Journalism 

Kentucky State Police Commissioner resigned days after a high school newspaper uncovered officers had once been trained using material that quoted Hitler - His resignation, effective Wednesday, comes just days after high school journalists in Louisville reported that the KSP as recently as 2013 used quotes from Adolf Hitler's "Mien Kampf" manifesto in materials used to train officers on the force. The training materials were first reported Friday by the Manual RedEye, a student-run newspaper run at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky.  Students obtained the training materials through a local attorney who had obtained them as part of the discovery process in a lawsuit against a detective who in 2018 shot and killed a man in Harlan County, Kentucky, according to the report. . Read More

COVID-19

How COVID-19 has changed voting, from drive-in rallies to mail-in ballot tracking - Patrisse Cullors is an artist and activist, and one of the cofounders of Black Lives Matter, a global organization dedicated to ending white supremacy and state and vigilante violence against Black people. The group recently launched its first get-out-the-vote campaign. This is the first time that the Black Lives Matter organization is using our resources to focus on direct voter engagement. We did not do that in 2016. We did a lot of disruption, which I thought was incredible and necessary. We were challenging the Democratic candidates, in particular, to show up for Black lives. We, historically, disrupted speeches. We weren’t interested in sitting down and meeting with candidates. We wanted them to do better by us. Read more

Internal Documents Reveal COVID-19 Hospitalization Data The Government Keeps Hidden - As coronavirus cases rise swiftly around the country, surpassing both the spring and summer surges, health officials brace for a coming wave of hospitalizations and deaths. Knowing which hospitals in which communities are reaching capacity could be key to an effective response to the growing crisis. That information is gathered by the federal government — but not shared openly with the public. NPR has obtained documents that give a snapshot of data the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collects and analyzes daily. The documents — reports sent to agency staffers — highlight trends in hospitalizations and pinpoint cities nearing full hospital capacity and facilities under stress. They paint a granular picture of the strain on hospitals across the country that could help local citizens decide when to take extra precautions against COVID-19. Read more 

The wisdom of pandemics - Wisdom is the ability to discern inner qualities and subtle relationships, then translate them into what others recognize as good judgment. If it comes to us at all, wisdom is the product of reflection, time, and experience. A person might achieve wisdom after decades; a community after centuries; a culture after millennia. Modern human beings as a species? We’re getting there, and pandemics can help. If we persist in our curiosity and reflect on what we find, and if we survive the waves of disease to come, the wisdom of pandemics will come to us. Perhaps as soon as a few centuries from now. Read More 

Gov & Civic Tech

As our nation faces pressing issues, tech leaders and government need to build bridges - Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley’s adversarial relationship was on full display last month as the Justice Department filed its landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google, and subpoenas were handed down from the Senate to tech executives. Conflicts taking place between government and technology companies have been growing in size and scope for years now, and while some of these fights are worth having to determine the role of tech in our society, some are not completely inevitable. Some are the result of a lack of understanding on both sides that could hold back our economy at a critical time. As innovation moves faster, and regulators seek to keep up, there’s an urgent need for policymakers and tech leaders to find common ground as working partners, not sparring partners. Read more

No Matter Who Wins the Election, Social Media Will Lose (Opinion) - This week the seemingly interminable 2020 presidential campaign will (hopefully) be at an end. While it is too soon to predict whether Trump or Biden will prevail on November 3, it is almost certain that social media will be declared the undisputed loser. If Biden wins, the Republicans will likely allege unfair treatment on social media as a contributing factor in their loss. In the months leading up to the election, social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter have repeatedly flagged, fact-checked, or removed a number of Trump’s posts. They will blame social media for not doing more to be politically neutral. Read more

The Potential Role Of Open Data In Mitigating The COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges And Opportunities - As of October 23, 2020, less than a year into the pandemic, there have been more than 41.7 million cases and more than one million deaths globally. Without a vaccine or widespread treatment access, the primary population-focused COVID-19 mitigation strategies are behavioral interventions such as restricting population mobility and encouraging good hygiene such as wearing facial coverings and washing hands frequently. There is one tool for the COVID-19 response that was not as robust in past pandemics: open data. For about 15 years, a “quiet open data revolution” has led to the widespread availability of governmental data that are publicly accessible, available in multiple formats, free of charge, and with unlimited use and distribution rights. The underlying logic of open data’s value is that diverse users including researchers, practitioners, journalists, application developers, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders will synthesize the data in novel ways to develop new insights and applications. Read more

Democracy, Local Government, & Elections

‘America Is a Republic, Not a Democracy’ Is a Dangerous—And Wrong—Argument - Dependent on a minority of the population to hold national power, Republicans such as Senator Mike Lee of Utah have taken to reminding the public that “we’re not a democracy.” It is quaint that so many Republicans, embracing a president who routinely tramples constitutional norms, have suddenly found their voice in pointing out that, formally, the country is a republic. There is some truth to this insistence. But it is mostly disingenuous. The Constitution was meant to foster a complex form of majority rule, not enable minority rule. Read more

Four Ways State And Local Governments Can Tackle Revenue Management In Times Of Crisis - With the recent prolonged debate in Washington over additional coronavirus relief funding, state and local governments are in a budget crunch. Approximately 2,100 cities are facing significant budget deficits this year, with 96% of these budget shortfalls due to unexpected drops in revenue attributable to the coronavirus. Estimates put the total impending budget shortfall for state and local governments at $500 billion. While much about the full economic impact of the coronavirus remains uncertain, the combination of high unemployment, business closures, and falling consumer spending signal an impending economic crisis for states and cities if nothing is done to counteract trends. Read more

Inside the global fight over American election security - Robert Mueller made clear the bottom line of his investigation: Russia attacked our democracy — and, as he said, every American should focus on that. Instead, recent news reports reveal that the Department of Homeland Security wasn't even allowed to bring up the threat of election attacks with President Trump. As candidates hit the 2020 campaign trail, what should the United States be doing to protect the core of our democracy? Read more

 NOTEWORTHY FREE EVENTS

From the BrightTalk Archives: Battling Disinformation, Voter Suppression & Cyber Attacks from Sep 23 2020 | 60 mins This episode of the Election Hacking Original series will explore the impact of social media platforms on democratic elections, with a special focus on the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Watch here

Please support government transparency in your state. Contribute today to your state open government coalition.

If you are a member of our mailing list, thank you for your support. If you received this from someone else and would like to sign up for future mailings, please click here.