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To keep each other safe, we’ve been asked to add barriers — distance and masks — to our face-to-face interaction. We also have videoconferencing to help overcome those barriers.
Yet to this day, Republican leaders in the state Assembly are holding meetings without requiring attendees to wear masks or offering a video option for those who don’t feel safe attending.
Wisconsinites have a lot to be proud of, but the disparities caused by racist policies are deeply shameful. We cannot hail Wisconsin’s eccentricities while neglecting to confront the racism in our state.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that many of our jobs can be done digitally and remotely. The same thing could — and should — be done with records maintained by state and local governments.
Wisconsin citizens are getting the “You can’t handle the truth” treatment from some officials over information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The police killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor, among others, as well as video footage of police using excessive force in dealing with protesters, have underscored the need for changes in policing, including greater access to disciplinary records.
It is time to break down some of the barriers that prevent the public from getting a full and true picture of how police perform — sometimes laudable, sometimes not — and how government agencies respond to allegations of misconduct.
Although vilified in their day, participants in Milwaukee’s 1960s civil rights movement, including Roberto Hernandez and Father James Groppi, are now celebrated by the city.
In March, as Wisconsin enacted Safer at Home, state and local governments scrambled to build new ways to govern from remote locations while still complying with our open meeting laws. Even in the age of COVID-19, we still have the right to watch public bodies in action.
Donald Trump says it’s just not fair. The president, through his campaign, is suing television station WJFW-TV in Rhinelander for airing a political ad that allegedly defamed him.
Believe it or not, this has been a relatively quiet time on the open government front. In my role with the WFOIC, I often field calls from reporters and citizens regarding the problems they are experiencing getting access to public meetings and records.
This Letter to the Editor was written in response to our story: ‘Everyone has to have it’: Broadband gap leaves rural Wisconsin behind during coronavirus crisis.
During the hectic legislative session in February, one thing got lost: the public’s ability to participate fully in the process. That’s because the public wasn’t given adequate notice of some public hearings.
As founder of We the Irrelevant, a website that tracks how well (or poorly) the actions of legislators match up with what the public has asked them to do, I have sent multiple open records requests to Wisconsin legislators on a variety of controversial initiatives. Each time, I’ve asked them for related citizen correspondence.
Just shy of two years ago, this column explored the heightened importance of open government when public health is at risk. Multiple examples showed the government was not sharing timely information with the public, or even other branches of government, on issues such as clean drinking water and chronic wasting disease.
