FOI IN ACTION: New York Journalists Freeing Public Records For All To See

Updated: Real estate database has details on every sale in state since 1992 -

http://rochester.nydatabases.com/database/real-estate-database

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Peter Mantius: Crestwood LPG won robo-approval - FOIL proves that there are no records showing that the Board of Regents has appointed a “state geologist” or “acting state geologist” since 2010

Gov. Andrew Cuomo should waste no time resolving the latest controversy over a Texas company’s application for a permit to store liquid petroleum gas, or LPG, in unlined salt caverns next to Seneca Lake. At issue is whether a specifically designated “state geologist” has a legal responsibility to conduct a rigorous analysis of such potentially dangerous activity or whether a simple undocumented sign-off by — well, anybody — will do. In its six-year bid to win that underground storage permit, Crestwood Equity Partners has made a practice of hiding documents, fudging facts and co-opting state regulators and local officials. Last week the company was called to task by the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association for dodging a fundamental rule of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The first sentence of the DEC’s “underground gas storage permitting process” states that such permits may only be granted with “approval in writing from the State Geologist.” SLPWA notes th

FOCUS ON: NY Appellate Court Judge Thomas Dickerson

Thomas A. Dickerson is a former Yonkers city councilman and city court judge is now a judge on the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department. He was designated to this Division in 2006 and his term on the Supreme Court ends on December 31, 2017. Controversy Appellate Court Judge Thomas A. Dickerson, 72, a former Green Beret paratrooper in Vietnam who made an off-color joke from the bench in October 2014. When a female attorney arguing in a motorcycle accident noted she had never ridden one, Dickerson said she would “look good in leather,” the legal-news site Above the Law reported. He later apologized. “It blew a whole career,” the court insider said. When judges turn 70, they can apply for certification to stay on the bench. They can apply for recertification at 72 and 74 but cannot serve past 76. http://abovethelaw.com/2014/10/law-school-dean-turns-judges-sexist-snafu-into-a-teachable-moment/ Education Judge Dickerson received his B.A. degree

WELCOME TO THE POLICE STATE: ‘Retaliation for use of the Open Records Act will inhibit every citizen from using it.’

A North Georgia newspaper publisher was indicted on a felony charge and jailed overnight last week – for filing an open-records request. Fannin Focus publisher Mark Thomason, along with his attorney Russell Stookey, were arrested on Friday and charged with attempted identity fraud and identity fraud. Thomason was also accused of making a false statement in his records request. Thomason’s relentless pursuit of public records relating to the local Superior Court has incensed the court’s chief judge, Brenda Weaver, who also chairs the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. Weaver took the matter to the district attorney, who obtained the indictments. Thomason was charged June 24 with making a false statement in an open-records request in which he asked for copies of checks “cashed illegally.” Thomason and Stookey were also charged with identity fraud and attempted identity fraud because they did not get Weaver’s approval before sending subpoenas to banks where Weaver and another j

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