Hawaii Sunshine Chronicles

• You hold the keys to unlocking Hawaii’s government secrets

  If you want to learn about the information that's on file with government agencies, begin by looking at the information they're keeping that has your name on it.' [...]
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  Posted: February 04, 2009, 2:40am EST
  by donraymedia

• Commenters call for legal action (and cleaner copy)

  Number of comments: 5
  A journalist and Don Ray's boss call for cleaner copy, a retired judge suggests a class-action suit against the State of Hawaii and a veteran law enforcement investigator challenges Don Ray to obtain a legal copy of President Obama's birth certificate. [...]
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  Posted: January 26, 2009, 2:41am EST
  by donraymedia

• An open letter to President Barack Obama

  Number of comments: 9
  An open letter to President Barack Obama. In short, I don't mind that you're learning from my blog. [...]
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  Posted: January 22, 2009, 3:00am EST
  by donraymedia

• Transparent barriers. What are they there to protect?

  Just because the barriers are made of clear glass, that doesn't make an agency transparent.' [...]
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  Posted: January 19, 2009, 9:28am EST
  by donraymedia

• The ‘FWR Catch’ has caught on in Hawaii State Government

  Number of comments: 9
  This is a painfully long account of a painfully frustrating attempt to get officials from several agencies of the State of Hawaii, to cooperate. In more than 30 years of requesting public records, I've never before seen a system with better intentions being so completely derailed by bureaucrats.[...]
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  Posted: January 15, 2009, 3:50pm EST
  by donraymedia

• In pursuit of transparency — speedbumps galore

  Number of comments: 2
  Words, words, words. Sure, state law declares that government documents are open for inspection, the letter of the law gives bureaucrats a legal option of making taxpayers jump through ridiculous and unnecessary hoops. [...]
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  Posted: January 14, 2009, 4:43am EST
  by donraymedia

• Department formerly known as ‘Agency X’ might have responded differently

  Officials a the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the department formerly known as "Agency X", have could have responded in a number of ways to information requests by Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. [...]
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  Posted: January 13, 2009, 3:10am EST
  by donraymedia

• “Agency X” PIO responds, meets with reporters

  Number of comments: 10
  The Public Information Officer for what Hawaii Sunshine Chronicles has been referring to as “Agency X” made e-mail contact late Monday afternoon after receiving an e-mail that directed attention to Monday’s blog entry here. The contents of the e-mail made Hawaii Sunshine Chronicles reporters believe that there was a possibility that [...]
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  Posted: January 06, 2009, 12:10pm EST
  by donraymedia

• A New Years resolution suggestion: Become transparent?

  It's the first mystery of 2009. Why would officials at a state agency in Hawaii continually ignore requests from citizens to discuss a simple request for seemingly innocuous information? [...]
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  Posted: January 05, 2009, 2:14am EST
  by donraymedia

• As 2008 comes to an end, still no response from Agency X

  Despite attempts through several channels, nobody from "Agency X" has granted the request of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii reporters to discuss seemingly estimates of the time it would take government employees to pull and edit some travel expense accounts. [...]
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  Posted: January 03, 2009, 3:55pm EST
  by donraymedia

• Foot-dragging agency dodges contact with citizens requesting information

  Number of comments: 1
  A yet unnamed state agency in Hawaii seems to be avoiding journalists who are trying to question why it should take more than 100 hours for its staff to locate and prepare simple travel expense accounts for copying under the Hawaii's open records laws. [...]
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  Posted: January 03, 2009, 3:53pm EST
  by donraymedia

• Welcome to Hawaii Sunshine Chronicles

  This is the first of what will be many entries on this new blog. It’s about the stuff that I dig up as I poke around places, meet interesting folks and live the life of an ever-curious journalist. Oh, my name is Don Ray. I’m funded by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. [...]
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  Posted: January 03, 2009, 3:43pm EST
  by donraymedia