donal brown

A federal district judge said he was leaning toward releasing videos of Gardena police officers shooting an unarmed 35-year-old man to death. The judge said in light of a $4.7 million settlement over the shooting, it was in the public interest to provide the videos. (Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2015, by Richard Winton) Gardena police shot the man after stopping him during a call about a stolen bicycle. The man was riding a bicycle

A citizen noted that the entire Salinas City Council convened after a council meeting in a conference room for a late pizza dinner. The city attorney claimed that it was a social gathering, but the citizen noted that under the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act, any meeting of the council must be placed on the agenda. (The Californian, July 3, 2015, by Wes White) The Rancho Mirage city council has been accused of

The Federal Election Commission debuted its application programming interface (API) enabling the public easy access to 40 years of information. The API will open files on political candidates, fundraising groups, total spending and fundraising for various elections. (fedscoop, July 9, 2015, by Greg Otto) The Sunlight Foundation has published a guide to help users with the new API while applauding the FEC for releasing data in bulk. The guide shows users how to navigate that

A Florida court ordered a delay in a trial date for Hogan v. Gawker involving publication of an edited sex tape. Hogan and his lawyer wanted the trial to begin on July 6 contesting whether Gawker was protected by the First Amendment in invading Hogan’s personal life. (Poynter Institute, July 6, 2015, by Benjamin Mullin) A jury in the case will have to decide if the sex tape under Florida law is of “legitimate public