Open government

A bill coming up for hearing this week in the Nevada Legislature would strike two blows against a fundamental precept of the state’s public-records statute. The bill, SB28, was proposed by the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities. It’s scheduled to be heard by the Senate Government Affairs Committee at …

After a couple of busy weeks, let me catch up on bills that were heard in committees of the Nevada Legislature Feb. 16-25. [Here are Week 1 and Week 2 recaps.] AB113 — Changes the provisions for when a juvenile’s court records may be sealed. It doesn’t change the public’s …

By Ken Paulson You can’t take freedom of speech for granted these days. The horrific murders of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and other staff members in Paris and the threat of bombings at movie theaters for booking “The Interview” are jolting reminders that freedom of speech is often vulnerable. The two …

Forget the guacamole. The Oklahoma Daily, student newspaper at the University of Oklahoma, received some good play for its story about a Jack White concert on campus mainly because they found a clause in the contract with some specific demands for guacamole. And no bananas. Those were the initial reasons …

Here’s a summary of Nevada Press Association testimony during the Feb. 9-13 week of the Nevada Legislature: SB104 — It makes some changes in political advertising, primarily to exclude clothing and inexpensive items such as pencils and candy from a requirement to have “paid for by” language on them. I …

What if the Review-Journal wanted to interview Henderson employees for a follow-up story to get their reactions to the new policy?

Are body-cam videos public records? (Originally published November 2014 at nevadapress When police wear body cameras, are the videos considered a matter of public record? As Las Vegas Metro police prepare to join a study in which 400 officers will wear the devices, it’s an open and largely untested question …