The Minnesota Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in the Helmberger v. Johnson Controls open records case. The case involved a suit brought by the publisher of the Minnesota-based Timberjay Newpaper against Johnson Controls of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In its ruling, the court held that Johnson Controls was not obligated to provide access to certain subcontract … Continue reading Johnson Controls, “private” data, and public programs

Public Record Media (PRM) has filed a Data Practices Act request with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) seeking information about how the agency uses drone aircraft owned and operated by the federal government. An emerging picture A picture of drone use in Minnesota has been slowly emerging through documents obtained through public records … Continue reading PRM seeks drone data from Minnesota BCA

On December 7, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released its Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the proposed NorthMet mining project. If approved, NorthMet would be an open-pit, copper-sulfide mine in northern Minnesota operated by the Canada-based PolyMet Mining Corporation. The NorthMet SDEIS includes hundreds of pages of data compiled by the … Continue reading PRM, public records, and PolyMet

Minnesota’s Executive Council met on October 25th to approve the issuance of 31 mining leases for non-ferrous metallic minerals. The council approved the leases on a vote of four-to-one. Executive Council members include Governor Dayton, Secretary of State Ritchie, State Auditor Otto, Attorney General Swanson, and Lt. Governor Prettner-Solon, who chaired the meeting. During the … Continue reading Minnesota’s Executive Council approves mining leases

Since 2011, Public Record Media (PRM) has sought documentation related to the oversight and management of Minnesota’s public health care programs. We have published numerous stories and documents related to these matters, and continue to make public record requests to gather additional information. Minnesota’s public health care programs are administered by private HMOs under contract … Continue reading Update on PRM’s request to Minnesota Commerce

On June 5, 2013, the Guardian newspaper published a leaked order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that compelled the Verizon telephone company to turn over the records of all calls made by its customers during a two-month period to the U.S. government. Additional document leaks and government admissions revealed that such a “call-tracking” … Continue reading NSA “call-tracking” lawsuit update

Ever since 1953, the state of Minnesota has conducted environmental radiation tests to measure the presence of various isotopes in its air, water, and land.  While the roots of its monitoring program were grounded in concerns about above-ground nuclear testing, the program was later expanded to cover the state’s two nuclear power plants as well.  … Continue reading MDH to produce radiation data