In the name of public safety, there are times when we want the police to take control of a situation, sort things out, give orders, and have those orders obeyed. Even if we ourselves ever have the misfortune of being placed under arrest, we should recognize that at the point of arrest the law really […]
Representatives of the University of Connecticut Foundation made an impassioned argument at a legislative hearing Thursday that any law forcing them to open their records to the public — even if donors’ name are excluded — would impede their efforts to raise money. And it seemed from the response of the legislators on the higher-education […]
By Eric Vo Record-Journal staff WALLINGFORD — The state Freedom of Information Commission is expected to decide whether Wallingford Center Inc. is a public entity — and therefore covered by the Freedom of Information Act — within the next month and a half. Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein filed a complaint with the commission in April […]
There is legislation before the General Assembly that would subject the University of Connecticut Foundation to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This is an example of an unfortunate trend in which cash-strapped governments are trying to assert influence over the operations and assets of private nonprofit organizations. The slope is slippery, and state nonprofit […]
The cause of open government in Connecticut has taken extraordinarily hard knocks of late, undermining this state’s once-sterling reputation nationally for valuing openness and promoting the free flow of information. One of the hardest was a disappointing state Supreme Court ruling last year that severely limits the amount of information that local police departments and […]
Kenneth Hagenow was facing potential disciplinary proceedings in his job as a Manchester Housing Authority administrator in May of 2011 when he and authority officials signed a legal “settlement agreement” — under which he retired and they resolved their differences “without costly and protracted proceedings,” as the agreement put it. Neither Hagenow nor the authority […]
By Robert Storace NEW BRITAIN — Members of the city’s five-person legislative delegation is mixed on whether or not to sign a pledge to protect the independence of the Freedom of Information Commission and oppose weakening it, but all agreed the FOIC serves a vital purpose in the state. “I do not sign pledges, it’s […]
Police departments in Connecticut don’t have to release much information about arrests that they make — not in a timely manner, anyway — and open-government advocates are now saying that legislators need to pass a bill to increase disclosure requirements. While some police chiefs see a value in explaining the circumstances under which people are […]
Claiming the shortage of women in military academies puts female students at greater risk of sexual assaults and harassment, several groups sued the U.S. Department of Defense last week seeking access to the schools’ admission policies and enrollment numbers. The Service Women‘s Action Network,American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Connecticut sued the department for violating the Freedom of […]
STAMFORD — The Stamford school district made double the number of child abuse or neglect reports in the six months after the teacher-student sex case as it did in the entire year before. Stamford Public Schools records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show the district sent 99 written reports of suspected child abuse or neglect […]