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Federal judge closes civil trial over prison killing

donal brown July 27, 2009

Constitutional lawyers are saying that when a Los Angeles federal judge closed a two-day trial in the 2005 prison killing of a Jewish Defense League activist, he was likely to have violated the First Amendment. -DB Los Angeles Times July 24, 2009 By Carol J. Williams A Los Angeles federal judge took the highly unusual step of closing a two-day trial this week in a case involving the 2005 prison killing of Jewish Defense League activist

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New laws proposed to save newspaper industry

donal brown July 23, 2009

In the face of the shrinking revenues for print journalism, some are suggesting new laws, including ones that would restrict linking and that would create a federal law enshrining the “hot news” doctrine. -DB MediaShift July 21, 2009 By Jeffrey D. Neuburger As newsroom staffs continue to shrink and newspapers go out of business at an alarming rate, the difficulty newspapers have experienced in gaining economic traction online has been blamed on blogs and websites

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White House releases logs showing visits by medical industry executives

donal brown July 23, 2009

Under pressure, the Obama administration released logs of White House visits of medical industry executives just after the inauguration, fueling speculation that the industry gained concessions in the private meetings. -DB First Amendment Center July 23, 2009 By The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Administration officials began talking privately to major players in the health care industry within a few weeks of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, a newly released list of White House visitors shows. During

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Homeland Security first government agency to harness social media

donal brown July 23, 2009

The Homeland Security Department is the first cabinet-level agency to implement Obama directives on social media, offering a YouTube channel and formulating plans to use Twitter in event of disasters. -DB NextGov July 22, 2009 Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Homeland Security Department relaunched its Web site Wednesday and became the first Cabinet-level agency to follow the tech-savvy White House directives on social media. President Barack Obama’s aides have been urging agencies to add interactive components

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Judge says government pension records subject to disclosure

donal brown July 22, 2009

The California Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that names and salaries of government employees are public record but did not specifically mention retirees. A Contra Costa judge has now ruled that that records of county’s pension funds must be disclosed. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise July 15, 2009 By Sherrim M. Okamoto A county’s pension records are not exempt from disclosure pursuant to the Public Records Act, a Contra Costa Superior Court judge has ruled in what is

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