Pottawattamie County attorney files petition to remove county supervisor for alleged intoxication during meeting kcci.com/article/pott...

Taxpayers will have to pay $600,000 because Gov Kim Reynolds administration flaunted the public records law. That’s on top of a $135,000 settlement in 2023 for ignoring records requests. www.iowapublicradio.org/state-govern...

Des Moines Public Schools — still dealing with fallout from arrest of its sup’t — has placed another top official on paid leave but refuses to say why. Officials waited TWO WEEKS to make this news public. DMPS will not rebuild public trust with secrecy. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/e...

A federal judge today issued a temporary order blocking the Creston, IA, school board from holding a hearing tomorrow to act to the superintendent’s recommendation to fire teacher Melisa Crook for her Facebook post about Charlie Kirk’s murder. — >

School districts need to hear from local residents on the finalists when hiring new superintendents and *not* automatically turn to secrecy. open.substack.com/pub/todddorm...

Des Moines School Board will NOT rebuild public trust, confidence by stonewalling Q’s about its own screening of Ian Roberts or refusing to release documents Roberts provided with his I-9 form. Secrecy will continue to eat away at public respect for DMPS. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/e...

A search committee winnowing the field of candidates for president of Iowa State University has settled on its semifinalists. Instead of names, the public knows their ID number. ⤵️ www.thegazette.com/higher-educa...

The Iowa FOI Council issued this statement about today’s special Des Moines school board meeting: Questions have been raised, and rightly so, about Supt Ian Roberts’ legal status. Some question the diligence of the board’s background investigation. The board owed it to parents, —- >

A tip for journalists or merely the curious in Iowa: When a prominent state or local gov’t employee leaves their job in Iowa, file a public records request for any separation agreement or other documents detailing terms of the departure. There may be nothing, but there may be bug payments.

In a victory for transparency, Iowa Supreme Court tells government boards they need not fear defamation lawsuits if they provide live-streaming or on-demand access to video recordings of their meetings. open.substack.com/pub/revans28...

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has a helpful new guide for journalists trying to cover the immigration issue: www.rcfp.org/rcfp-new-imm...

Capitol security video *should* be publicly available. No one in the building’s public spaces has an expectation of privacy. The video would provide an independent means to show how protesters behave, how displays get vandalized, and how Capitol Police respond. ⤵️

BREAKING: FBI agents arrested Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday, accusing her of obstructing an immigration enforcement action last week. via @henry-redman.bsky.social wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/fbi-a...

To assert the legislation on access to State Capitol security video or Capitol door card-access logs endangers lawmakers’ or gov’t officials’ safety is simply wrong. This would *not* be live access. This would be provided lster. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/p...

"The FBI on Friday arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown."

Immigrant journalists face increasing legal risks amid Trump's immigration crackdown — with many expressing concerns that their reporting could jeopardize their standing in the US. @rcfp.org's Flavie Fuentes discussed in @amcommmedia.bsky.social:

Two school boards meet in a joint closed meeting over their shared superintendent’s social media posts about Big Pharma. www.kcrg.com/2025/04/10/t...

A national law firm has gone to bat on behalf of a Decatur County woman who was threatened with legal action by the county attorney over her criticism of a county supervisor’s absence from in-person board meetings. Here’s the Institute for Justice’s press release: ij.org/press-releas...

Requesting emails can be extremely insightful, but also a bit of an exemptions minefield. MuckRock has created a new guide for you on getting emails in public records requests:

State public records laws give citizens, and journalists, access to documents that enable people to better understand what government is doing — or not doing. Here’s a fine example ⤵️

The @rcfp.org has published a new tipsheet to help journalists access public records while reporting on immigration and deportation. Available in both English and Spanish:

The ability of citizens to monitor their police officers’ actions took an important step forward with today’s unanimous Iowa Supreme Court decision that officers’ use-of-force reports must be made public. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/c...

Johnston School District refuses to say what the now-former employee’s job was, when he left that job & whether it was a resignation, firing or resignation in lieu of termination, but those details ARE public & the school is ignoring its legal duty. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/c...

We went to the Iowa Supreme Court this week to ask it to decide the constitutionality of a 2024 law a judge cited in his decision to close the courtroom for testimony about an Iowa prosecutor’s decision to add the Jefferson County sheriff to a list of law officers whose candor has been questioned.

There’s a vacancy on the county board of supervisors in Linn County. Because of an Iowa Supreme Court decision this month, the applications of all people applying for appointment to fill the vacancy *must* be made public. www.thegazette.com/local-govern...

🚨 TODAY: Join us to hear directly from student editors about the state of college press freedom! Register here ➡️ us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... Featuring editors from The Dartmouth, Retrograde News (UT Dallas), Daily Trojan (USC) and moderated by Emily Bloch, president of @spj-posts.bsky.social.

A cease-and-desist letter from a government attorney for exercising your free-speech rights over an elected official’s absenteeism? I invite you to catch up on this controversy that has Iowa abuzz. ⤵️ open.substack.com/pub/revans28...

The legendary Ron Steele, a respected member of the KWWL-TV news team for half a century, will bid farewell later this month. www.kwwl.com/news/waterlo...

Kudos to @KimReynoldsIA for making clear today that meetings — and the report — of her government efficiency taskforce will be open to the public. (And it is covered by the public records law, too.) www.thegazette.com/state-govern...

Former Congressman Devin Nunes loses defamation lawsuit against Esquire magazine over article about his family’s dairy farm in Iowa. www.courthousenews.com/ex-californi...

Iowa FOI Council formally objected to closure of the courtroom for all but closing arguments. Public trials are a foundation of the American & Iowa judicial systems. That’s especially true when the top law officer’s credibility is questioned by the top prosecutor. This isn’t some private dispute.

One thing Iowa does correctly: The public records law (section 22.13) plainly says any settlement, severance or other document that resolves a legal dispute must be made public upon request. 👇

@scrippsnews.bsky.social, co-represented by an RCFP attorney, is fighting for access to bodycam footage showing the police shooting of a 17-year-old while officers responded to an armed robbery.

NEW: Federal appeals court delivers setback to press access to courts, rules, 2-1, no First Amendment violation in making press and public go physically to court to see filings while letting lawyers review same filings online. 4th Cir Opn w/dissent: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

This is not unique to Colorado. It’s common for routine requests in Iowa to cost requesters hundreds of dollars. And $1,000+ bills are not rare, unfortunately. 👇

Transparency advocates in Iowa will miss Allison Smith. But we wish her well in Omaha. ketv.com/article/ketv...

The legendary Orlan Love’s look at lives of two notable Iowa environmentalists is fascinating. It includes an important reminder how Tim Mason used federal FOI Act to document abuses by the feds in maintaining the Effigy Mounds burial site. From @thegazette.com : www.thegazette.com/sports/conse...

The City Of Dubuque claims Iowa law requires it to keep those bids secret. But the Iowa Code section the city cites refers to *sealed* bids — not to bids that have been officially opened in the lead-up to awarding a contract.

The Iowa Court of Appeals tackled an often-abused reason for closed gov’t board meetings — the “needless and irreparable injury” exemption — and rules the Cedar Rapids City Council failed to establish that when interviewing a candidate for city office. www.thegazette.com/local-govern...

“Don’t embarrass the family.”

It is regrettable, but Iowa’s public records law (and court decisions) have shielded public access to gov’t employee discipline docs unless there is a demotion. Had George Floyd been killed in Iowa, the public would not have access to the cop’s disciplinary file.

Public trust and confidence in their local governments is taking a hit from the practices too many boards and councils use to circumvent public meetings laws. open.substack.com/pub/revans28...

Editor Reynolds Hutchins (also on VCOG's board of directors): “It would be not only inappropriate but dangerous to set a precedent that allows for public institutions to keep info, paid for by the public and meant to keep the public safe, hidden from the public." dailyprogress.com/news/local/e...

The Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a 48-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan education and advocacy organization, is now at home on Bluesky. Follow us for news and commentary on matters involving government transparency.