Tag Archive: Alaska

Open data is the next iteration of public records

by Alisha Green

policy

Mar 17, 2014 11:00 am

The way we think about access to information is changing along with advances in technology. It's time for public records to be proactively released online.

Missouri just the latest state to test limits of gun law nullification

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Sep 11, 2013 11:03 am

One day after Colorado voters ousted two state senators over their support for gun control, Missouri lawmakers are debating whether to try to make federal gun control measures illegal in their state. In a special legislative session opening today, opponents of gun control in the Show-Me State are vowing to override Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of a bill that would effectively nullify federal gun control measures.

The law would make it illegal for state employee to enforce them. Nixon (pictured right) called it unconstitutional when he vetoed the measure in July.

As Sunlight first reported in March, the ...

Sunlight Weekly Roundup: Super Pacs on Super Tuesday

by Bridget Todd Mar 2, 2012 12:43 pm

With Super Tuesday quickly approaching, we decided to take a look at what local bloggers in Super Tuesday states are... View Article

And then there were eight Palin accounts

by Chris Zubak-Skees

investigations

Jun 21, 2011 4:58 pm

How many email accounts did Sarah Palin use as Alaska governor? Last week, the answer, tallied in an earlier story, was “at least six.” This week, it’s “at least eight.”

Long-time Palin watcher Andrée McLeod wrote Sunlight to point out another address hiding in plain sight. Gov.palin@yahoo.com, which Sunlight identified, turns out to be a separate account from govpalin@yahoo.com (note the lack of a dot), which we didn’t. We skipped over that, because some email providers — including Gmail — ignore the dot, treating those as the same account, but a quick test confirmed ...

Palin used six email accounts as governor

by Chris Zubak-Skees

investigations

Jun 15, 2011 9:03 am

On Friday, reporters in Juneau, Alaska, began to sift through and scan more than 24,000 pages of emails to and from former Governor Sarah Palin, just released in response to requests made when she was governor. But they had full coverage of just two of her email accounts--and perhaps not the most interesting ones--because Palin had at least six accounts: one for public contact, one for internal state business, one for anything confidential and others for a mix of state and personal business.

Palin’s use of private accounts has been previously reported, but the just-released emails--which Sunlight is ...

Announcing Sarah’s Inbox

by Nicko Margolies Jun 15, 2011 9:00 am

Today the Sunlight Foundation is proud to unveil Sarah's Inbox, our attempt to make Sarah Palin's recently released email records easier to use with a searchable function and an interface similar to Gmail.

States of Transparency: Alaska

by Sarah Dorsey

investigations

Aug 11, 2010 9:51 am

The Open Government Directive encouraged states to put valuable government data online. In this series we're reviewing each state's efforts in this direction.

This week: Alaska
Website: http://fin.admin.state.ak.us/dof/checkbook_online/reports.jsp

During her 2008 vice presidential bid, Sarah Palin touted Alaska's so-called "Checkbook Online" as a model of transparency. It's a great way to find out how the state is spending its money, but the site offers few other features. We can't find out how much cash state employees bring home because in Alaska, unlike in several other states ...

Citizens United: Alaska’s response

by Ryan Sibley

investigations

Jun 18, 2010 10:05 am

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case has rendered 24 states' election laws unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling in favor of Citizens United reversed a provision of the McCain-Feingold act that prohibited any electioneering communication—defined as advertising via broadcast, cable or satellite that is paid for by corporations or labor unions. Many states have acted fast to counter corporations’ ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections by passing laws that force disclosure of all independent expenditures in near real time. The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group has decided to report what each of ...