January Town Hall Planned for Early Sunshine Week Talks - December 10, 2013 Newsletter

In This Issue: [click on the link to go to the corresponding section]
News from Coalition Partners & Others
I. January Town Hall Planned for Early Sunshine Week Talks

News from Coalition Partners & Others

The FBI must release document about domestic drone usage thanks to a lawsuit from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The first round of documents released by the FBI is online here. MuckRock, who filed a request similar to CREW’s, discusses the request and provides an initial review of the documents here.

OpenTheGovernment.org joined POGO and several partners in an amicus brief calling for greater transparency in the Security and Exchange Commission’s oversight of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Learn more about the case and the brief here.

The American Library Association presents the James Madison Award and the Eileen Cooke Award annually during Sunshine Week. The Madison Award honors a group or individual who champion the right to know at the national level (our own Patrice McDermott was given the award in 2012). The Eileen Cooke award honors those raising awareness for the right at a local level. ALA is seeking nominations the two awards through January 17th, 2014.

I. January Town Hall Planned for Early Sunshine Week Talks

In mid-January OpenTheGovernment.org will be hosting a community "town hall" to help groups share their early plans for Sunshine Week 2014 (March 16 - 22). As you likely know, Sunshine Week, which is centered around James Madison's birthday, is a national initiative to promote public understanding of open government issues. The initiative is co-coordinated by our friends at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Society of News Editors.

During the week several organizations across the country, including us, host events, launch reports and campaigns, and host other awareness-building activities. Unfortunately in years past, some of these activities have ended up competing against rather than complementing each other. The town hall will give members of the community an opportunity to talk about their plans and discuss how we can get the most out of the week.

We plan to host similar town halls once every three months to give members of the community the opportunity to promote up-coming reports, recruit new project partners, find new allies, etc. The meetings will be held in the POGO Conference Room and we will use conferencing technology to help people located outside the DC area participate. Call in options will also be available.

Have any questions about the Sunshine Week town hall, or the town halls in general? Email Amy Bennett at abennett@openthegovernment.org.