First Amendment News

The Federal Aviation Administration is trying to keep the public from seeing records of aircraft and bird collisions after the accident in January that forced a passenger jet to crash land in the Hudson River. -DB USA Today March 27, 2009 By Alan Levin WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government plans to block public access to its records of aircraft and bird collisions such as the one that forced a US Airways jet to splashdown

Two employees died in a chemical plant explosion last August in West Virginia, and now Bayer is invoking a federal terrorism law to prevent full disclosure of the investigation into the accident. -DB The New York Times March 29, 2009 By Sean D. Himill INSTITUTE, W.Va. — Last August, an explosion tore through the Bayer CropScience chemical plant here, killing two employees and raising the fears of residents in what has long been known as

Voters passed the Political Reform Act of 1974 requiring elected and appointed official of state agencies to post their investments and financial dealings so citizens could track conflicts of interest. These postings will now be online making them truly accessible to the public. -DB San Francisco Chronicle March 30, 2009 By John Wildermuth After nearly 35 years, Californians are finally going to have an easy way of checking the financial dealings of some of the

An agenda passed out at a Scotts Valley schools planning meeting contained three items not on the original agenda posted 24 hours in advance as required by the Brown Act. The board president said that all items on the second agenda were suggested by subjects on the original agenda. -DB Press Banner March 27, 2009 By Chuck Anderson The Scotts Valley Unified School District board strayed from its posted agenda for several items of discussion

A committee formed to recall three Ferndale Unified School District board members argued that the decision made in a closed session meeting to place the school district superintendent on administrative leave was not reported until the next meeting in violation of the Brown Act. -DB The Times-Standard March 27, 2009 By Erin Tracy Amid allegations the Ferndale Unified School District board violated the state’s opening meeting law, a recall committee member reiterated Wednesday her commitment