The short answer, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, is yes. The high court says nude dancing is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. That means the government can’t ban . . . → Read More: Strip-club company sues North Bay Village]]> Isle of Dreams claims a conditional-use application needed to build a strip club is unconstitutional. The city denies that claim.

BY LIDIA DINKOVA

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

The tightly worded order also tosses out one “public disclosure” element of the . . . → Read More: Walton County Sunshine Law case advances (DOCUMENTS)]]>

Judge denies motion to dismiss; state attorney won’t pursue criminal charges

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Circuit Court Judge Howard LaPorte has denied a motion from Walton County to throw out a lawsuit accusing the County Commission of violating the state’s Sunshine Law.

The tightly worded order also tosses out one “public disclosure” element of the lawsuit filed by resident Suzanne Harris.

Matt Gaetz, Harris’ attorney, called the setback minor and said he was pleased overall with LaPorte’s rulings.

County officials said they “will reserve the right to make comment until such time that all litigation has reached a conclusion.”

News of the judge’s denial came on the same day State Attorney Bill Eddins’ office announced it would not seek criminal contempt charges against county commissioners, particularly Scott Brannon.

Read the letters from the state attorney’s office »

Read the judge’s order » 

Gaetz had asked Eddins’ office on behalf of Harris to consider criminal prosecution.

In her lawsuit, Harris alleges Brannon’s most recent Sunshine Law transgression — conducting county business from a private email account — violates Walton County Judge David Green’s order in 2009 that commissioners use only county email accounts to conduct business.

Gaetz alleged Brannon intentionally circumvented Green’s order, which was signed as part of a negotiated settlement in another Sunshine Law case.

Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said in a news release issued Thursday that the decision not to pursue charges came when it was determined “adequate other remedies are available to address this issue.”

In a letter accompanying the release, Marcille specifically referred to a motion for civil contempt filed by Gaetz on the same issue.

“This provides an appropriate civil contempt process to address the alleged violations,” the letter said.

It notes that “in the past, other judges have referred cases to this office to prosecute as contempt. Judge Green has not referred this matter to our office.”

Gaetz said he interpreted Marcille’s letter to mean that if Green rules in civil court that Brannon violated the court order and is therefore in contempt, the state attorney’s office would rethink its position.

Marcille agreed.

“If the judge did do that (rule Brannon in contempt) we would take additional action at that point,” he said.

The county’s response to all of Thursday’s events came by email through spokesman Louis Svehla. The statement said:

“Since there is still current ongoing litigation in relation to the rulings/findings announced today, we will reserve the right to make comment until such time that all litigation has reached a conclusion.”

The portion of the Harris lawsuit thrown out was termed by Gaetz the “public disclosure” motion.

Harris had alleged that the Sunshine Law allowed her to learn the names of the officers of a limited liability corporation that took part in a controversial land deal along Chat Holley Road.

The judge ruled she did not have proper standing to merit such information.

The state attorney’s office also acted Thursday to throw out a request by Brannon that Harris be prosecuted for extortion.

The news release said the matter involved allegations that Harris tried to extort money “during discussions regarding civil actions against Walton County.”

“Insufficient evidence exists to prove any crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” the release said.

Harris said Brannon accused her of wanting Lloyd Blue, a player in the Chat Holley affair, pay off her son’s college loans.

“It’s just a desperate act by Scott,” she said. “My child never had a student loan. He never had a loan of any kind, period.”

Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/lawsuit-49575-walton-.html#ixzz1ux1HZhBD

George Zimmerman‘s lawyer expects to get his first look at the evidence against his client Monday.

The rest of us will not.

Special Prosecutor Angela Corey’s office announced late Friday afternoon that it will not release the information to the public on Monday.

Florida’s public records law allows government agencies a reasonable amount of time to . . . → Read More: Zimmerman’s lawyer expects to get evidence Monday]]> By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel

George Zimmerman‘s lawyer expects to get his first look at the evidence against his client Monday.

The rest of us will not.

Special Prosecutor Angela Corey’s office announced late Friday afternoon that it will not release the information to the public on Monday.

Florida’s public records law allows government agencies a reasonable amount of time to provide records, once they’re requested. It does not define what a reasonable amount of time is, and Corey spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard said she was not sure when the evidence might be released to those requesting it.

Her office, she said, is not intentionally trying to hide the evidence from the media and public.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. He shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, in Sanford Feb. 26, setting off civil rights rallies and demonstrations across the country.

Six weeks after the shooting, Corey charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder and had him arrested.

He’s currently free on $150,000 bail. He says he is innocent because he acted in self-defense.

The evidence against him is in Jacksonville at Corey’s office. She’s expected to turn it over Monday to defense attorney Mark O’Mara.

It will include crime scene photos, Trayvon’s autopsy, Zimmerman’s five statements to authorities, witness statements, and crime lab work — if it’s been completed — on clothing and Zimmerman’s handgun.

Attorneys for both sides, though, have said they want to keep some of it secret, especially the names and addresses of witnesses.

O’Mara said he’s afraid they won’t cooperate out of fear they’ll be harassed by reporters and people who have taken sides in the racially-charged case.

He said last Thursday that he may file a motion Monday, asking a judge to seal those names, and perhaps other things as well.

Those other things, he said, might include things that inflame racial tensions or those that would never be admitted at trial.

If he makes the request, media companies, including the Orlando Sentinel, would likely file a challenge, pressing for the release of all the evidence.

The bottom line: That could mean weeks of delays in any public release of the information.

O’Mara could have picked up the evidence April 27 but decided against it, choosing, instead, to first put together a plan on how to protect witness names.

As Mayor Alvin Brown moves forward with his plans for economic development reform, the City’s Ethics Commission wants to make sure members of the new boards and offices he plans to create disclose their financial interests.

The City Council Finance and Rules committees are jointly reviewing Ordinance 2012-212, which replaces the Jacksonville . . . → Read More: Ethics Commission wants disclosure for new government bodies]]> by Joe Wilhelm Jr., Staff Writer

As Mayor Alvin Brown moves forward with his plans for economic development reform, the City’s Ethics Commission wants to make sure members of the new boards and offices he plans to create disclose their financial interests.

The City Council Finance and Rules committees are jointly reviewing Ordinance 2012-212, which replaces the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission with an Office of Economic Development.

The commission voted Monday to recommend to the Council that it add language to the ordinance to clarify who is required to file financial disclosure forms.

“I think there is an opportunity and a need for us as a commission, if we so choose, to recommend some clarification to this,” said James Young, chair of the commission’s legislative subcommittee, which met before Monday’s regular meeting of the Ethics Commission.

“To one, have the Council include who they want to specifically include. If it includes the CEO for reporting and conflict-of-interest purposes, then it should say so, not just all ‘board members,’” Young said.

Young used a section of the ordinance describing the Downtown Investment Authority as an area that could use some clarity.

Section 55.311 states: “All board members shall comply with all the applicable laws, ordinances and regulations, including, but not limited to, the State of Florida Laws on Ethics, as applied to a redevelopment agency under chapter 163, part 3, Florida Statutes, the Sunshine Law, chapter 286, Florida Statutes and the Public Records Act, chapter 119, Florida Statutes.”

Young said he was concerned that the ordinance didn’t cover all the people who would be involved with the new boards and offices.

“The Downtown Investment Authority is supposed to have a chief executive officer. Is that position subject to disclosure?” said Young.

“Under the CRA (community redevelopment area) related provisions, which the DIA will function as, there is a provision that basically says that the officers, commissioners and employees of a CRA are subject to the provisions (of the State of Florida Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees),” said Jason Gabriel, City assistant general counsel.

The commission later agreed to draft a resolution to request the Council amend 2012-212 to require both board members and the CEO of the new Downtown Investment Authority to file financial disclosure forms.

New commission members awaiting Council approval attended the regular meeting, including Ywana Allen, Cynthia Irvin, Joe Jacquot, Tom Paul and Larry Pritchard.

The Council is scheduled to vote on four of the five members at today’s meeting. Irving’s appointment is being reviewed by the Council’s Rules Committee.

The commission voted Braxton Gillam to a second term as chair and Tatiana Salvador as vice chair.

The commission also made subcommittee assignments.

The bylaws subcommittee consists of Salvador, who will serve as chair, Jacquot and Young.

The hotline subcommittee includes Young, who will serve as chair, Allen, L.E. Hutton, Irvin, Paul and Salvador.

Legislative comprises Gillam, Hutton, Paul and Pritchard.

The nominating subcommittee includes Hutton, who will serve as chair, Irvin and Young.

The transparency and open government subcommittee will consist of Young, as chair, Allen, Irvin, Jacquot and Pritchard.

jwilhelm@baileypub.com

356-2466

Posted: 12:00am on May 8, 2012; Modified: 1:37pm on May 8, 2012

For someone who disdained electronic communications and the resulting creation of public records, Gov. Rick Scott has seen the light — the light of sunshine in government. The governor opened public access to emails among his key advisors with the launch of a website . . . → Read More: Gov. Scott’s welcome initiative on government transparency]]> BRADENTON HERALD EDITORIAL

Posted: 12:00am on May 8, 2012; Modified: 1:37pm on May 8, 2012

For someone who disdained electronic communications and the resulting creation of public records, Gov. Rick Scott has seen the light — the light of sunshine in government. The governor opened public access to emails among his key advisors with the launch of a website that posts communications in a fairly timely manner.

This comes in the wake of scandalous deletions of emails prior to his taking office, a violation of state law that is still being investigated. And, oddly enough, this follows the governor’s once avowed distaste for email; he refused to establish an official email account for the first eight months of his term.

This is quite the seismic change, even though Scott has pushed for government transparency on many levels.

Journalists, bloggers and watchdogs could be counted on to submit freedom of information requests to government agencies in order to secure public documents — sometime a laborious task with waiting periods that stretched beyond reasonable. Now anyone with a computer can peek into the inner workings at the highest level of Florida government — to a certain degree.

Facebook, Twitter and smart phone messages will not be readily accessible since that presents a technological challenge. Still, state officials are required to retain and record those for public access upon request. We encourage the governor to post all of those as well, for total sunshine.

For now, the public can view email communications between the governor, lieutenant governor, their staff chiefs and deputies, and communications officers — 11 members of Scott’s leadership team. Those messages comprise 80 percent of the public requests for records.

This initiative, dubbed “Project Sunburst,” can be accessed via www.flgov.com/sunburst with the user name and password of “sunburst.” While emails will be posted daily on this read-only site, some will be up to a week old and some will be exempt from Florida’s open-records law. The goal, however, is to place emails online within 24 hours of creation, which would give the public quick access to the inner workings of government.

Of course, this does not provide a total behind-the-scenes view of communications. Public officials loath to be too revealing will communicate in other ways over critical matters to avoid leaving a public record. But that’s already occurring, an unavoidable part of government in general.

Regardless, Project Sunburst represents an improvement in transparency — a remarkable step that benefits the general public. Barbara Petersen, director of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, put it well by noting that “providing real time access to email is a very positive and proactive step.”

We hope this also represents a trend that will expand with additional transparency initiatives.

Richard Weiss, Polk County’s clerk of courts, displays in . . . → Read More: Florida Clerks Pushing to Go Paperless]]> New Technology Could Save Polk $1.5 Million Per Year

Published: Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:45 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:45 p.m.

BARTOW | Courthouses across the state are prepping for a revolutionary step in technology that could help budget woes and conserve dwindling space.

Enlarge | Buy Photo

Richard Weiss, Polk County’s clerk of courts, displays in February the records from George Trepal’s death penalty case from 1991 that are still stored at the Polk County Courthouse.

Michael Wilson | Ledger photos

Facts

“We were drowning in paper.”

Richard Weiss, Polk County’s clerk of the courts

What if lawyers didn’t have to mail documents or hire someone to hand-deliver them to the courthouse? What if they could electronically file them through a website?

The federal court system has been doing “e-filing” for years, and now Florida’s state court system is catching up.

The state’s 67 court clerk offices aim to accept documents electronically this year. The deadline to be ready to accept civil cases is July 1. The deadline for criminal cases is Dec. 31.

“There might be a clerk here or there who for some reason is unable to meet this goal,” said Lydia Gardner, clerk of court for Orange County and chair of the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority Board. “We understand that some people may need to have a little more time.”

Lisa Goodner, state courts administrator, said it was important to set dates for Florida’s numerous court clerks to work toward, especially in lean economic times.

“Everybody wanted to set aggressive targets so that we have a real motivation to keep this as a front-burner project and make it happen,” she said.

Richard Weiss, Polk County’s clerk of the courts, said he is confident his agency can make the deadlines.

“We are right on track,” he said.

The switch to e-filing comes at a time when court clerk budgets have again been slashed drastically.

Weiss experienced a $1.8 million cut in 2010 and lost 42 employee positions. This year, he must cut more than $850,000 from his agency’s budget, and his staff will be reduced by about 22 positions.

Weiss said the ability to e-file court documents will help his limited staff keep up as more cases are filed each year, especially with the rising tide of mortgage foreclosures.

“Without the technology, I have no idea what we would have done,” Weiss said.

Once completed, Weiss anticipates a paperless system would produce at least $1.5 million in annual savings for his agency, primarily in reducing the time-consuming labor of processing paperwork.

The cost of folders, paper and forms isn’t cheap, either. Last year, Polk’s clerk of court office spent about $190,000 on those.

Electronic filing also saves space. The 10th floor and other available space at the Polk County Courthouse have been filling up with paper, and it has been spreading to off-site locations.

More than 59,000 square feet of space has been used to keep boxes, folders, microfiche, film reels, and logbooks filled with records, some going back to the 1800s.

“We were drowning in paper,” Weiss said.

When he became clerk about 15 years ago, Weiss said he knew electronic documents would be his major focus in the future.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be a short process,” he said. “It was going to take a while. But it was a dream. I knew we could accomplish it. We’re almost there.”

Weiss estimated that his agency has invested about $6 million during the past 10 years to move civil and criminal cases into a paperless system called Polk Integrated Court System.

New Vision Systems, a ­Connecticut-based company, developed the system and modified it over the years to include different types of court cases.

Official records like deeds and mortgages are searchable and available online.

The public cannot view online electronic documents in civil and criminal cases from personal computers. The Florida Supreme Court has limited what court records are available online because of concerns over identity theft.

However, people visit the courthouse to view civil and criminal documents at computer terminals.

Special software was necessary to make sure sensitive, personal information isn’t visible to the general public, including Social Security, bank account, and credit card numbers.

The electronic documents are backed up daily at an undisclosed, secure location.

The final step is e-filing. So far, probate cases involving wills and estates have been the first to make the jump.

Several law firms have been test-driving Polk’s new e-filing.

The firms have been filing documents electronically as well as sending them via mail or hand delivery as a backup method to make sure there are no glitches.

“We have had no problems, absolutely no issues whatsoever,” said Victor Troiano of Lakeland law firm Troiano & Roberts. “Everything we have filed manually has also been filed electronically.”

He described the e-filing process as easy to learn, and expects it will reduce mailing costs for lawyers and will save time for their employees.

“The people who are doing the filing essentially don’t have to leave their desks to get it done,” he said. “It’s much faster.”

Records can be sent 24 hours per day, which is helpful when lawyers must file documents by certain deadlines, he said.

Weiss said there is still a lot of work and tweaking to be done to make the paperless system better.

“We got the basics,” he said. “We got an engine, seats and tires. Now I want to know what do we need to even improve what we got.”

 

[ Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536. ]

Last week, Florida Gov. Rick Scott made it easier for the public to obtain some of his email correspondence. Called “Project Sunburst,” the initiative will allow Florida citizens to simply log into their home computers to check out the emails of the governor and his 11 top staff members. That . . . → Read More: Editorial: Sunshine for Scott’s inbox]]> Here’s some good news out of Tallahassee:

Last week, Florida Gov. Rick Scott made it easier for the public to obtain some of his email correspondence. Called “Project Sunburst,” the initiative will allow Florida citizens to simply log into their home computers to check out the emails of the governor and his 11 top staff members. That group, according to the Tampa Bay Times, accounts for 80 percent of such public records requests.

This is good news from a governor who started off his term with a rocky relationship with the state’s Sunshine Law. It took Scott several months, for example, to start using email, since it is subject to the Sunshine Laws, and during his transition some documents that should have been archived were destroyed, with the governor saying that an outside company had been responsible.

Florida’s Sunshine Law is one of the most progressive in the nation and comparatively, it serves citizens well. But even with the law, it can take some time to access public records. A person would have to request the record, then await a response.

The Sunburst initiative plans to have the emails available online within 24 hours. All one needs to do is log in to flgov.com/sunburst and use “sunburst” as both the username and the password.

This is an excellent first step and we hope the state and the governor go further. Currently, Sunburst covers only emails, not Twitter, Facebook, or text conversations, although they are also covered by the state’s Sunshine Law (and can be obtained by making a records request). Hopefully, that’s not far down the road.

However, this is an important first step and a very positive one for open government. It’s good to see the governor recognize not only the law, but also the importance of people seeing records much more quickly than they can now.

The Times-Union and its news partner, First Coast News, are parties in a court motion seeking to ensure full and timely access to public court records in the case against Cristian Fernandez.

At . . . → Read More: Times-Union, First Coast News seek access to records in Cristian Fernandez case]]>

The court motion calls for information in the case to be released in a timely fashion.

By Jim Schoettler 

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-05-07/story/times-union-first-coast-news-seek-access-records-cristian-fernandez-case#ixzz1uTNTO3AT

WHAT: Florida International University is hosting a panel discussion for journalists covering Facebook’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) and its implications. FIU experts from a wide array of fields, including business, law, engineering and communication, will discuss what to expect in the coming . . . → Read More: Facebook goes public]]> A discussion about the future of the Internet giant — Live on the web

WHAT: Florida International University is hosting a panel discussion for journalists covering Facebook’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) and its implications. FIU experts from a wide array of fields, including business, law, engineering and communication, will discuss what to expect in the coming months and what reporters should look out for as the world’s largest social media site goes public.

The discussion will be streamed live on Facebook and Ustream, where viewers are encouraged to post questions and comments.

After brief remarks from panelists, The Miami Herald Business Editor Jane Wooldridge will moderate a discussion about the future of a publicly-held Facebook and its impact on Wall Street, user privacy, software development, and sJocial media networking and communications, among others.

The discussion is free and open to all journalists. To RSVP, please click here.

WHEN AND WHERE: The panel will take place Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 10 a.m. at the College of Business Complex room 152 on FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 SW 8 Street in Southwest Miami-Dade County. A light breakfast will precede the event.

For those unable to attend in person, please click here on the day of the event to tune in. For those who would rather watch it on Ustream, please click here. Viewers can also use #FIUfbon Twitter to interact live with the panel.

WHO: In more than 25 years as a newspaper journalist, Jane Wooldridge has written about and/or edited coverage of business, news, community, travel and lifestyle. She has worked at The Miami Herald, The New York Times, The (Raleigh) News & Observer and The Virginian Pilot. Wooldridge will moderate a panel that includes:

• ·         Bogdan Carbunar, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computing Science, comes to FIU after six years developing software for Motorola and is an expert on social network security and privacy. Among his topics, he will speak on Facebook’s ability to collect personal information from its users.
• ·         Rosanna Fiske, an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the Immediate Past Chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America. An expert in strategic communications, Fiske can speak on how social media and communications through social networking are a big part of any business’s growth and how companies’ external communications and outreach change once they become publicly-held.
• ·         Raul Reis, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at FIU, is a veteran journalist and academician, having worked as a newspaper, TV and magazine reporter and editor at several Brazilian and US news organizations. He will speak on the ethical issues surrounding Facebook.
• ·         Helen Simon, director of the State Farm Financial Literacy Lab and senior instructor in the College of Business Administration, is president of Personal Business Management Services, LLC, an investment advisory firm in Fort Lauderdale and has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. She will speak on the next steps for Facebook, and what pitfalls the public should watch for before investing.
• ·         Hannibal Travis, an associate professor in the College of Law, focuses on intellectual property implications of new technologies and user-generated content, as well as antitrust law as applied to broadband and Wi-Fi Internet access markets. He can address intellectual property and individual privacy issues, from a legal standpoint, as Facebook undergoes heightened regulatory scrutiny and challenges from older social media companies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: For questions, please email FIU Office of Media Relations Assistant Director Jean-Paul Renaud at jprenaud@fiu.edu or call 305-348-2716.

-FIU-

About FIU:
Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and has 400 student-athletes participating in 17 sports. In 2010 the Panthers won their first bowl game. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.