This article was written by Clark Kauffman, a member of the Iowa Capital Dispatch staff. The Iowa Public Information Board is considering legislation that would enable government agencies to ignore, for up to one year, any public-records requests made by … Continue Reading
The Iowa Freedom of Information Council has prepared this sample public records request letter in response to journalists and other people asking how they can obtain the list of books their local school districts intend to keep students from having … Continue Reading
This column appeared in some Iowa newspapers and on Iowa news and commentary websites. The author is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. By Randy Evans Around the time the “The Bridges of Madison County” movie premiered … Continue Reading
Iowa City police have identified the teenage son of University of Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery as the driver who was involved in a fatal traffic accident in late May. Police had refused for a month and a half … Continue Reading
A Clinton County judge issued a stinging decision last month that the Central DeWitt school board violated Iowa’s public meetings law when board members, the school superintendent and several other administrators met in a nearly two-hour closed meeting to discuss … Continue Reading
This column was written by Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, and was distributed to newspapers and news websites across the state. – – – By Randy Evans These are challenging times for Iowa’s 327 … Continue Reading
The board of education of the Bettendorf Community School District has approved an agreement to settle a lawsuit that challenged the legality of a board gathering held in May 2022. The school board voted recently to accept the out-of-court settlement … Continue Reading
Here is the statement Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, issued in response to the State Appeals Board’s and the Polk County District Court’s acceptance of the settlement of the public-records lawsuit the Council, the … Continue Reading
The Iowa Freedom of Information Council sued the Centerville school district on Wednesday, challenging the legality of a closed meeting on Feb. 3 during which the school board accepted the resignation of an employee who had been on administrative leave … Continue Reading
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Monday a bill that has been on the “wish list” for journalists and public transparency advocates since 2018. SF 2322 makes important changes in Iowa’s public records law that relate to the fees state … Continue Reading