The 2016 session of the Iowa Legislature is underway, and law enforcement agencies have made it clear they will be seeking legislative approval that would keep from public view most video recorded by body cameras worn by law officers. The … Continue Reading
University of Iowa President J. Bruce Harreld has failed to respond to a letter from the Iowa Freedom of Information Council about the university’s refusal to release documents related to work done for the university by a company owned by … Continue Reading
The ranks of the members of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council have grown in recent weeks. The new members of the council are: Carroll Daily Times Herald Drake University School of Journalism Storm Lake Times The FOI Council is … Continue Reading
Officials of the Iowa State Patrol changed their position on releasing the name of a trooper involved in “visible injury” to a man arrested last summer. The State Patrol had refused to make public the trooper’s name. But the State … Continue Reading
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, DEC. 24, 2015: A state trooper used force at the end of a police chase that left an unarmed suspect injured, but the Iowa State Patrol is withholding video of the incident and other details about … Continue Reading
This column first appeared in the Bloomfield Democrat on Dec. 16, 2015. By Randy Evans In the first half of the 20th Century, Edward Allen was a professor of mathematics at Iowa State University. Besides his academic work, Allen was … Continue Reading
This editorial appeared in The Des Moines Register on Dec. 16, 2015. Oh, the irony. The University of Iowa has hired a company to conduct polling for the school in an effort to improve its image. But now it turns … Continue Reading
Pipeline meeting infringed on freedom of speech This editorial appeared in The Des Moines Register on Dec. 22, 2015. Most of us are familiar with Norman Rockwell’s 1943 painting, “Freedom of Speech.” It depicts a working-class American standing at a … Continue Reading
The work that Stephen Murley, the superintendent of the Iowa City public schools, did for pay for a consulting company in the Chicago area came under scrutiny this fall when the company was the subject of an investigation by the … Continue Reading
Change is occurring with several veteran Iowa journalists. Kathleen Richardson, the longtime executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, has stepped aside to devote more time to her day job as dean of the School of Journalism and … Continue Reading