Freedom of Information

Eric Stahl Acting Public Affairs Officer Nuclear regulation is the public’s business. For that reason, the NRC considers public participation in its activities to be a cornerstone of strong, fair regulation of the nuclear industry. Yet many people are surprised to hear they can watch the Commission deliberate nuclear safety and security issues in person and see government in action. And others, who may be aware, are not sure how that works. To help the public understand what they can expect to see at Commission meetings, the agency recently released an updated brochure: A Guide to Open Commission Meetings. The guide covers many aspects of the 50 or so public Commission meetings that take place each year...

Your Right to Know / Mark Pitsch Records advocates plan traveling show Among the many remarkable things about the defeat of the proposed overhaul of the Wisconsin Public Records Law over the July 4 weekend last summer was the way the media, open government groups, advocacy organizations on the left and right, and the public coalesced to point out how ill-conceived the idea was. The reaction to this sneak attack on open government was immediate, overwhelming and decisive. No other issue in state government in recent years has generated such a uniform—and effective—response. Gov. Scott Walker and the legislature leaders backed down within 48 hours. Lawmakers seemed chastened, but advocates of open...

Mark your calendars! You&#8217;re invited &#8212; After School Matters Arts and Tech Fair Date: Saturday, April 9th (11 a.m.-2 p.m.) Location: Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (4048 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60639) Chicago Kaleidoscopes is excited to be participating in the upcoming ASM Arts and Tech Fair! CK teens will be performing poetry and fiction. In addition to ASM and Chicago Kaleidoscopes, the following organizations will be participating in the fair: <ul> <li>Chicago City of Learning</li> <li>Digital Youth Network</li> <li>Level Up Robotics Team (Agape Werks)</li> <li>Nature Museum TEENS (Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum)</li> <li>Smart Chicago</li> <li>Spoken Word Academy of Chicago</li> <li>Traditional Puerto Rican Bomba Program hosted by SRBCC</li> <li>other TBA...</li></ul>

Imagine searching Facebook, Google or Twitter for the status of a bill before Congress and getting an instant result. That future is now here, but it&#8217;s not evenly implemented yet. When the Library of Congress launched Congress.gov in 2012, they failed to release the data behind it. Yesterday, that changed when the United States Congress started releasing data online about the status of bills. For the open government advocates, activists and civic hackers that have been working for over a decade for this moment, seeing Congress turn on the data tap was a historic shift. It took 14 years 9 months 6 days after I asked: Congress is now publishing actual data on the status of legislation....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2016 Contact: Mark Pitsch, (608) 252-6145; Bill Lueders, (608) 669-4712 Open Government Advocates to Take Show on the Road Advocates of open government in Wisconsin are planning a three-day, eight-city informational tour to highlight the importance of the state’s open records law, in the wake of unprecedented attacks from state lawmakers and others. “An open society depends on open government. Wisconsin residents understand that,” says Mark Pitsch, president of the Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and an assistant city editor at the Wisconsin State Journal. “Last summer’s attempt to gut the records law is just one of several recent...