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The Blog

Reports, victories, setbacks, and plain talk about open government in New York.

Westchester County Legislator James Nolan, R-Yonkers
LATEST
November 13, 2026

Westchester’s one-party board and its closed-door caucus

ALL POSTS
batavian-howard-owens-public-comment
June 1, 2026

A publisher spends his three minutes on the Open Meetings Law

muckrock-records-request-denied
May 29, 2026

What to do when your records request comes back denied

mentz-town-board-sign-in-sheet
May 26, 2026

Removed from a town meeting for not signing in

observer-fredonia-public-comment
May 22, 2026

Fredonia’s mayor wants to switch off public comment

reinvent-albany-govqa-foil-features
May 12, 2026

New York pays $650k a year for FOIL software it half-uses

southampton-village-legal-notices-bill
May 7, 2026

A bill would move legal notices off newsprint and online

queensbury-planning-board-zoom
May 7, 2026

Queensbury adds Zoom to its Planning Board meetings

muckrock-sunshine-season-2026-roundup
April 22, 2026

Sunshine season produced a year of public records tools

mitchell-now-south-dakota-open-government
April 20, 2026

South Dakota tightened its meeting rules; New York should look

new-york-state-budget-process-explained
April 17, 2026

Three people in a room still write the state budget

nyc-comptroller-sunlight-in-the-city-foil
April 12, 2026

An office that answers 5,000 FOIL requests a year, and how

rockland-buspatrol-foil-lawsuit
April 9, 2026

Rockland County blacked out the money in a camera contract