Journalists guide to Iowa courts now available

Reporters who cover Iowa courts have a new resource that will help them access electronic court records. The new resource is a guide for using the Iowa Court Information System (ICIS), a computer program created when the Iowa Judicial Branch … Continue Reading


Court declines to review open meetings ruling

By Rox Laird On Brief: Iowa’s Appellate Blog In December the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that the Harrison County Board of Supervisors violated the Iowa open meetings law. Last week, the Iowa Supreme Court declined to review the lower court’s … Continue Reading


Fighting to help you gain access to public records

By Carol Hunter Des Moines Register executive editor Casino gambling is not just any business. Last year, gamblers plunked $13.7 billion into slot machines in Iowa, and casinos kept $1.3 billion of that. Iowans know that because the Iowa Racing and … Continue Reading


W.D.M. skirts meetings law with phone calls

By Kim Norvell Des Moines Register West Des Moines’ city manager circumvented the “intent of the open meetings law” when he called City Council members to gauge where they stand on a controversial Statehouse bill that would dismantle water utility boards, according to … Continue Reading


Iowa ‘sunshine’ law handbook now available

The most popular guide to Iowa’s public meetings and public records law has been updated for 2017 and is now available for purchase. The Iowa Open Meetings, Open Records Handbook is published by the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and … Continue Reading


Judge’s order forces hospital to comply with law

District Judge Steven J. Adreasen issued an order on Friday, Feb. 24, directing the county hospital in Denison to release the settlement agreement that ended a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital. The order came after a court hearing requested … Continue Reading


Hicks moves into FOI Council presidency

Lynn Hicks, the opinion editor of The Des Moines Register, will become president of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council for 2017. He replaces Dave Busiek, news director of KCCI-TV in Des Moines. Zack Kucharski, executive editor of the Cedar … Continue Reading


State Patrol releases video from 2015 arrest

By BRET HAYWORTH Sioux City Journal A state trooper used the barrel of his rifle to poke a suspect in the shoulder blade to subdue him at the end of a police chase in rural Plymouth County 18 months ago, … Continue Reading


Appeals court levies fines in meetings lawsuit

This article was written and transmitted by the Associated Press on Dec. 21, 2016.   In a decision likely to create concern among many members of boards, commissions and councils, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that three county … Continue Reading


Leath’s use of ISU planes involves ‘shades of gray’

By Jeff Charis-Carlson Iowa City Press-Citizen Dec. 13, 2016   The Iowa Board of Regents’ chief auditor announced Monday that some uses of aircraft by the president of Iowa State University “enter shades of gray” as to whether they violate regent … Continue Reading