Colin Donohue

Students in Elon's Interactive Media master's program are currently studying abroad as part of their Winter Term fly-in experience, and you can follow their progress by viewing their personal blogs.

From Mountain Xpress (1/7/10): The Carolina Stompers, a conservative activist group, recently wrote a letter to the North Carolina Attorney General's office querying the legality of Buncombe County Commissioners' handling of a decision to keep prayer at their meetings. According to the Stomper’s Jan. 6 press release, "Commissioners 'polling a consensus' of each other to be it by phone, e-mail, or meeting is a violation. This should be done in a public, open, and transparent regular county commissioners meeting."

From Mountain Xpress (1/7/10): The agenda itself was light, but public comment took up over half the Jan. 5 meeting, as the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners got an earful on its pre-meeting prayer.

The video interviews recorded by a crew of student researchers at the Internet Governance Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November are now posted online on Elon University's Imagining the Internet site.

Sophomore broadcast journalism major Samantha Baranowski placed fifth nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards Broadcast (Radio) Features Competition.

From the Wilmington Star-News (12/30/09): Why, when and how Alcoholic Beverage Control Board members decided to give raises to the father and son who run New Hanover County's liquor stores – netting them six-digit salaries – may never be known because those decisions were never recorded in their meetings, an attorney said Wednesday.

From the Triad Business Journal (12/23/09): North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue on Wednesday released a policy manual and tutorial that will guide state agency use of social media including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Dear Supporters of Open Government in North Carolina, I am writing because we need your help.

Commentary by Sandy Semans Managing editor, the Outer Banks Sentinel: After just finishing an open government legal challenge, it is difficult to look back on the General Assembly's last session and not play "what if."

From the Daily Advance (12/11/09): City Council was in no danger of violating the N.C. Open Meetings Law by considering proposed taxicab rule changes at the end of the Nov. 30 joint meeting with county officials, an expert on local government procedures said this week.