Pottawattamie County attorney files petition to remove county supervisor for alleged intoxication during meeting
kcci.com/article/pott...
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...
22.10.2025 17:17 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0—- > The judge said, “Crook spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern in her Facebook comments” that were posted “on her personal time, at home, from her personal Facebook account. … She did not purport to speak as an employee of the Creston Community School District.”
20.10.2025 22:26 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0—-> The judge scheduled a hearing for Oct. 31 on whether to issue an injunction against the Creston school district. Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger declined Crook’s request to lift her suspension now.
20.10.2025 22:25 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0A 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. — >
20.10.2025 22:24 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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...
—- > UPDATE:
The Des Moines school
board cancelled its closed-door discussion of the superintendent at the direction of the school attorney because no written request for the closed meeting was received from Ian Roberts.
—- > It appears Roberts has *not* been unable to communicate with school officials since his arrest — making such a request impossible.
28.09.2025 00:11 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
—- > employees, taxpayers to conduct today’s special board meeting in public. Secrecy risks further erosion of public trust in the board.
The legal basis cited for closing today’s meeting — evaluating Roberts’ professional competency — only applies if the employee asks for a closed session. —- >
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.
30.06.2025 16:49 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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. ⤵️
25.04.2025 16:38 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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...
25.04.2025 15:56 — 👍 34 🔁 25 💬 8 📌 11
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...
25.04.2025 16:25 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
"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."
25.04.2025 15:39 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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...
07.04.2025 15:56 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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:
05.04.2025 13:08 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 1State 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 ⤵️
05.04.2025 15:29 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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...
08.03.2025 15:55 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0We said in our request to the Supreme Court that the trial in Fairfield was of high public interest — because it focused on the competency, character and trustworthiness of Sheriff Bart Richmond, Jefferson County’s top law enforcement officer.
28.02.2025 06:36 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0We based our appeal on the media’s and public’s fundamental First Amendment rights to have open courts and access judicial proceedings.
28.02.2025 06:31 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0