First Amendment News

Southern California: Hospital settles open meeting lawsuit in cash settlement

The Tri-City Medical Center settled a lawsuit brought by former hospital executives who alleged that the hospital violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law. In agreeing to pay $300,000, the hospital did not admit violating the act. -db North County Times February 25, 2010 By Paul Sisson Tri-City Medical Center has settled a lawsuit brought by a group of former hospital executives who alleged Tri-City violated the state’s open meeting law, called the Brown

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Capistrano schools: Trustees push state open meeting law aside

The Capistrano Unified School District board of trustees met without notice on a Sunday for a closed meeting on employee negotiations. It’s legal in most cases but  does not promote public confidence. -db Capistrano Insider Commentary February 25, 2010 By Jonathan Volzke Yes, the Capistrano Unified School District trustees met Sunday. But apparently it wasn’t illegal. Trustees indeed met Sunday for a closed session without any public notice. That seems unusual, but there’s actually a

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Watchdog group accuses VA of destroying documents on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among soldiers

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Freedom of Information Act request in May of 2008 for records regarding PTSC among soldiers but has not received the relevant e-mails and records and now fear that the VA destroyed the documents. -db AllGov February 28, 2010 By Noel Brinkerhoff After learning that the Department of Veterans Affairs was under-diagnosing cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among soldiers, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility

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California: Child welfare agencies stonewalling on children who died on their watch

The California Newspaper Publishers Association may sponsor revisions to current law requiring disclosure of children’s deaths to address the growing trend among state and county child welfare agencies to withhold information. -db California Newspaper Publishers Association February 22, 2010 There is a growing trend among the state and at least one county child welfare agency to withhold information about kids who die on their watch, despite a new law requiring this information to be provided

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Man forwarding alleged defamatory e-mail not liable

A California state appeals judge ruled that a man forwarding an e-mail about a Vietnam War veteran could not be charged with defamation. -db Courthouse News Service March 1, 2010 By Avery Fellow (CN) – A man who forwarded an allegedly defamatory email about a Vietnam War veteran can’t be held liable for defamation, a California appeals court ruled. “If you are defamed in an email, and the person who receives the email then simply

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