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Health board accused of violating California open meeting law in holding closed ‘informational’ sessions

donal brown March 8, 2010

The Del Puerto Health Care board claims that conscientious elected officials are discouraged from serving after they were accused of holding two closed meetings without public notice. -db Patterson Irrigator March 4, 2010 By Kendall Wright In spite of attending training sessions since 2006 about ethics and open-meeting laws, a majority of Del Puerto Health Care board members who were caught on surveillance footage conducting two unannounced meetings in the summer of 2008 still argue that

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Former teacher sues D.C. mayor and the public school chancellor for defamation

donal brown March 8, 2010

After the Washington D.C. public schools chancellor said to the media that she got rid of teachers who hit students and had sex with children in reducing the teaching force, she was sued by a teacher who claimed those statements defamed him. -db Courthouse News Service March 8, 2010 By Ryan Abbott WASHINGTON, D.C. (CN) – A teacher says District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee defamed him in an effort to discredit teachers

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California legislators for amending U.S. Constitution to overturn Supreme Courts ruling on campaign finance

donal brown March 8, 2010

Two California legislators have introduced a resolution in the state legislature for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC arguing that the court decision wrongly gives corporations the same First Amendment rights as individuals and will allow them to use advertising to control the outcome of elections. -db Metropolitan News-Enterprise March 5, 2010 By Kenneth Ofgang Two California lawmakers have introduced a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment

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Attorney Matteo-Boehm honored by California Lawyer for victories in FAC cases

FAC March 5, 2010

Congratulations to Attorney Rachel Matteo-Boehm of the law firm Holme Roberts & Owen, San Francisco for being named a Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer Magazine.  The magazine singled out work on behalf of FAC in two important government transparency cases: CFAC v. Santa Clara and and CFAC& Maplight.org v. Office of Legislative Counsel in Sacramento. “Rachel’s dedication to government transparency extends beyond winning the decisions in these two important cases.” FAC

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Reader-comments sections of news websites needn’t be cesspools. Editors should EDIT comments as they would letters-to-the-editor.

Peter Scheer March 5, 2010

BY PETER SCHEER–Some people have no choice but to live in a cesspool. (Consider the young protagonist in Slumdog Millionaire, leaping into a pool of human waste in order to escape a locked latrine.) But news organizations are not among them. The cesspool that many newspapers occupy is the “Comments” sections of their websites. This is the space,  typically following a paper’s own stories and editorials, where readers have their say. If postings to that

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