Denise Civiletti
‘Sunshine Week’ series: What’s the big secret? Public records, meet the 21st century
By law, most government documents are public documents, accessible by the public, as they should be. Nevertheless, many government officials — especially the lawyers — behave as if national security is at stake and they work for the CIA.
Denise Civiletti
‘Sunshine Week’ special series: Why open government matters
After nearly 20 years of local news reporting, I could fill a book with stories of government officials trying to prevent reporters — and hence, the public — from finding out what they’re up to.
Denise Civiletti
Riverhead government has three big problems that need an urgent fix
Riverhead has a private email server problem. It has no rules about officials' use of private emails when conducting the people's business. That's one of three things about Riverhead government that need to be fixed right away — like yesterday. Here's why.
Suffolk Closeup
Suffolk CloseupDespite Freedom of Information laws on the books for decades, records access often doesn’t come without a fight
Freedom of Information laws date back to 1966 on the federal level and to 1974 in New York, but the guaranteed access to public records afforded by these statutes is often disregarded by government officials.
