The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a March 14 hearing to discuss a new bill from Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) that would put teeth into the Freedom of Information Act, Cox Newspapers reports. The bill seeks to end chronic FOIA delays, like those reported in a new study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, which found that the federal government's performance was at its lowest point since agencies first began reporting in 1998. The bill would allow requesters to recover attorney fees if they are forced to go to court and would create an ombudsman to oversee FOIA disputes. Witnesses at the upcoming hearing include Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press, representing the Sunshine in Government Initiative. A subcommittee in the House of Representatives held a hearing on FOIA reform two weeks ago.
Two Bridgeport, Ct. police officers have been suspended following a complaint made by Fairfield County Weekly's Tom Gogola that they were drinking at a bar while on duty, according to the Connecticut Post. Gogola recalls the evening's events in a story that describes one cop joking, "I can't drink and drive ... I'm on duty," then later taking a bag of marijuana out of his pocket and telling the bartender: "We confiscated some weed ... I'll roll you a special cigarette. It'll make you feel better."
The Boston Phoenix takes a look at the editorial fallout, or lack thereof, resulting from the merger, talking to staffers who have quit, some who have stayed, and VVM Executive Editor Mike Lacey himself. While former City Pages staff writer Britt Robson says that one of the reasons he quit was VVM's culture of "cheapskate-tough-guy swagger," Nashville Scene editor Liz Garrigan says the new management has helped her. "They've been really good to me, in the sense that my budget's bigger and I've been able to really hire up," she says. "They get a bad rap in so many ways, but they're committed to good shit in the paper."
A bill Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) filed in December to restrict the use of electroshock Taser weapons by police was prompted by an article in the Fort Worth Weekly suggesting that police were using Tasers frequently, according to the Austin Chronicle. But with support for it stalled, Burnam has introduced four new bills "in an attempt to further define the proper role of the Taser weapon within the police arsenal," the Chronicle reports.
It is in California, according to Stephanie Barrett of the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. "If you're not a student getting [academic] credit, you're not a true intern," she tells SF Weekly. "You're an employee and you should be paid like one." The unpaid internship has become standard practice in California, with SF Weekly reporting that San Francisco, 7x7, Diablo, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian all use them, with other publications like Dwell, Benefit and Yoga Journal offering below-minimum-wage stipends. The Bay Guardian's Editor and Publisher Bruce Brugmann denies his paper is violating labor law, saying it conforms to labor standards as interpreted by the California Newspaper Publishers Association -- and that it is helping budding writers to boot. "We're helping young people by giving them vocational training from expert editors and reporters," he says. "It's a wonderful opportunity for them."
Lauren Fox's debut novel, Still Life With Husband, follows Emily Ross, "an editor at a medical journal who married solid citizen Kevin right out of college," according to the Daily News. She soon meets alt-weekly staffer David Keller, and quickly begins an affair with the writer and editor. "File this adroit but placid debut under chick lit for early marrieds -- the ones who are not sure they want to be on the baby-house-'burbs track," Publishers Weekly writes.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, has informed colleagues that he may introduce an amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917, to criminalize the communication or publication of any classified information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity" and expand the penalty to 20 years in prison. The amendment, which Kyl has said he plans to introduce tomorrow in a Judiciary Committee markup of an unrelated bill, would give the government tremendous power to silence critics and to limit the debate and discussion on the techniques it elects to use in the "war on terror." AAN encourages members in states with a Judiciary Committee member to call their senator and urge them to oppose Kyl's measure. The Sunshine in Government Initiative, an open-government coalition of which AAN is a member, is circulating discussion points (PDF file) regarding the proposal.
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