The ongoing push for police transparency
FAC
May 17, 2022
FAC demanded the release of crucial records of police misconduct and use of force from San Diego agencies.
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New state laws to censor student reading material
donal brown
May 17, 2022
State legislators are introducing laws to require keepers of library databases cataloging books, journals and articles to limit student access to material obscene, pornographic sexually exploitative or harmful to minors. Utah and Tennessee already have laws on the books with laws pending in Minnesota and Oklahoma. Educators fear that the laws could further restrict teachers’ ability to deal with issues of race, racism, sex and gender identity. (The Washington Post, May 10, 2022, by Hannah
FAC Opposes Legislation that Would Weaken Public Oversight of Government Officials in California
FAC
May 13, 2022
It’s about accountability We are writing to alert you to legislation pending in California that would take the wrong lesson from the pandemic and weaken open-government laws under the guise of increasing remote access to meetings. The most problematic provisions undermine the democratic values of open government and oversight of our public institutions for the convenience of politicians — allowing public officials to do the public’s business from private locations that are neither identified nor
Reporters sue over arrests during LA homeless encampment protest
donal brown
May 12, 2022
Two reporters arrested during protests in Echo Park in Los Angeles in March of 2021 are suing the city of Los Angeles on First Amendment grounds. The reporters were covering a protest over the removal of a homeless camp from the park. The reporters had strayed from the designated area for the press since it was too far away to report on the police action. (Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2022, by Kevin Rector) A
Research shows no free lunch for Musk in Twitter free speech quest
donal brown
May 12, 2022
Informatics professor Filippo Menczer in The Conversation, May 11, 2022, says Elon Mask’s bold bid to acquire Twitter and convert it to a free speech haven free of censorship of conservative views and excessive moderation has inspired much debate. Research shows that although social media companies are often lax in enforcing policies, there is no evidence of anti-conservative bias but revealed that Twitter has a conservative bias. And changing Twitter’s regulatory practices would allow free