California court victory for access to pension payments, by name, to county retirees

"A California appeals court ruled May 11 in favor of FAC and the Sacramento Bee in a case involving public access to information about government pensions. The third district Court of Appeal ruled that the California Public Records Act requires county governments–in this instance, Sacramento–to disclose, by employee name, pension amounts paid to retired county employees."

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

Illinois.lawmakers move to keep gun-permit holder names private

"Illinois lawmakers have voted overwhelming to bar the public from knowing who holds a firearm owner identification card, a victory for gun owners who say they have a right to privacy over open-government advocates who say such records should not be secret.

In a 42-1 vote, the Senate on May 20 passed a measure that would overturn a ruling by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office that said the names are public under the state’s open-records law. H.B. 3500 now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn, who has said he agrees the information should remain confidential and will “act accordingly” after reviewing the legislation."

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

More States Pushing for Online Access to Doctor Disciplinary Information

"Several states recently passed or are considering legislation that would require state medical boards to post more physician disciplinary information on their websites, American Medical News reports."

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

Private Investigator News: San Diego court case activity online

"San Diego Superior Court customers can now see more information on certain case types
without coming to the courthouse via the court’s website: www.sdcourt.ca.gov. The court’s
On-Line Services section of the website provides more information on case activity or case
Register of Actions (ROA) for Civil, Small Claims and Probate cases filed after January 1, 2008."

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

Private Investigator News: San Bernardino Judge orders release of pension records

"The San Bernardino County retirement board must publicly disclose the pension records of county retirees, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

Judge John Vander Feer ruled in favor of The Press-Enterprise, ordering the San Bernardino County Employees' Retirement Association to disclose the names of employees whose pensions exceed $90,000 a year.

In explaining his decision, Vander Feer cited a 2007 California Supreme Court ruling that found government employee salaries are a matter of public record and disclosure of the information is not an unwarranted invasion of privacy. He said the same reasoning would apply to pensions."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Plaintiff Permitted to Serve Discovery on Google and Blogspot to Determine Identity of Anonymous Blogger

"A plaintiff suing a John Doe defendant known only as 'Tazmanian353' was granted leave to serve discovery on Google and Blogspot.com to determine, among other things, registration information, assignment, billing and payment information, source IP addresses and log files for the user known as Tazmanian353. Fodor v. Doe, No. 3:10-CV-0798-RCJ, 2011 WL 1629572 (D. Nev. Apr. 27, 2011). The District Court for the District of Nevada granted plaintiff's request for third party discovery after finding that the plaintiff had established a prima facie case of defamation per se and had sufficiently shown that the balance of the equities weighed in his favor."

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

Private Investigator News: Project Grants Free Public Access to Federal Court Rulings

"Accessing federal court opinions will soon get easier for the public.

The U.S. Government Printing Office announced Wednesday that it is collaborating with the federal judiciary to launch a yearlong pilot program that will make federal court opinions available for free on the Federal Digital System (or FDsys) -- the office's centralized online database of government documents.

Federal court opinions are already available for free on PACER, but people will not need a login to locate opinions in FDsys, as they do with PACER, said Karen Redmond, public information officer for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

"If you're a lawyer, you may think, 'Those opinions are easy to find,' " Redmond said. "But it you're a member of the public, you might not know about PACER. This is more like one-stop shopping for the public. We're just trying to enhance what is available."

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

Private Investigator News: Monmouth County New Jersey online access to index of probate records available

"Looking for information on a will? Now you can use the Internet to search the Index of Probate Records at the Monmouth County Surrogate’s Office.

“In this age of online access to information, this will allow the public to research part of the Surrogate’s probate index without the need to submit a written or telephone request,” Monmouth County Surrogate Rosemarie D. Peters said.

Types of searches that can be conducted online include: estates where there is a will; administrations (estates with no will); affidavits of surviving spouse (estates under $20,000 with no will); and affidavits of next of kin (estates under $10,000 with no will). The index covers the years 1991 to the present."

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

Private Investigator Research Links - April 2011

• AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search

• Security, Surveillance, GPS Tracking, Camera Systems, Spy Devices

• Lost, Unclaimed, Abandoned Assets

• "torrance" site:https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov - Google Search

  Example of Ca SOS search by address, town, Agent or company name: "torrance" site:https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov - Google Search Not all corporations are included.

• Historical newspapers and obituaries - free to search

• Newspaper Archives - fee

• Newspapers - Footnote - images - free to search

• Newspapers - search pages and images - free

• How can I see old posts on my Facebook wall?

• Lasting Memories - Palo Alto, Ca area obituaries

• Newswise: news for journalists

• Biznar: Deep Web Business Search

• GovSpeak: A Guide to Government Acronyms & Abbreviations

• IrfanView - graphic viewer

  Show EXIF/IPTC/Comment text

• blekko search engine review

• Federally-funded health centers

• FullShot Screen Capture

  "FullShot is a professional screen capture (print screen) application designed for any Windows user who needs an effortless, effective way to take screenshots of Windows screens."

• Screen Capture Elite :: Add-ons for Firefox

  "Screen Capture Elite lets you copy or save any visible, complete or selected region or a webpage and save it as a jpeg or png image file."

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Private Investigator News: New Jersey court costs is denial of access; awards atty's fees

"The appellate division of the Superior Court of New Jersey awarded attorney's fees to a records-access plaintiff Monday in Smith v. Hudson County Register even though he was able to access and copy the records he sought."

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