Coalition News

The First Amendment Coalition and the Institute for Media and Public Trust of Fresno State today called on a California public official to apologize for insulting a reporter and to take seriously his obligations under open-government laws. The letter to Tom Wheeler, a member of the Madera County Board of Supervisors, comes after Wheeler responded to a reporter’s public records request with, “To hell with her” followed by an insult. Wheeler’s email, documented in an

The First Amendment Coalition today asked the California Supreme Court to require more transparency in an important area of the criminal justice system: the justices’ oversight of executive clemency.  In California, the governor must seek approval from the state Supreme Court to pardon or commute the sentences of one category of applicants, those twice convicted of felonies. But that process is often shrouded in secrecy, with the governor’s office routinely filing clemency-related court records under

Tim Crews, a longtime California newspaperman in rural Glenn County who, amid one of many public battles, noted his abundance of “good friends and quality enemies,” died in November at age 77. The small-town journalist described by Poynter as the “everything” of the Sacramento Valley Mirror — a founder, publisher, editor and owner who reported, took photos, sold ads and even delivered copies — had an outsized impact on the community he covered, crusading against government