Freedom of Information

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House panel OKs curbs on using FOIA for commercial gain

April 14, 2011
State Journal Register

By ANDY BROWNFIELD
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

An Illinois House committee approved a bill Wednesday that would impose burdens on people seeking to use the Illinois Freedom of Information Act for commercial purposes.

House Bill 340 would allow local governmental units to impose a fee for such use and penalize filers who do not declare an intended commercial purpose.

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Prolific freedom of information filers try to shed some light

April 12, 2011
SouthtownStar

By Lauren FitzPatrick and Steve Metsch

Their names are well-known to village clerks. Their freedom of information requests pile up. They consider themselves active members of society, self-appointed watchdogs who want to know how their tax money’s being spent. Some share the data with others, some use it for lawsuits, some simply want to keep a watchful eye on government and understand how their tax dollars are being spent.

Mostly, they just want to know.

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Hundreds of public records cases stymied in attorney general's office

April 8, 2011
McDonough Voice

By BRUCE RUSHTON
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

While public-records cases pile up, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan rarely uses her authority to order records disclosed under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Under the law, anyone who is denied a record by a public body can sue or ask the attorney general for help. The law sets a 60-day deadline for the attorney general to order records turned over via binding opinions, which can be overturned only by a judge. It is, at least in theory, a way for citizens to get public records without hiring lawyers.

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The freedom to snoop

April 6, 2011
Chicago Tribune

Clarence Page

Conservatives express shock and horror over political correctness, which they roughly define as the Orwellian suppression of any frank discussion about issues that liberals hold dear. But conservatives practice their own PC, too. "Freedom fries," anyone?

Doublespeak? What else describes the reasoning of activists who oppose a proposed "ground zero mosque" — that, by the way, would neither be a mosque nor at ground zero — in the name of "protecting our religious freedoms?"

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Attorney general rules UI must release records

April 5, 2011
Champaign Urbana News Gazette

Julie Wurth
SPRINGFIELD -- Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the University of Illinois violated the law by improperly denying records from its presidential search to The News-Gazette in a case that dates back to April 2010.

The UI must immediately release the disputed documents or ask for a court administrative review within 35 days under the state's Freedom of Information Act, Madigan said in a new binding opinion Friday.

The letter says the university "has not met its burden of demonstrating that the records" are exempt from the FOIA.

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Backlogs, leniency on new public records law

April 2, 2011
Chicago Tribune

Advocates see progress, but watchdog has unaddressed requests, limited powers

By David Kidwell and Jodi S. Cohen, Tribune reporters

Attorney General Lisa Madigan has used her broad new authority over public records disputes to whittle at Illinois' long-standing culture of secrecy, but lax enforcement and a suffocating backlog of cases have left many citizens waiting in vain for the documents they seek.

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