CalAware Today

Berkeley Paper Suffers Boycott for Views on Israel

FREE PRESS -- A free weekly newspaper (with a daily website) reporting city news, comment and controversies to the residents of Berkeley is under serious attack and could be shut down for loss of advertising because of charges that its editorial content, including but not limited to published letters, is anti-Israel, anti-semitic or both, reports Jesse McKinley in the New York Times.

Report: Crowd Control Increasingly Militarized

FREE ASSEMBLY -- When the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Police Department deployed against a crowd of demonstrators a long-range deafening gun used previously by our forces in the streets of Iraq, the "non-lethal" arms escalation became the latest example of using military weapons and principles against civilian demonstrators, writes Justin Rogers-Cooper in the City University of New York Graduate Center's newspaper, the Advocate.

Spy Agencies Show the President Who's in Charge

PUBLIC INFORMATION -- President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of Cold War era military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, reports Bryan Bender in the Boston Globe.

Stem Cell Research Agency Keeps Secretive Style

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- After its first five years, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) still hasn't learned to take governmental transparency seriously. "Recently . . . the agency has had difficulty even complying with the basic state public records law and the state Constitution's public access guarantees, much less achieving a higher level of performance," writes David Jensen in the California Stem Cell Report.

Public Services Downsizing Talks in a Fishbowl

OPEN MEETINGS -- When a hand-picked advisory committee is assigned by a local agency's governing body to look at the depressing options for cutting the agency's programs or facilities to fit a shrunken budget, its meetings are open under the Brown Act.  But should everything said be reported in the press, no matter how tentative?  Many reporters' reflexes may find the answer obvious, but the Modesto Bee's Michelle Hatfield has given the question some careful thought.

Board Given December 1 Deadline on Salaries

PUBLIC INFORMATION --  Brian Ellis, who since August has been asking the Glendale Unified School District for the names and pay of every employee earning more than $100 per year, has given officials a December 1 deadline for release of the information or face a lawsuit under the California Public Records Act, reports Max Zimbert in the Glendale News Press.

McKee Settles Brown Act Lawsuit against Fillmore

OPEN MEETINGS -- The City of Fillmore has settled a lawsuit filed by Richard McKee, president emeritus of Californians Aware, for allegedly violating the Brown Act, reports Mike Harris in the Ventura County Star.

Posterior Restraint: A Courthouse Comp for VIPs?

FREE PRESS -- If the courtroom bailiffs in Las Vegas are going to lock reporters in after a hearing so they can't chase a departing VIP party for interviews, let's not treat this as a constitutional crisis, writes Brendan Buhler in the Las Vegas Sun. Let's offer it as another benefit of the secrecy hospitality of the town that reassures visitors, "What happens here stays here."

Scholars: Brief, Silent Nazi Salute No Disruption

FREE SPEECH -- Two constitutional law professors conclude what many casual observers might have assumed: that a fleeting, silent Nazi salute as a gesture of rebuke to a city council at a meeting was protected by the First Amendment.  The scholars show where the federal appeals court panel that ruled to the contrary went off the tracks.

Court: Police May Arrest Protesters 'on Suspicion'

FREE ASSEMBLY -- "The police have no obligation to order a crowd to disperse before making arrests, a federal appeals court ruled today, marking a victory for the District of Columbia in a suit that alleges police unlawfully arrested a group of demonstrators in January 2005," reports Mike Scarcella in the Blog of the Legal Times.

Somewhere Mario Savio Must Be Smiling

FREE SPEECH -- The ACLU in San Diego has spelled out for a local community college president just how unlawful it believes the college's ill-treatment of several faculty members for their support of a student protest really was, and how other rules violate the civil rights of students and faculty in general.  These students treat protest (about the decline in state financial support) with the excitement of 50 years ago—and it gets widespread attention.

Brown Act Challenge to Council Ends Amicably

OPEN MEETINGS -- CalAware President Emeritus's Richard McKee's intervention led to the Patterson City Council's acknowledgment this week that it had overstepped the limits of California’s open-meeting rules, and a pledge to comply more fully with the law in the future, reports James Leonard in the Patterson Irrigator. McGee expressed admiration for the city attorney's grace under fire.

Recall Fizzles: Student Leader Wouldn't Censor

FREE SPEECH/OPEN MEETINGS -- The student body president at Sacramento City College, summarily removed and suspended for permitting a graphic anti-abortion display at a student forum, has been reinstated—because his recall election was taken at an unlawful meeting, reports Stephanie Rodriguez for SacCityExpress.com, the college's "student-run news portal."

Newspaper Suing for Report on Former Fire Chief

PUBLIC INFORMATION -- The Record Searchlight in Redding on Monday sued the Anderson Fire Protection District to obtain an investigator's report on the conduct of its former fire chief, reports Jim Schultz in that newspaper.

"It Is the Soldier" Salute Ignores Half Our History

FREE SPEECH/FREE PRESS -- Veterans Day marks a surge in the online circulation of a certain versified tribute to the military as the exclusive source of our freedoms under the Bill of Rights.  It's not clear why those who claim to celebrate veterans feel it necessary to deny the role of civilian contributors to our civil liberties.  And it's not even true to history.

AG Taping Flap: What Does "on the Record" Mean?

FREE PRESS -- Two new items have emerged in the last 24 hours concerning the secret recording of journalists' interview calls by a former press spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown: the actual recorded call transcripts and a formal investigative finding by a top official in the criminal division of Brown's office concluding that, since press interviews are "on the record," no law prohibits the government from recording them unannounced.

CalAware's McKee Faults School Board Meetings

OPEN MEETINGS -- Richard McKee, president emeritus of Californians Aware, says the West Covina School District has violated state open-government laws several times, and in a letter addressed to Superintendent Liliam Leis-Castillo and the district's school board members, has accused the district of failing to provide accurate, specific information on agendas, reports Maritza Velazquez in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Ten Counties Keeping Swine Flu Deaths Secret

PUBLIC INFORMATION -- "Who is dying of the swine flu? It's a simple question, but the answer has been hard to come by: Many counties across California and the nation are refusing to grant public records requests for death certificates of H1N1 victims," report Holly Butcher, Bethany Firnhaber and Julia James for Neon Tommy, the online news center of the Annenberg School of Communications at USC.

Whistleblower Air Marshal Appealing His Dismissal

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- A former federal air marshal last week finally got his day in court to appeal his firing by the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) three years ago for disclosing "sensitive" but unclassified information to the media in the summer of 2003, reports Matthew Harwood in Security Management. The whistleblower says his disclosure protected the public from vulnerabilities that could have led to another 9-11 style attack.

Freedom of Speech Valued First Among Muslims

FREE SPEECH -- The deepest and broadest survey ever taken of Muslim attitudes worldwide shows that when asked what item they would put first in a constitution, the overwhelming response was freedom of speech, according to a report on the study in the Toledo Blade. Details on the study and the documentary.

Secrecy News Editor to Speak at Scripps College

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Steven Aftergood, editor of Secrecy News and director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, will speak on the topic "Secrecy and Democracy: Paradox and Policy" on Wednesday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Boone Recital Hall, Scripps College Performing Arts Center, Claremont.

Profs Seen in Protest May Face Criminal Charges

FREE SPEECH -- Three community college professors who may have been doing no more than showing solidarity with students peaceably protesting program cutbacks have not only been summarily suspended but may face criminal charges, reports KXTV in San Diego.

Judge Orders Release of County Retirees' Benefits

PUBLIC INFORMATION -- The Modesto Bee and two other petitioners have won their lawsuit to force the Stanislaus County Employees’ Retirement Association to release information on which retirees are receiving the most generous pensions, reports Ken Carlson.

No A.G. Secret Taping Law Violation? Not So Fast

FREE PRESS -- Was the practice of Attorney General Jerry Brown's former press spokesman quietly to tape record his phone discussions with inquiring reporters a violation of California law?  No, say the A.G.'s office and the First Amendment Coalition, in a rush to exoneration that ignores a central court decision.