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Iowa newspaper sues Agriculture department for food stamp records

donal brown August 30, 2011

After receiving little information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to its Freedom of Information Act request for information on the national food stamp program, the Argus Leader filed a lawsuit to obtain the records. The newspaper wants the records in its investigation of businesses profiting from the food stamp program and possible fraud. -db From the Argus Leader, August 27, 2011, by Jonathan Ellisby. Full story

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Expect slow progress on cameras in California courtrooms

FAC August 29, 2011

The chief justice of the California Supreme Court says she would like to increase use of cameras in courtrooms but wants to listen more fully to trial judges who have expressed strong reservations. Judges now can determine whether cameras are allowed in court. A proposal by a committee of the state Judicial Council would have required judges to offer specific reasons to exclude cameras and would have provided news media the right to appeal rejections

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Justice Department refuses to declassify opinion on legality of warrantless surveillance

donal brown August 29, 2011

The Justice Department has refused to declassify a 2001 opinion written by John C. Yoo on the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program. Critics of the program want to obtain the entire 21-page opinion to make sure misguided legal opinions do not live on to guide government policy. -db From Secrecy News, August 26, 2011. by Steven Aftergood. Full story

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ACLU sues for records of FBI’s domestic spying

donal brown August 29, 2011

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the FBI and the National Security Agency for withholding information about the eGuardian monitoring system that collects information on “suspicious activity” that may include taking photos of important buildings. The ACLU has been unsuccessful in its attempts to acquire the information through the Freedom of Information Act. The ACLU writes in their court filing, “these records will significantly contribute to the public’s understanding of how local, state and

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Chicago: TV station affirmed in excluding Green Party candidate from debates

donal brown August 29, 2011

A federal district judge ruled that a Chicago TV station did not have to include the Illinois Green Party candidate in debates on a privately owned public broadcasting station during the 2010 elections. The judge wrote, “The mere assertions that public broadcasting is heavily regulated and that defendant receives federal funding do not, by themselves, convert an individual broadcast action into that of the government. There are simply no facts alleged to suggest a sufficiently

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