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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Sunshine on MI Secrets this Week

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Monday, March 17, 2008   

Midland, MI – Keeping a secret is not always admirable, especially when the public has a right to know. That's the premise behind "Sunshine Week," in Michigan and around the country. Citizens are being encouraged this week to shine a light on government activities, whether local or national, and to request information under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

In fact, most Americans think government secrecy is on the rise, according to a new poll by Scripps Howard News Service released for "Sunshine Week." Andy Alexander, co-chair of the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Freedom of Information Committee, says ordinary citizens are noticing that information about budgets, spending, politics and even history, can easily disappear in this electronic age.

"Increasingly, government officials, with no basis in law, have the ability to shut down literally millions of documents, take them offline and make them inaccessible to the public."

Alexander sees a pending Michigan Supreme Court case as a prime example of the debate. It concerns Michigan State University, which wants to keep police records of campus incidents under wraps, saying they contain personal information that should be protected. However, police reports usually are open to public scrutiny, Alexander explains, in the name of public safety.

"It's about the public's right to know what their government is doing, and why they're doing it. It's really about good government."

Alexander says Michigan citizens generally detect greater secrecy in the federal government than in local governments. He says there are several common reasons cited for secrets being kept -- in the name of national security, as "privileged" business information, or for protection of privacy. He will participate in a panel discussion about government secrecy tonight at 7:00 PM, at the Strosacker Building, Midland.

More "Sunshine Week" information, including the poll results, is available online, at www.sunshineweek.org.



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