ICOG News - Indiana Coalition for Open Government

IndyStar: Under Braun’s watchdog, government secrecy grows harder to challenge

Cate Charron & Grace Randolph. 2026-07-24. Indianapolis Star Indiana’s public access counselor is supposed to ensure transparency in government. But under Gov. Mike Braun’s appointee, Jennifer Ruby, it has become far more difficult for Hoosiers to challenge government secrecy, an IndyStar...

Indiana Public Access Counselor, Jennifer Ruby, Publishes First Two Opinions

You can read the first two (and more in the future) 2025 Advisory Opinions from Indiana's new Public Access Counselor, Jennifer Ruby: 25-FC-00B: Alleged Violation of the Access to Public Records Act by the New Carlisle Town Council 25-FC-003: Alleged Violation of the Open Door Law by the Green...

Who you gonna call? 260-ASK-ICOG!

We are excited to launch our public access (ODL, APRA, and civics phone help line), 260-ASK-ICOG. Staffed by ICOG volunteers, we'll do our best to assist you with your questions related to open government in the Hoosier state. Currently being explored as a pilot project, we will re-evaluate the...

The Indiana Capital Chronicle: Indiana public access office goes quiet amid turnover

Leslie Bonilla Muñiz. 2025-05-30. Indiana Capital Chronicle. Tippecanoe County resident Pamela Frazee just wants to know if her messages went through. Phone calls to Indiana’s Office of the Public Access Counselor (PAC) route directly to a voicemail box and aren’t returned. Emails — including...

Indiana Debate Commission: Governor candidates to participate in televised debate on October 24, 2024

Archived Debate The Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian candidates for Indiana governor have agreed to meet Oct. 24 in a televised debate organized by the Indiana Debate Commission. The debate among Mike Braun (R), Jennifer McCormick (D), and Donald Rainwater (L) will be broadcast live at 7-8...

News from Indiana

The Indiana Citizen: Moonlighting: Rokita fights court order to release report on his private employment — even though it allows him to redact as much as he wants.

Mar 9, 2023

Marilyn Odendahl. 2023. The Indiana Citizen: Moonlighting: Rokita fights court order to release report on his private employment — even though it allows him to redact as much as he wants. The Indiana Citizen. March 9, 2023 One day after being sworn in as Attorney...

New Beta Version of Indiana General Assembly Website

Feb 8, 2023

The Indiana General Assembly website is receiving an update in 2023: We have some improvements in the works that we're excited for you to experience. Click here to try our new, faster beta site. We will be maintaining our current version of the site until the middle...

IndyStar: Hoosiers fear losing benefits, rights: A woman sued to save her Medicaid. HHC agency wants to bar such cases.

Nov 9, 2022

Magdaleno, Johnny, and Tony Cook. 2022. Hoosiers fear losing benefits, rights: A woman sued to save her medicaid. HHC agency wants to bar such cases. Indianapolis Star, Nov 04, 2022. (accessed January 9, 2023). Indiana and other states often try to cut or deny...

News from ICOG

Hiding behind HIPAA

Jul 13, 2015

By Craig Lyons Residents in St. Joseph County can dine safely knowing that no one reported a single case of food-borne illness to the county the first four months of the year. But if there had been a complaint, the public would be able to see only part of the...

Public officials’ emails are public records

Jul 13, 2015

One of the key battlegrounds for public access to electronic records, in Indiana and around the country, involves email accounts of public officials. Journalists have found major revelations in officials’ emails, such as alleged misconduct by former State...

Video: ICOG, SPJ panel on digital transparency

Apr 12, 2015

Indiana Coalition for Open Government and the Indiana Professional Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists marked Sunshine Week 2015 with a symposium to discuss the state of open government data in Indiana. Titled "Digital Transparency in Government: What We...

All the News

The Brechner Report: 11/10/2023 – All the latest government transparency news

Nov 11, 2023

You can read the full newsletter here: https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=33979fc3e9&u=e2bfc368fca7a023b36d90db8&id=7cdebedc7a Topics covered: Access to state public records is "deteriorating terribly" Strategies to stem the tide of exemptions New Jersey's...

Shading Sunshine: The Proliferation of Exemptions to State Open Records Laws

Nov 11, 2023

Cat Reid. 2023. Shading Sunshine: The Proliferation of Exemptions to State Open Records Laws. Duke Law Journal, Volume 73, Number 2. November 2023. Abstract State and local open records laws play a vital role in our democracy. They shed light on the darkest places,...

Route Fifty: Access to public records is ‘deteriorating terribly’

Oct 31, 2023

Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene. 2023. Access to public records is 'deteriorating terribly'. Route Fifty, October 31st, 2023. Back in May, at the recommendation of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state legislature made a change to its public records laws,...