If you just watched basketball all weekend, you may have missed this great public-... make that would-be-public-records story about birds colliding with airplanes.

Birds brought down the passenger jet which crashed into the Hudson River earlier this year. According to the Associated Press article, the Federal Aviation Administration after the crash said it would make its database of bird strikes available to the public. Then the FAA reversed itself.

From the article:

The government agency argued that some carriers and airports would stop reporting incidents for fear the public would misinterpret the data and hold it against them. The reporting is voluntary because the FAA rejected a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation 10 years ago to make it mandatory.

You might be asking: Why do reporters need this database? We know there's a problem with birds at airports.

Yes, but do some airports have bigger bird problems than others? And are airports — and airlines — responding to the problems appropriately?

— NC

Labels: FOIA, secrecy

President Bill Clinton perfected the trick that politicians ever since have been practicing -- the Friday night document dump.

Enter Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

After a leisurely pace of bill signing so far (just 18), Huntsman put his Jon Hancock into overdrive and signed 103 bills Friday -- nearly a quarter of the 450 or so bills passed during the session.

Then, in true Clintonian fashion, he sent out a press release after 5 p.m. Friday and quickly disappeared -- unavailable for comment should anyone want to know why he signed this or that bill, particularly a handful of controversial ones.

Nosey reporters had to settle for spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley. And, frankly, she didn't know the ins and outs of some of the bills or the governor's reasoning.

Here's a bet: When the Guv signs the landmark liquor law reform that he pushed so hard to get through the Legislature, it won't be with 102 other bills and announced in a Friday evening document dump after he's left the building.

-- Dan Harrie

The gentleman above probably is not how most of us define "gang member," yet when I searched for Utah gang images on Google, this is one of the photographs which appeared.

Some of the defense attorneys I spoke with last week would use this as a point. How do we know who is being called a gang member?

Reporter Melinda Rogers and I asked that in an article about gang databases and a forthcoming statewide database. The federal government regulates who police input into such a database and how those names can remain.

If you want to know whether you're in the database, the easiest thing to do is call your local police jurisdiction and ask. If you don't receive an answer, you can file a request under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act. But that may not yield your answer, either.

The act grants you some records when you are the subject. But the law also permits law enforcement to withhold records deemed part of ongoing investigations.

— NC

Labels: GRAMA, Police, technology

On March 23, the League of Women Voters Salt Lake Chapter will host a discussion about what the Obama Administration is -- and should be -- doing to promote open government.

The event will include a Webcast of the fourth-annual Sunshine Week National Dialogue at the Center for American Progress. That dialogue will feature individuals involved in crafting the Obama Administration's open government directive and will explain the initiative's goals, receive feedback from the audience, and let members of the public know how they can continue to participate in the discussion.

Following the webcast, a panel will discuss the implications for Utah.

The free event will be held at 6 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Library and will include the presentation of the Society of Professional Journalists' annual Sunshine and Black Hole Awards.

-- mdl

Labels: Obama, open government

The State Records Committee on Thursday ordered the University of Utah to say what it paid a women who lost limbs to a flesh-eating bacteria.

In a unanimous vote, the committee said the dollar figure is a public record and must be disclosed. The committee did not address whether other terms of the settlement must be released.

The university can appeal the decision by filing a lawsuit in state court.

Lisa Speckman lost three limbs from a flesh-eating bacteria she contracted while under the care of university-trained medical staff. The Tribune sought terms of the legal settlement between the university and Speckman and her family.

In written denials and at Thursday's hearing, a university attorney argued the settlement, including any money it paid, was a health record protected by federal law. The Speckmans' attorney also wrote the committee, saying disclosing the records would invade the family's privacy.

Speckman's husband, Stephen Speckman, is a former Deseret News reporter who himself used state and federal record laws to pry information from the government.

The Tribune argued money is not a health record. Also, the newspaper wanted the settlement to help report on the larger issue of medical mistakes, the consequences and how to prevent them.

— NC

Labels: GRAMA, State Records Committee

Two years later, it appears there will be someone to settle disputes between the federal government and citizens seeking information from it.

Congress this week approved $1 million to fund an ombudsman that will try to resolve disputes arising under the Freedom of Information Act.

In other words, if you request documents from the FBI, the Department of Defense, the the U.S. Forest Service or any other unit of the federal government, and are denied, you might be able to ask the ombudsman to review the case.

"This is an important step towards having a fully functioning FOIA ombudsman," said Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative. "For too many years, government transparency has been in crisis."

The ombudsman was created in 2007, but Congress and the Bush Administration did not supply fundiing for the post.

Labels: FOIA

For an official, more complete copy of the agenda, go here.

STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE MEETING
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The State Records Committee will hold a meeting at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 12.
The meeting will be held in the Courtyard Meeting Room, State Archives Building, 346 S. Rio Grande St. (450 West), Salt Lake City. This is a public meeting, and anyone can attend. Committee business and one hearing are scheduled.

* First Hearing – Pamela Manson, the Salt Lake Tribune vs. University of Utah. Ms. Monson is appealing the denial of a settlement amount paid by the University of Utah in a malpractice suit to which the university was named a party.

* Approval of the February 12, meeting minutes of the State Records Committee

* Legislative updates-Patricia Smith-Mansfield, Director of Archives

* Appeals received

* Cases in District Court

* Introduction of Gary Ott, Elected Official Representative

* Discussion of Administrative Rules changes

* draft of proposal dealing with repeated postponements and rescheduling hearings

* Other Business

* Adjournment – Next meeting scheduled –Thursday, April 9, 2009

Individuals wishing to comment during the meeting should notify Susan Mumford, Executive Secretary of the State Records Committee, and should be in attendance at the public meeting. The executive secretary will also accept written comments before the meeting but no later than 6 p.m. March 10. Please mail or deliver those comments to:

State Records Committee
Utah State Archives
346 S. Rio Grande
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Labels: State Records Committee

As a newspaper reporter, Stephen Speckman exposed how government functioned and the mistakes it make.

Now Speckman is asking for the result of one government mistake to remain hidden.

Speckman's attorney has sent a letter asking the State Records Committee to not order the release of a legal settlement between Speckman, his wife and the University of Utah.

Speckman's wife, Lisa Speckman, lost three limbs from a flesh-eating bacteria she contracted while under the care of university-trained medical staff. The university is refusing to disclose what it paid to the Speckmans to settle their lawsuit.

The Tribune has appealed to the records committee and has a hearing before it on March 12. In a letter to the committee, a copy of which is attached below, the Speckmans' attorney has claimed disclosing the money paid and other terms will invade the couple's privacy. The Tribune has argued the law requires government to disclose the public money it spends.

Stephen Speckman was a respected military reporter for Deseret News. He left the newspaper earlier this year.

On online search for Stephen Speckman's articles reveals he made regular use of the Freedom of Information Act and the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act.

— NC


Speckman1.pdfSpeckman2.pdf

Labels: GRAMA, State Records Committee