By Rob Mitchell MOUNT  HOLLY, Vt. — An ongoing fracas over plans for a new town garage in Mount Holly, a town of 1,237 between Killington and Okemo mountains in Vermont, illustrates the challenge to the public process inherent with the attitude and relationships of small New England towns. When the town needed a new fire station […]

By Steven Brown PROVIDENCE — Last year, after a ten-year struggle by open government groups to get the law updated, the Rhode Island General Assembly enacted some important reforms to the state’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA). Regrettably, this year the legislature appeared to show buyer’s remorse, passing bills that will keep Rhode Islanders […]

By John Marion PROVIDENCE – A year ago Rhode Island open government advocates were celebrating a huge milestone. We had won the first large scale reform of our open records law, the Access to Public Records Act since the late 1990s.  And while we didn’t get everything we wanted in the bill, we did get into the law […]

By Jonathan Van Fleet NASHUA, N.H. — When officials in Nashua came up with an idea to equip the city’s elected leaders with electronic tablets at public meetings to save costs on paper copies of documents, it seemed like a decent idea. Except for one thing — keeping track of their electronic communication during public meetings. As […]

By Alex Friedmann BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Increasingly, government agencies are contracting out their public duties, from garbage collection to courthouse security. One area of privatization that has raised significant concerns is the operation of prisons, as this involves an essential governmental public safety function that deprives people of a fundamental right: their freedom. Prison Legal […]

By Laura Krantz FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – It’s oddly satisfying when one government agency battles another for transparency. For once, it’s not a reporter knocking down their door. But the town of Hopkinton’s quest for public records from the casino licensing board is a testament to how entitled state officials feel to work in secrecy. This […]

By Karen Bordeleau PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island attorney general’s office has once again decided to withhold public records from the public – this time ruling that the sister of a man who hanged himself at the state prison doesn’t have the right to see a police narrative relating to the investigation of his death. The attorney […]

By James H. Smith HARTFORD, Conn. — In 1975, under the enlightened leadership of Gov. Ella T. Grasso, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a freedom of information law that remains a model today. The original legislation proclaims “that secrecy in government is inherently inconsistent with a true democracy, that the people have a right to be fully informed […]

The following is an excerpt from a blog post originally published by the New England First Amendment Center. The center is a joint undertaking of the New England First Amendment Coalition and Northeastern University’s School of Journalism. By Gerard F. Russell In May, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette filed two complaints with the Sturbridge, Mass., Board […]

The following is an excerpt from a blog post originally published by the New England First Amendment Center. The center is a joint undertaking of the New England First Amendment Coalition and Northeastern University’s School of Journalism. By Dan Barrett When a state contracts out a government function to a private  contractor, does the contractor become […]