Calaveras County, California is in the throes of tumultuous change. Located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the mountain community is considering whether to replace the 600 homes destroyed last year by wildfires with medical marijuana farms. The issue has opened a huge debate that has engaged many of the county’s approximately 45,000 citizens and led to a series a ballot measures.
It’s the kind of place that really needs its public notice.
PNRC President Speaks to County Clerks Group
“Public notice is truly a partnership between newspapers and local government,” PNRC President Bradley Thompson told the Michigan Association of County Clerks at their summer meeting on Aug. 22 in Grand Rapids. “We both have mandates to do it properly.”
Thompson (photo on left courtesy of Michigan Press Association), chairman and CEO of the Detroit Legal News Co., used the remainder of his speech to define what proper public notice entails, and to place it in context as part of the three-legged stool of transparent government: Public notice, open meetings and freedom of information.
Print Wins One; Wall Street Journal Chalks It Up to Lobbyists
The national media tend to operate in internet-saturated media environments and often overlook the value of print to key constituencies. As a result, Consumers for Paper Options, an organization funded by the paper and mailing industries, has an uphill battle to be heard as it tries to preserve the ability of the public to read information on paper.
Texas Water Supplier Cited; Has History of Public Notice Violations
The Dog Ridge Water Supply Corp. was cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on Friday for failing to collect a sufficient number of samples required as a result of earlier tests that showed the presence of E. coli and coliform bacteria, according to the Temple (Texas) Daily Telegram. The company, which supplies drinking water to approximately 4,500 people in Bell County, purchases its water from the Central Texas Water Supply Corp. The Daily Telegram reports that both Dog Ridge and its supplier have been cited for multiple violations by TCEQ for failing to follow the state’s public notice requirements.
Wisconsin Legislative Committee Studies Public Notices
Several newspaper representatives testified last week in favor of public notices in newspapers at the initial meeting of Wisconsin’s Legislative Council Study Committee on the Publication of Government Documents and Legal Notices. The committee was authorized by the legislature to study the state’s public notice laws and make recommendations for changes that “reflect technological advances.”
PNRC Hosts Conference on Best Practices in Public Notice
The Public Notice Resource Center will identify best practices and share tips on how to secure the public’s right to know at its first-ever symposium on Best Practices in Public Notice on Sept. 22. The conference will be held in conjunction with the National Newspaper Association’s 130th Annual Convention & Trade Show at the Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, Tenn.
The half-day conference is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. and conclude at 4:15 p.m., immediately prior to the welcome reception that opens the NNA convention.
PNRC Files Comments Opposing EPA Proposal
The Public Notice Resource Center today filed comments urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to deprive the public of newspaper notices relating to the approval of permits under the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA is considering notifying the public about CAA permits only on a government website.
PNRC was joined in the comments by the 43 other organizations representing newspapers and journalists.
On Dec. 29, EPA announced its intention to reduce the public notice it currently provides in connection with most CAA actions by eliminating the requirement that the notices run in local newspapers near the potential sources of pollution EPA is planning to approve.
Greeneville Sun Staff Writer Earns 2016 Public Notice Journalism Award
Kenneth Little, staff writer for the Greeneville (TN) Sun, has won the 2016 Public Notice Journalism Award for coverage of a nursing home in Limestone, TN, whose Medicare/ Medicaid coverage was revoked by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The story followed publication of an official newspaper notice by HHS in the Sun noting “deficiencies” by the hospital.
Read the winning story and see the original public notice here.
PNRC Elects New Board of Directors
The Public Notice Resource Center (PNRC) has named Bradley L. Thompson II to his third full term as president. Thompson is chairman of Detroit Legal News Company and is a founding board member of PNRC, which was established in 2002.
He is a resident of Ann Arbor, MI, and is a member of the fifth generation of his family to lead the publicly-traded Michigan company. The Detroit Legal News Co. publishes 10 newspapers in Michigan. Thompson is also chairman of Printing Industries of America and a director of Michigan Press Association. He has a long history of involvement in civic organizations and currently serves as vice chair of the Clements Library at the University of Michigan.
Few Visit Indiana’s New Online Budget Website
Indiana has started to feel the effects of a bill passed in the state’s 2014 legislative session. The law eliminated the publication requirement that placed state and local budget information in local newspapers in favor of placing them on the state Department of Local Government Finance. The Goshen News reports that only 4,633 unique visitors clicked onto the portion of the DLGF website where local government budgets are posted during the last six months of 2014.