While the collection and release of individual-level microdata is hotly debated across social disciplines, microdata has greatly improved outcomes and decision-making in criminal justice programs.
Continue readingCampaign intelligence: Anti-establishment groups’ final push
As primary season begins to wind down, outside conservative groups are still pouring money into TV ads and mailers, trying to score a few upsets against longtime incumbents.
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: Demystifying Honolulu’s legislative website
Finding legislative information on Honolulu's city council website is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Hawaii Open Data's Burt Lum explored how the website can be better.
Continue readingObama library bid gets lobbyist donors
President Barack Obama has yet to pick a site for his presidential library, but Hawaii's bid for it got a $5,000 donation from the global law and lobbying firm Skadden Arps.
The disclosure was made last week, when lobbyists reported their 2013 contributions to candidates and for presidential libraries and other causes. The donation came in January when Skadden Arps co-sponsored the Hawaii Presidential Center Inaugural Gala in Washington during the weekend of Obama's second inauguration.
While the money did not go to the president or any committees associated with him, it's an early indication of ...
Continue readingAloha Hawaii Open Data Legislation!
Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie is signing the nation’s third statewide open data policy into law today (at 11 a.m. HST/5 p.m. EST). The bill, Hawaii House Bill 632, was originally drafted in November 2012, but the open data movement in Hawaii and push for legislation has been chugging along for years now. Chief Information Officer Sonny Bhagowalia and Burt Lum, the executive director of Hawaii Open Data, crafted Hawaii’s Open Data Bill to support the data release that has been going on over the last year (via the city’s Socrata-hosted open data portal, currently boasting over 150 datasets) and in concurrence with a larger program that updates the state’s IT infrastructure.
Continue readingWhat’s wrong with this picture? Greenhouse gas at all-time high
Carbon dioxide levels are going up. So are campaign contributions by fossil fuels interests.
Continue readingObama dedicates Bush library; will he disclose donors to his own?
As President Barack Obama attends today's dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, he's mum about fundraising for his own post-presidential library -- and whether he'll disclose names of donors.
Continue readingHouse panel tries to open the (financial) books of presidential libraries
As President Obama faces choosing between Hawaii and Chicago as the site of his presidential library, a House committee today greenlighted a bill that would make donors to the institution public.
The next step will be a vote in the full House.
The bill would require future presidential library foundations to report donors to the National Archives on a quarterly basis. The Archives would then post them online in a searchable, downloadable database. The Sunlight Foundation's policy counsel, Daniel Schuman, testified in favor of the measure last week.
The state of Hawaii wants the library near this spot in ...
Political big bucks in paradise: Hawaii Senate race draws outside donors
Hawaii's first open Senate seat in more than three decades has attracted two high-profile women candidates and lots of outside money.
The race, which guarantees that Hawaii will elect its first woman senator in the state's 53-year history, represents a rematch between Republican Linda Lingle, below left, and the Democratic congresswoman Mazie Hirono, at right. Lingle beat Hirono in a 2002 race for governor. Both women have attracted considerable support from inside and outside their state, as well as from a host of interest groups, which have pumped more than $1 million into the race.
Early on, Lingle ...
Continue readingHawaii Open Government takes turn for the worse and here is why
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the... View Article
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