County approves multiple tax‑abatement adjustments, debates AI‑assisted checklist for hearings Penobscot County commissioners granted a Kaufman abatement (assessment set to $130,000), denied Simmons and Keene requests, and approved a $12,500 land‑value reduction in Duroch. Commissioners also debated a draft abatement checklist and whether AI should be used to analyze hearing materials.

Penobscot County commissioners made significant tax-abatement decisions while sparking a heated debate over the use of AI in their administrative processes.

Learn more here

#PenobscotCounty #ME #OpenGov #AIInnovation

Meet our new CEE Fellows, Filip (Poland 🇵🇱) & Tim (Kosovo 🇽🇰)!

From energy policy to gov transparency, they’re already diving into life at the Hub. 🤝🌍

#OpenGov #GlobalLeaders #CEEFellows

UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) spend data, transactions over £25,000, April 2010 - February 2026 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (1.5 MB XLSX)

#publicspending #opengov #opendata

⚖️Case: Trump, POTUS v. Barbara
Docket Number: 25-365
Date Argued: 04/01/26

🎙️MP3: www.supremecourt.gov/media/audio/...

📑Transcript: www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...

#OpenGov

Thiago Sá Freire Steps Up as CEO of OpenGov to Propel AI-Native Growth OpenGov announces the appointment of Thiago Sá Freire as CEO, succeeding Zac Bookman, to lead the next phase of growth in AI solutions for government.

Thiago Sá Freire Steps Up as CEO of OpenGov to Propel AI-Native Growth #United_States #San_Francisco #OpenGov #Thiago_Sá_Freire #Zac_Bookman

.@spj-posts.bsky.social has named Massachusetts the ‘winner’ of its annual Black Hole Award, a dishonor recognizing state entities that demonstrate a lack of transparency. We spoke to Caught In Southie about why the award is so deserved.

caughtinsouthie.com/news-politic...

#opengov

🇭🇷 Zagreb, Croatia won an Open Gov Challenge Award in 2025 for expanding participatory budgeting across the city, giving residents a direct voice in how local funds are spent.

#OpenGovChallenge #OpenGov #ParticipatoryBudgeting #Transparency #CitizenEngagement #FiscalOpeness

Ausschnitt des Fotos eines historischen Gebäudes mit der Aufschrift Rathaus – Symbolbild

Wusstet Ihr, dass ein Chatbot auch ein Seismograph sein kann?

In Bergisch-Gladbach liefert der Chatbot der Stadt nicht nur Auskünfte, sondern zeigt der Verwaltung, welche Themen die Menschen wirklich bewegen – anonymisiert und in Echtzeit.

Mehr dazu in der […]

[Original post on bonn.social]

Jetzt mitmachen: Bürgerbeteiligungsgesetz für Hessen - PIRATEN Hessen Direkte Mitbestimmung und die Stärkung der Demokratie sind uns als Piratenpartei Hessen wichtig – deshalb haben wir uns dem Bündnis „Löwenstarke Demokratie“

Die Piraten sind jetzt im Bündnis 𝗟ö𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗸𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲.

Gemeinsam mit euch wollen wir ein #Bürgerbeteiligungsgesetz für Hessen entwickeln.

www.piratenpartei-hessen.de/jetzt-mitmac...

#OpenGov #Mitbestimmung #Transparenz

UK Cabinet Office spend data, transactions over £25,000, April 2010 - February 2026 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (3.6 MB XLSX)

#publicspending #opengov #opendata

Home - Secrecy and Transparency in Civil Litigation About the Symposium: Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and The National Civil Justice Institute will cosponsor an academic symposium on “Secrecy and Transparency…

Looking forward to seeing the papers.

"This symposium will explore the legal, empirical, and normative dimensions of secrecy and transparency in the civil justice system. "

conferences.law.stanford.edu/secrecy-tran...

#transparency #litigation #opengov

During #OpenGovWeek, we’ll mark the start of the 15th anniversary celebrations of OGP.

Ahead of it, share a 1-minute video:
✨ the reform you’re most proud of, OR
🔮 your vision for the future of #opengov

📲 Use #OpenGovWeek & tag OGP

#OGP15

Quezon City in the Philippines won an Open Gov Challenge Award in 2025 for taking concrete steps to make open government part of how the city works.

#OpenGovChallenge #OpenGov #CitizenParticipation #CivicSpace

Screenshot from DWP's 'Guidance on producing ODS format data tables in Stat-Xplore'

New from DWP's benefits data hellscape: how to recreate the tables that they've stopped publishing:

Guidance on producing ODS format data tables in Stat-Xplore www.gov.uk/government/s...

(Missing step 18: convert your file to XLSX, nobody actually uses ODS)

#govtech #opengov #opendata

Inside the Turmoil at RFK Jr.’s CDC, as Told by Current and Former Employees Forty-three current and former C.D.C. employees on the changes they say are replacing science with ideology — and making Americans more vulnerable.

"As a C.D.C. employee, you get annual trainings on FOIA & record keeping. All of a sudden it was like a complete withdrawal of that. It was really frightening & eerie." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
That's "authoritarian blindness," but @nytimes.com won't call it that, yet.

#OpenGov #SunshineWeek

UK Department for Education (DfE) spend data, transactions over £25,000, April 2010 - January 2026 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (54.6 MB zipped CSV)

#publicspending #opengov #opendata

Transparenz als Katalysator für Partizipation und Zusammenarbeit Das Buch zeigt, wie Open Government Transparenz, Partizipation und Zusammenarbeit in deutschen Großstädten fördert und welche Effekte sich daraus ergeben.

Philipp Bauer: Transparenz als Katalysator für Partizipation und Zusammenarbeit - Implementationsstand und Auswirkungen des Reformmodells Open Government in deutschen Großstädten, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2026.
Online: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
PDF: link.springer.com/content/pdf/...
#OpenGov

Indiana Using ‘Temporary Fix’ for Voter Check-In System 6–8 Weeks Before Early Voting New records add detail to a developing e-poll book issue first reported by Indy Politics as early voting approaches. If this story sounds familiar, it ...

"The documents, obtained through a public records request, show that state officials and vendors had been working on updates to the “proof of residency” component of the e-poll book system since at least September 2025."

indypolitics.org/indiana-usin...

#opengov #election2026

If you care about #FOI or #OPENGOV, watch this...

@newsbrooke.bsky.social
@opengovva.bsky.social

#BCLEG

Cheers to citizens fighting for public access • Indiana Capital Chronicle From public records to meeting access, Indiana’s government transparency statutes apply to all citizens — not just journalists.

"I recently attended a public meeting about the news landscape in Indianapolis, and a member of the audience pointed out how often regular citizens use public records and open door laws."

Here's to the regular people taking up the fight!

indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/03/20/c...

#opengov

Agenda Watch Agenda Watch

AgendaWatch.org “collects public meeting documents from official government and agency websites and makes them searchable.” #OpenGov #DDJ

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is the nation's premier research and government transparency group tracking money in politics and its effect on elections and policy.

@opensecrets.org combines state & federal lobbying & campaign finance disclosures into one platform where the public & press can better understand how power & influence are shaping the United States:
www.opensecrets.org #OpenGov #OpenData

📣 Join our panel of journalism and legal experts to discuss the challenges of covering police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in local neighborhoods.

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#journalism #opengov

FOIA and Find Out tshirt

Celebrating the end of #SunshineWeek the way James Madison intended! #foia #opengov

2nd #CfP: 1st AI & #OpenGov Workshop at #ICAIL2026!
Papers due April 9, 2026 (about 3 weeks!). We invite submissions of: Research papers (3-9 pages + refs): original research contributions and Position papers (up to 5 pages + refs): insights from practice. Full CFP Below 👇

aiog.net/cfp/

Five OGP Local members have recently launched new #opengov commitments to strengthen transparency, participation, and accountability in their communities.

🇪🇸 Basque Country
🇦🇷 Cordoba City
🇨🇷 Curridabat
🇺🇦 Khmelnytskyi
🇹🇳 Zriba

Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian | Protect History Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian is a “Crowd to Cloud” effort to steward and safeguard our institution by preserving the Smithsonian Institution’s contents as they exist in 2025. With our feet ...

CitizenHistorians.org did a “crowd to cloud” database of 100% of current Smithsonian exhibits: 2000+ volunteers donated 50,000+ photographs and videos from August to October 2025. #OpenGov

Events | America's Data Index Take Action

And this free event is tomorrow, March 20th:

Friday , March 20, 2026
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET

Take Action: How to Write a Public Comment on Federal Data

dataindex.us/events/Take-...

#opengov #civics

How to Use POGO’s Census Funding Data A guide to using and interpreting POGO’s Census Matters federal funding data.

This is an interesting project:

How to Use POGO’s Census Funding Data,
A guide to using and interpreting POGO’s Census Matters federal funding data.

www.pogo.org/analyses/how...

#data #opengov