First Amendment News

A California legislator has introduced a bill to provide 72 hours public notice before taking action. The law would bring a degree of openness to the state legislature already required at the local level under the Brown Act. -DB California Chronicle January 13, 2009 Press Release from Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries: (Sacramento)- Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries (R-Lake Elsinore) threw down the gauntlet in defense of California voters. “The time has come for the California Legislature to put

A federal District Judge in Washington, DC has ruled in favor of former VP Cheney, agreeing that the VP has broad discretion to decide which of the records from his tenure are personal and which belong to the US government under the Presidential Records Act, a post-Watergate reform law providing for placement of presidential records in the National Archives. But the Court rejected Cheney’s broadest contention that no outside party has the right to sue

Local governments and school districts, with voter approval, sell bonds to finance new buildings and other capital projects. If interest rates decline after the bonds are sold, governments often sell new “refunding” bonds to retire the original bonds–like refinancing a home mortgage. But suppose governments, when refunding, take “cash out” of the transaction by issuing more new debt than is needed to pay off the old debt? Does that practice, which is widespread in California,

The Bush administration was pathological about secrecy, says Clint Hendler of the Columbia Journalism Review. On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration, the journalism journal presents an indictment of the Bush administration and prescription for change. –DB Columbia Journalism Review January/February 2009 By Clint Hendler Advocates for open and transparent government are quick to note that no American presidential administration has, in practice, been enthusiastic about reducing secrecy in the executive branch—for some obvious and

A student leader at Michigan State University is facing disciplinary action for using the faculty e-mail network to protest a change in the academic calendar. Students says the emails are protected speech. School says they’re spam. -DB Cnet News December 5, 2008 By Declan McCullagh Most schools encourage students to become active in campus politics. Not Michigan State University, which has filed disciplinary charges against a student leader who sent e-mail criticizing an abbreviated fall