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donal brown

Federal appeals court rules St. Louis sign code violates free speech rights

donal brown July 14, 2011

A man who had been denied a permit to post a mural saying “End Eminent Domain” in St. Louis won a court battle when the U.S. Eight Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the sign regulation restricted free speech. The court found the city’s defense on grounds of traffic safety and aesthetics did not outweigh concerns over censorship. -db From a commentary in the Riverfront Times, July 14, 2011, by Nicholas Phillips. Full story

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Federal judge upholds free speech rights of pro-life pregnancy centers

donal brown July 14, 2011

Invoking the First Amendment, a federal judge issued a temporary order barring New York City from enforcing a new law requiring crisis pregnancy centers to provide details including whether personnel was licensed and whether they performed abortions or provided emergency contraception. The law was intended to provide information about the operation of pro-life clinics after pro-choice advocates claimed that crisis centers were using deception and false claims to prevent women from having abortions. -db From

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Obama administration restricting access to unclassified information

donal brown July 13, 2011

The Pentagon is making it more difficult for the public to obtain unclassified information with a new policy imposing safeguard requirements on “prior designations indicating controlled access and dissemination (e.g., For Official Use Only, Sensitive But Unclassified, Limited Distribution, Proprietary, Originator Controlled, Law Enforcement Sensitive).” The policy also orders secrecy for any unclassified information not specifically approved for public release, in effect, making secrecy rather than  openness the default mode for most unclassified information. In

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Judge orders federal immigration officials to release information about ‘Secure Communties’ program

donal brown July 13, 2011

A federal judge has ordered federal immigration agencies to release what the court deemed “embarassing information’ regarding the ‘”Secure Communities” program. The National Day Labor Organizing Network and other groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request for records on the program and were denied access. Immigrations authorities have been accused of seeking biometric identity cards, which include fingerprints, hair color and height. Many think the cards would be vulnerable to hackers and risk identity

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Murdoch could face bribery charges in U.S.

donal brown July 13, 2011

After the phone-hacking scandal in Britain in which The News of the World allegedly paid bribes to police and other officials for news scoops, the Obama administration could conduct an investigation under the provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that “makes it a crime for any company with U.S. ties to bribe foreign officials to obtain or retain business.” It is unclear that the administration would want to use up its scarce resources

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