Access to Information

Topic: Access to Information


Utah district bans Bible in elementary and middle schools ‘due to vulgarity or violence’

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Good Book is being treated like a bad book in Utah after a parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools convinced a suburban district that some Bible verses were too vulgar or violent for younger children. And the Book of Mormon could be next. The 72,000-student Davis […]

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Oregon man died waiting for an ambulance, highlighting lack of emergency responders

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man died while waiting over a half-hour for an ambulance after being struck by a hit-and-run driver last month, according to emergency dispatch logs, an incident that Portland firefighters say highlights their frustration at a lack of available ambulances to respond to emergency calls. The Bureau of Emergency Communications 911 […]

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Feds face court challenge over Metro Vancouver port expansion that will endanger killer whales

Environmental groups levelled a legal challenge against the federal government’s recent decision to greenlight a massive Metro Vancouver port expansion project in Delta, B.C. Approved in April, the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project would double the existing facilities’ footprint and has 370 conditions attached to it aimed at protecting the environment and local species. These […]

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Feds warned about risks of delaying 24 Sussex decision almost a year before it closed

OTTAWA — Almost a year before the closure of 24 Sussex Drive due to disrepair and an infestation of rodents, the chairman of the National Capital Commission’s board of directors warned that further delaying a cabinet decision on the fate of the residence would put the whole structure at risk. The mansion, which sits on […]

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1995 referendum: Parti Quebecois wants ‘No’ campaign investigation documents released

MONTREAL — Nearly 30 years after Quebec’s second sovereignty referendum, the Parti Quebecois says there are secrets about how the victorious No side spent money that the public deserves to know about. On Wednesday, the province’s legislature debated a motion introduced by PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon calling on the province’s chief electoral officer to […]

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Parks Canada plans major rewrite of more than 200 historic site plaques

EDMONTON — They’re affixed to old buildings where someone important used to live. Or they’re mounted on a rock overlooking somewhere where something once happened. Cast in bronze or lettered on a sign, they’re sometimes the only history lesson many of us ever get. And now Parks Canada wants hundreds of them changed. “The way […]

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Macao further restricts political freedoms with revisions to national security law

BEIJING (AP) — Echoing the crackdown on freedoms in neighboring Hong Kong, the former Portuguese colony of Macao has revised its legal system to face “new adverse challenges in terms of national security.” The government of the tiny enclave, heavily dependent on its gambling industry, said changes to the Law on Safeguarding National Security were […]

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Mexico leader defiant after high court rules tourist train, other works not national security issues

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday the government cannot simply decree tourist trains or other public work projects to be issues of “national security,” but hours later President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador published a similar order in defiance of the decision. The order handed down by high court was the latest in […]

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Agreement with watchdog agency allows Virginia State Police to investigate itself

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Late last year, with the Virginia State Police under scrutiny after authorities said a former trooper kidnapped a 15-year-old California girl and killed three members of her family, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he had requested a full investigation by the state’s watchdog agency. But due at least in part to a […]

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Mexico’s Supreme Court rules public works projects are not issues of national security

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday the government cannot simply decree that tourist trains or other public work projects are issues of “national security,” because that violates the public’s right to information. The ruling is the latest in a string of setbacks for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has sought to […]

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Pentagon leak suspect was warned multiple times about mishandling of classified information

BOSTON (AP) — Superiors of the Massachusetts Air National Guard member charged with leaking highly classified military documents had raised concerns internally on multiple occasions about his handling or viewing of classified information, according to a court filing Wednesday. Justice Department lawyers made the disclosure in a court papers urging a magistrate judge to keep […]

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Hong Kong leader defends removing politically sensitive books from public libraries

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Thursday the city’s public libraries would not recommend books featuring “bad ideologies” to residents after they pulled titles related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and certain political figures, further shrinking the city’s freedoms. Chief Executive John Lee was addressing a lawmaker’s question about dozens of books […]

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