. “You can track what’s going on in your communities.”
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Millions of US court records bound for shredder

"The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration says at least 10 million bankruptcy case files and several million district court files from 1970 through 1995 will be shredded, pounded to pulp and recycled. Files designated as historically valuable, however, will be kept in storage.

Federal archivists spent years consulting legal scholars, historians and others about which files to purge after realizing that sorting and digitizing just the bankruptcy cases would cost tens of millions of dollars. None of the civil or criminal cases up for destruction went to trial, and docket sheets that list basic information such as names of defendants and plaintiffs will be saved from each case."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator