Jonathan Jones

The North Carolina Open Government Coalition recgonizes three people whose work has helped make and keep North Carolina government transparent in the last year: Will Hendrick of the Waterkeepers Alliance, Nick Ochsner of WBTV News, and William McKinney of the Office of the Governor. 

The N.C. Open Government Coalition is accepting nominations for its annual Sunshine Awards program. The organization recognizes people who have worked to make North Carolina government more transparent throughout the year by advocating for transparency, by using the sunshine laws to tell important stories and by being transparent agencies.  Nominations are due by March 1.

Due to inclement weather forecasts in Greensboro for March 12, 2018, the annual Sunshine Day event is cancelled. 

The winners of the N.C. Open Government Coalition's third annual Sunshine Awards were announced at Sunshine Day on Elon University's campus Monday. The winners are WFAE associate news director Lisa Worf, Elon law fellow Elliot Engstrom and Orange County Government. 

The Sunshine Center each year recognizes advocates, government officials, journalists and citizens who work to make North Carolina governments transparent. Nominations are due by March 1. Winners will be announced at Sunshine Day 2017

New N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein will deliver the Sunshine Day 2017 keynote on March 13. Join us for sessions on obtaining police video, social media requests and archiving and timely responses. Sunshine Day returns to Elon University's campus this year. 

The administration of Gov. Pat McCrory is claiming sovereign immunity in a public records lawsuit filed by several media and advocacy organizations. On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals dismissed that claim and returned the case to the trial court. 

The General Assembly called its fourth special session of the year Wednesday afternoon. A regulatory reform bill filed in the House would create a new exemption for certain information held by the public utility comission, expand two other existing exemptions related to personal information and would significantly change how government agencies can provide access to public records.  A separate bill would exempt photographs of people who have been arrested. A third would exempt certain information about community association managers. 

A police shooting of a civilian in Charlotte that was caught on video by dashboard and body cameras has raised questions about how the current Public Records Law and a new revision that takes effect Oct. 1 apply.  We try to provide some answers. 

A bill that removes all police video, including body cameras, dash cameras and surveillance, from public records passed the House and Senate this week. It creates a limited right of access for people who appear in the videos and allows a superior court judge to release the video if there's a compelling public interest.