An open-records battle by the Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville resulted in a weekend story questioning the performance of health departments in southwestern Kentucky. Sarah Hogsed reports that the Todd County Health Department is behind in its inspection of local food businesses and the Trigg County Health Department had awarded a disproportionate number of perfect scores. (Read more)
Hogsed's story comes after a heated open records battle between the newspaper, circulation 10,000, and the Pennyrile District Health Department. Hogsed first requested "copies of all retail food establishment reports from 2008 and 2009" on July 14, but health officials told her she had to submit her request in person with a photo ID and pay "all cost associated with the recovery and photocopying," according to the resulting open-records decision of the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General.
The department eventually withdrew its demand that Hogsed file her request in person, and the implied threat of charging more for copies than the law allows, but Attorney General Jack Conway ruled that the delay in meeting Hogsed's request was a violation of the Kentucky Open Records Act. The department had claimed that it was too understaffed to meet Hogsed's request within the three-day period mandated by the law, and since Hogsed did not request specific records, they were not required to provide any, Terry Anderson reports on the Kentucky Open Government Blog. (Read more)
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