NC Open Government

Radio host Scott Fitzgerald interviewed School of Communications Adjunct Associate Professor Dale Harrison for WPTF's morning-drive program "North Carolina's Morning News" on Friday, Sept. 11.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times (9/11/09): Gov. Bev Perdue used the first veto of her young administration Thursday to defy the General Assembly over a previously little-noticed public-records bill.

From the Winston-Salem Journal (9/6/09): The Arts Council of Winston-Salem hopes to grab a $1.2 million grant from a national foundation, but needs $1 million from Forsyth County, Winston-Salem and other government sources of money to get the money.

From the Rhino Times (9/3/09): On the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 1 – after a lot of talk by President Barack Obama about transparency in his administration – I snuck into and attended a private meeting held by Obama's deputy secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, Neal Wolin, and Democratic Rep. Brad Miller, who represents North Carolina's 13th congressional district. Also at the meeting were state and federal banking officials, area elected officials and a select group of other handpicked attendees.

From the Winston-Salem Journal (8/27/09): The N.C. Highway Patrol has appointed an independent panel of attorneys to investigate why the agency is missing travel records from 2005.

From the Macon County News (8/27/09): Alarm bells went off when it was learned that an unannounced, closed meeting had been held with representatives of the county Airport Authority, the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration in attendance.

North Carolina Open Government Coalition President Hugh Stevens has called the summer board meeting for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

(This story is by By Sandy Semans, Special to the Sunshine Center) This General Assembly's legislative actions pertaining to open government ended up amounting to lots of noise, but few finished symphonies. The Open Government Act was reintroduced this year, but again stalled before approval.

The North Carolina Open Government Coalition, which is housed in Elon University's School of Communications, is now on Twitter.

From the Greensboro News and Record (8/11/09): The N.C. Attorney General's Office is cheering several laws that got approval recently from the General Assembly. (NCOG Note: Items only dealing with open government and public records are produced here. To read the full account, click the link to the right)