Vermont Fails Campaign Finance Disclosure Test

August 30th, 2010

We like to think Vermont politics are clean and transparent. They very well might be, but it’s sometimes hard to know given the lax reporting requirements for state political campaigns.

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Compromised E-Records?

August 25th, 2010

Ever wonder how many electronic records have been breached? The answer — about one-half billion in the last five years And those are the ones we know about.

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Primary Election

August 23rd, 2010

The ACLU is nonpartisan and doesn’t endorse political candidates. But we do encourage — strongly — people to vote. Voting is a fundamental right. But like any right, it needs to be exercised to have any value. Polls for Vermont’s primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 24, open between 5 and 10 a.m. (local officials decide when); all must close at 7 p.m. The Secretary of State’s office has a chart showing polling hours by town.

“Mosque Controversy” Finally Comes To Vermont

August 19th, 2010

A candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Patrick Leahy thinks no mosque should be built near the site of the former World Trade Center, destroyed by terrorists Sept. 11, 2001. The candidate, Len Britton, calls himself a champion of religious freedom. But he thinks the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom don’t apply in this case.

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Guantanamo Detainee Cases Thrown Out

August 17th, 2010

Federal judges have dismissed charges against eight of 15 Guantanamo inmates who said their confessions were forced. Rejection of evidence was based on interrogation tactics that ranged from verbal threats to physical abuse that the judges called torture.

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Military Recruiters Have Access To Students’ Contact Information — Unless You Say “No”

August 13th, 2010

This is the time of year when schools publish notices about families’ privacy rights, and the circumstances when information about a student — such as basic contact information — can be given to anyone who asks.

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NSL Gag Beat; John Doe Can Speak

August 11th, 2010

ACLU plaintiff Nicholas Merrill can finally speak about an FBI case that since 2004 has forced him to be known only as “John Doe” and has prevented him from talking about why the FBI had sent him a National Security Letter.

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Vermont Marijuana Policy Discussion Tonight

August 10th, 2010

Join the discussion Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Billings Library at the University of Vermont.

Vermont has struggled for a number of years with the regulation of marijuana. Medical marijuana was made legal in 2004. In 2008 a bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana was passed by the Senate but died in the House. Meanwhile, other states have revised their drug laws.

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Is There Anything Left Of Vermont’s Public Records Law?

August 3rd, 2010

Violating Vermont’s public records law seems to be catching on. But this time it’s not police who are the offenders. It’s the state education commissioner.

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ACLU Sues In Public Records Case

August 2nd, 2010

The ACLU-VT is suing the town of Hartford for denying an investigative journalist access to public records involving the high-profile arrest of an African-American man in his own residence.

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