2008: For the Public

In August 2007, Brian Bakst in Minneapolis used FOI requests to obtain e-mails from and to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office in the days after the Minneapolis bridge collapse. The resulting story gave AP’s audience a unique window into the governor’s office reaction to the tragedy.

Aug. 10, 2007

AP Exclusive: E-mails capture Minn. governor's office responding to bridge collapse

By BRIAN BAKST
Associated Press Writer

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Thirteen minutes after the interstate bridge collapsed during rush hour, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's chief spokesman shot out a message saying there "may be cars in the Mississippi River.

"Both directions on 35W. Helicopter says it's a devastating scene," Brian McClung told other top staff in the brief e-mail he sent at 6:18 p.m. on Aug. 1. McClung's note conveying a radio report was the first of a flurry of e-mails showing Pawlenty's staff's businesslike response.

The Associated Press obtained the messages through a request under Minnesota's public records law. None of the e-mails were sent to or from Pawlenty himself, but were widely shared among top staff.

See the entire story here.

----

In June 2007, Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City used a FOIA request to get the scoop that football players at the University of Oklahoma were given two nutritional supplements banned by the NCAA. Media interest in AP’s story led the school to put out a news release the next day to explain the supplements the players were given. Latzke has used a number of FOIA requests to get information involving rules violations at the university, which tends not to release such information unless a FOIA is filed.

June 14, 2007

Oklahoma identifies supplements given to football players

By JEFF LATZKE
AP Sports Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The University of Oklahoma identified two drinks containing amino acids as the impermissible nutritional supplements it provided to football players last season, resulting in a secondary violation of NCAA rules.

In a fact sheet released Thursday night, the university said it gave players Cytomax and Endurox R4, which it identified as "ready-to-drink health supplements." Oklahoma said both supplements "are permissible substances for NCAA student-athletes to ingest, although it is impermissible for NCAA members to provide the products to student-athletes."

NCAA bylaws allow schools to provide "only nonmuscle-building nutritional supplements" that give athletes additional calories or electrolytes. Schools aren't allowed to give athletes products containing amino acids.

See the entire story here.

----

In March 2007, John O'Connor in Springfield, Ill., scoured a list of state pay increases he received through an FOI request to report that the wife of the Illinois Senate president had received a state job promotion and $70,000 raise about the time the two were married. Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration created a special salary class just for her position in order to give her the hefty raise.

April 9, 2007

AP Exclusive: Senate president's wife got $70,000 raise from state

By JOHN O'CONNOR
AP Political Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Soon to marry one of Illinois' most powerful politicians, Lorrie Rickman Stone was promoted to a new state job in September 2005.

Two months later, she wed Senate President Emil Jones. And two months after that, her salary had soared by nearly $70,000.

The Blagojevich administration created a special salary class for her position alone, so the psychologist -- now Lorrie Rickman Jones -- saw her pay rise from $116,460 to $186,000, a 60 percent increase, The Associated Press found after a review of state documents.

Her raise took effect two weeks before the new job classification was officially created and 4 1/2 months before the classification received final legislative approval.

See the entire story here.

----

On Jan. 5, 2007, AP filed a request under Missouri's open records law that ultimately showed that Missouri nursing homes were hit with more than 1,500 fire safety violations in the past four years. AP's investigation, made in the wake of the group home fire that killed 11 people in late 2006, showed that about two-thirds of the state's roughly 635 licensed residential care facilities had been cited for at least one fire safety violation from 2003 through mid-December 2006. Additional open-records requests on this case produced other significant findings – that the state health department knew the owner of the group home (a convicted felon) had been involved in the home's operations despite a state law prohibiting felons from operating such facilities and that documents showed that top state regulators recommended the home's operators have their licenses revoked months before the fire. The recommendation was essentially ignored.

Jan. 9, 2007

AP Newsbreak: Most of Missouri residential group homes cited for fire violations

By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press Writer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- About two-thirds of Missouri's licensed residential care facilities were cited for at least one fire safety violation over the past four years, according to an Associated Press analysis.

The analysis of inspection citations provided by the Department of Health and Senior Services also found that the state's roughly 635 residential care facilities have been hit with more than 1,500 fire safety violations from 2003 through mid-December 2006.

The AP requested the database figures under the state's open records law following a Nov. 27 fire that killed 11 people at a home for the mentally ill and disabled.

Gov. Matt Blunt's administration expressed concern about the magnitude of violations revealed by the AP's request. Although it enters inspection citations into a database, the health department had not previously tallied the number of deficiencies cited on a statewide bases.

See the entire story here.

2007 2006

SUNSHINE WEEK 2008