Thursday, May 10, 2007

May 4th and 5th

Star Tribune, 5/4, p. B1. Nick Coleman's column, headlined "The Ballpark Boys? They're batting .000 on good public policy", includes comments about Hennepin County treating the amount of Twin's contribution as not public.

Star Tribune, 5/5, p. D1. Story, headlined "Minneapolis Wi-Fi starts next week in Seward", describes the rollout of the City's wi-fi network.

Star Tribune, 5/5, p. A13. Story, headlined "TSA loses hard drive with employee data", documents another government agency losing personal data. Some irony here as the agency is the Transportation Security Agency.

May 1, 2, 3

Strib=Star Tribune and PPD=St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch

5/1. Strib. p. A6. "Olmert rejects call for resignation". The aforementioned call is in an Israeli government report.

5/1, Strib. p. A6. "Study: Arctic sea ice melting 30 years faster than expected" is based on a government study.

5/1, Strib. p. A3. "Report shows sharp increase in terror attacks in 06" is based on a State Department report. Surprise, surprise, the largest number of attacks were in Iraq.

5/1, Strib. p. A5. "Gonzales gave aides power to hire/fire appointees" describes a "secret" signed by Mr. Gonzales.

5/1, Strib. p. D1. "U.S. wants options data withheld" concerns access to the alleged backdated stock options in the United Healthcare case.

5/1, PPD. p. 1C. "CEO'S pay raises hackles at NWA" is based on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission [SED].

5/2, Strib. p. A10. In Nation subsection, story, headlined "Interior official resigns before inquiry" is the latest development in the case of the Bush appointee who was changing government reports for alleged political purposes.

5/2, PPD. p. 3B. "Dog bites actually declining in city" is based on government records.

5/2, PPD. p. 2A. In Nation and World Briefing subsection, story, headlined "Court widely OK'd wiretaps warrant, among others states that only one wiretap request was disapproved.

Also on page 2A of the PPD are stories similar to those above about the Olmert report and the Interior official's resignation.

5/3, Strib. p. B5. Story, headlined "Keep month of supplies handy", is about a new Minnesota Department of Health website that helps prepare for emergencies. In order to use the site, the user must provide detailed personal information. Similar story in PPD, 5/3, on p. 12B.

5/3 Strib. p. B1 Story, headlined "3M did research on water in 1990's", see the light of day because of documents provided to the state.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

April 29 and 30

St.Paul Pioneer Press, 4/29, p. 4A. "Katrina aid largely unused. Documents and interviews paint picture of government bumbling and waste". And so, the Katrina saga of horrible mismanagement continues.

StarTribune, 4/29, p. A6. "'Successful rebuilding didn't last", is a story, based on a government report on shoddy construction in Iraq.

St.Paul Pioneer Press, 4/30, p. 1B. "Victim sought high security" is a story about the alleged failure of a home security system which led to the murder of two people in a domestic dispute. The government information angle is that the security system companies want access to active criminal investigative data which law enforcement will not give them until after any appeals of the alleged perpetrator.

St.Paul Pioneer Press, 4/30, p. 5B. "Wolfowitz bank seek graceful parting" updates us about the Wolfowitz scandal at the World Bank and includes an information aspect in that Wolfowitz's attorney is threatening to get information about Bank salaries and perks and make that information public.

St.Paul Pioneer Press, 4/30, p. 2A. Story, headlined "Google pushes for public data", describes how Google, with changes in its software, wants to work more closely with state governments to have Google used as a public access tool.

St.Paul Pioneer Press, 4/30, p. 2A. Story, headlined "Traffic stops still target minorities", is based on a federal study. Similar story appears in 4/30 StarTribune on p. A3.

St.Paul Pioneer Press, 4/30, p. 3A. Story, headlined "Report will increase pressure on Olmert", about a soon to be published Israeli government report on the latest war in Lebanon. Similar story appear in 4/30 StarTribune on p. A9.