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Over the years, we have observed what works – and what doesn’t – when making public records requests. We offer this collection of best practices for you to refine and …
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Amanda Martin
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1/31/23
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“History teaches that opaque decision-making destroys trust; recent historyinvolving police body cameras emphasizes this risk.”We end 2022 with these strong words from our own North …
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Beth Soja
Hugh Stevens
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12/22/22
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We often get questions on the hotline about obtaining security footage of newsworthy incidents that occur in or around K-12 schools or on school buses. Because these incidents almost inevitably …
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Beth Soja & Amanda Martin
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11/29/22
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The climate surrounding officer-involved fatalities is, in a word, dynamic. Whether a shooting or shootout, deadly force incident to an arrest or the service of a warrant, or a high-speed chase …
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Mike Tadych
mike@smvt.com
Beth Soja
beth@smvt.com
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10/31/22
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Back on March 10, 2020, Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency in North Carolina “to coordinate response and protective actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” and with …
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Beth Soja
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9/29/22
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The N.C. Court of Appeals handed down some very good news for journalists this month. The case arose after the arrest of Wesley Walker for an assault. WTVD’s Ed Crump emailed the Wake County …
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Amanda Martin
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8/31/22
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My long-time client, mentor and friend Frank Daniels Jr. died on June 30. He was 90 years old. For 20 of the 26 years he served as publisher of The News & Observer, I was privileged to defend the …
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Hugh Stevens
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7/26/22
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In January of this year, the Enhance Local Government Transparency Act (N.C. Senate Bill 473) made some important changes to our conflict-of-interest laws for public officials. Most notably, the bill …
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Amanda Martin, Beth Soja
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4/28/22
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We all know that public records are the property of the people and that, generally speaking, public agencies can only charge you the costs of actual duplication – the cost of the paper, the ink …
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Beth Soja, Amanda Martin
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3/31/22
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We all know that North Carolina law requires public bodies to follow the open meetings law, which essentially means three things: publishing notice, allowing public access and keeping minutes. …
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Beth Soja, Amanda Martin
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2/28/22
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The NC Public Records Law applies to public business documents made or received by a public agency or official. G.S. § 132-1(a). It doesn’t matter if they exist on an …
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Amanda Martin
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1/28/22
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If you’ve made a recent request under the NC Public Records Law, you may have noticed that some government agencies -- UNC-CH, Wake County, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and the city …
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Beth Soja
beth@smvt.com
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8/9/21
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If you are covering a public body that has resumed meeting in person but is forcing you to participate remotely, they are breaking the law.
Over the past year, the pandemic …
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Beth Soja
beth@smvt.com
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6/17/21
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Elizabeth City Mayor Bettie Parker declared a State of Emergency that was amended on April 27 to impose a city-wide curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. This statement is to clarify that the curfew is not …
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4/29/21
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With the General Assembly about to head home early last Friday morning, one of the strongest “right to know” voices in the NC House, Rep. Josh Dobson, advanced a public records …
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John Bussian
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6/29/20
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Once again, journalists find themselves at the intersection of indispensability and danger. You are uniquely poised to be the eyes and ears of the public, to stand in their shoes, to report …
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6/1/20
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Reporters covering government in the last two months know public bodies have changed their way of doing business. Members of the press were granted essential worker status, but that didn’t mean …
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Amanda Martin
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5/13/20
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The Washington Post reports Capitol Hill is paralyzed over a failure to agree on a temporary remote Congressional hearing and voting bill. Yet as Congress grapples …
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John Bussian
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4/27/20
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Continuing on the theme of government transparency and how you get the information you need to cover the developing COVID-19 crisis, I have outlined here some principles to …
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Amanda Martin
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4/8/20
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As the toll of the coronavirus rises daily, we are getting calls about what to do if you cannot put out your print newspaper. That might happen either because your advertising drops to the …
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Amanda Martin
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3/23/20
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