To assess the DOA’s performance, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism analyzed the nearly 200 records requests the agency received in the first six months of 2012. The analysis found the DOA took an average of 24 days to provide records or denials.

A FRAIL SYSTEM
About this series:
Families’ abilities to hold potentially negligent nursing facilities accountable have been diminished by a recent change in state law that bars records of abuse and neglect from use in the courts, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has found. The Center’s investigation also shows that some long-term care facilities are failing [...]

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, the chief author of Wisconsin’s Open Records Law and a strong advocate of the Open Meetings Law, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Wisconsin Watchdog Award.

By Brendan Fischer
Center for Media and Democracy
Wisconsin state legislators are routinely deleting emails concerning their involvement with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), exploiting a loophole that exempts the Legislature from records retention rules that apply to all other state and local government officials.
For more than a year, we at the Center for Media and Democracy, a [...]

By Bill Lueders
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Advocates of open government often quiz candidates for public office on their level of support for official transparency. The candidates, when asked, always tout their commitment.
That doesn’t mean they always deliver.
Both Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, have fielded many requests for public [...]

Walker’s official calendars from his first 13 months in office chronicle these and scores more hours he spent building credentials with conservatives in Wisconsin and across the nation. The second installment in a three-part series.

Last year, Gov. Scott Walker crisscrossed the nation, breaking fundraising records and netting about half his donations from out of state. But his calendars show the consequences of fame and fundraising. The first in a three-part series.

Through the state’s open records law, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism received Gov. Scott Walker’s official calendars. Center reporters then created a database of all 4,414 entries.