Posted 10/24/17 by Megan Rhyne
VCOG urges the governor’s office to be more forthcoming with information related to the Aug. 11-12 Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville.
Posted 8/20/17 by Megan Rhyne
We’re all winners and losers with Abingdon’s recent FOIA ruling
Bristol Herald Courier editorial, August 20, 2017
Posted 6/22/17 by Megan Rhyne
Once again, a court has looked at an isolated provision of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and decided that it means something completely different from what had been commonly accepted in the past.
Posted 3/20/17 by Megan Rhyne
Being able to find information online is becoming the default expectation. Government spending should be no different.
Posted 3/14/17 by Megan Rhyne
Welcome to VCOG new blog, Truth in the Field, a series of columns that explain how journalists, citizens, academics, and activists have accessed and used government information.
Posted 1/19/17 by Megan Rhyne
What a difference a year makes.
Last year, a Senate subcommittee on FOIA advanced one bill after another that restricted the public’s access to government information. It recommended a bill to exempt police names, one to limit which state salaries could be released and in what format, and one that created a month-long procedural requirement where the government would ask private businesses if it was OK to release records.
This year?
Posted 11/30/16 by Megan Rhyne
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government is pleased to announce the winners of its 2016 open government awards. The awards are given to individuals or organizations who have made use of public information laws to keep government accountable and to inform their fellow citizens.
Posted 10/8/16 by Megan Rhyne
I don’t usually repost full copies of news stories, but this one is especially noteworthy as a snapshot of how FOIA transactions can unspool. This is a reporter trying to get a state agency report, but the same back and forth, same push and pull, can be experienced by requesters at all levels of government and all corners of the state. Even when the law or an exemption is used correctly, it is still often difficult to follow the process and understand why confidentiality is needed when it isn’t mandated.
Posted 9/19/16 by Megan Rhyne
Posted 8/17/16 by Megan Rhyne
VCOG has submitted a letter -- co-signed with the DC Open Government Coalition and the Maryland-Deleware-DC Press Association -- urging lawmakers in each jurisdiction to include specific transparency measures in their proposals to create the Metrorail Safety Commission for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to oversee the Metro system.
Read the letter here:
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