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California: St. Helena council agrees to redress alleged open meeting violation

donal brown April 21, 2011

The St. Helen City Council will redo its separation agreement with a former city manager after the St. Helena Star alleged that the council had violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law. The  council had led the public to believe the meeting at which the agreement was approved was to be held at the City Hall but instead was at the Stonebridge Apartments. -db From the Napa Valley Register, April 14, 2011, by Jesse

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Acclaimed author Greg Mortenson may face defamation lawsuit

donal brown April 21, 2011

When renowned international philanthrophist and author Greg Mortenson said in one of his best-selling books that he was captured by the Taliban on one of his trips to Pakistan, he was actually under the protection of a friend, Mansur Khan Mahsud, and his relatives, claims Mahsud who is now threatening to sue Mortenson for defamation. Mortenson published a photo of himself and his supposed Taliban kidnappers, fierce-looking men with guns, but actually Mahsud’s relatives. -db

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Free speech: Whistleblowers silenced by Supreme Court ruling

donal brown April 19, 2011

A state police officer whose job it was to investigate corruption of the Connecticut State Police was removed from his job, isolated from other officers and made the subject of an investigation of conduct that occurred several years earlier. The officer had alleged that  the state police routinely covered up misconduct by police officers, including drunk driving, domestic violence, and misuse of state funds. When the officer sued, a federal judge cited Garcetti v. Caballos

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Courts limit subpoenas of reporters doing good jobs

donal brown April 19, 2011

A federal judge has ruled that in suing Goldman Sachs, a couple cannot subpoena a reporter to show how easily a Wall Street Journal reporter obtained information. The couple had lost millions in a merger deal made with advice from Goldman Sachs. The couple claimed that the reporter had obtained crucial information that Goldman Sachs should also have been able to obtain. Douglas E. Lee of the First Amendment Center quotes the judge who ruled

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Opinion: Classification reform of national security information stalls

donal brown April 19, 2011

Writing in Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood says that an initiative to reduce overclassification of national security information has produced no significant results. Obama announced the initiative in December of 2009. The Department of Defense (DOD) with the greatest portfolio of classified documents did not met its December 31, 2010 deadline for producing regulations for implementing change, and most DOD components have not begun reviewing their classification guides. -db From a commentary in Secrecy News, April

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