Our latest newsletter is here

Click here to read the latest edition of the periodic Iowa Freedom of Information Council newsletter. Newsletter.Summer2018 Send us an email — IowaFOICouncil@gmail.com — if you would like to be added to our mailing list.


IFOIC annual meeting is Sept. 27

The annual meeting of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council will be held on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Des Moines Register community room, located on the ground floor of Capital Square, the downtown Des Moines office building that now … Continue Reading


1st Amendment honorees are named

Each year since 2001, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council has recognized one or more outstanding advocates for the First Amendment. Our Friend of the First Amendment award now bears the name of a legendary Iowa Statehouse reporter, Harrison “Skip” Weber, … Continue Reading


Deadline Sept. 20 for awards dinner

The sixth annual “Celebrating a Free Press and Open Government” awards dinner will be on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Downtown Marriott Hotel in Des Moines. The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will follow at 6:30 … Continue Reading


IFOIC supports traffic cam ruling

The Iowa Freedom of Information Council has filed a brief with the Iowa Supreme Court in support of an Iowa man’s contention that tickets issued by an Ottumwa police traffic enforcement camera are public records and must be released upon … Continue Reading


Trade-secret ruling awaited in UI case

A Johnson County district judge’s ruling is expected in the coming weeks in the lawsuit brought by Rocky Mountain Holdings, the provider of helicopter ambulances at University of Iowa Hospitals, against the university. The company is seeking a court ruling … Continue Reading


Steele videos, records made public

By Jason Clayworth, Des Moines Register, Sept. 12, 2018 A Burlington police officer who accidentally killed a mother standing in her yard with her toddler told another officer he was going to prison just minutes after the January 2015 shooting, … Continue Reading


It’s not anti-cop to ask questions in this death

The following column was written by the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. It appeared in a half-dozen Iowa newspapers in August. By Randy Evans There was snow and ice on the ground in Burlington on the … Continue Reading


Here’s our Autumn Steele brief

Here is the legal brief the Iowa Freedom of Information Council filed in its quest to unseal documents and evidence filed in the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of Autumn Steele against the City of Burlington and police officer … Continue Reading


‘Ag-gag’ law needs to be thrown out

Iowa’s “ag-gag” law should be overturned because it represents an improper erosion of free press rights in this state, a lawyer for the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism says in a new legal … Continue Reading