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The North Carolina Open Government Coalition is encouraged by the growth in awareness of open government laws in the state. In data released today, the latest ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Poll found 46 percent of residents were aware of the laws that guarantee citizen access to public meetings and records, which is up from 35 percent last year.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times (3/18/10): The annual observance of Sunshine Week is upon us, and with it an opportunity to judge how well public officials from Washington on down — officials paid for with our tax dollars, we'd point out — are exercising the openness that should be a priority for all public servants.

From the Greensboro News and Record (3/17/10): North Carolina's laws governing public records and state employee personnel files are a study in contrasts.

From the Fayetteville Observer (3/17/10): When it comes to public employee personnel records, North Carolina's sunshine is in full eclipse.

From the Gaston Gazette (3/16/10): Most of the time, government officials do a good job at making public records accessible. It’s the occasional exceptions that tend to stick out like a sore thumb.

From the Greenville Daily Reflector (3/14/10): North Carolina could stand to be more progressive when it attends to the right of citizens to access the actions of government. The laws that govern that interaction — the open meetings and public records statutes — are more modest than other states, and could be a contributing factor to the culture of corruption that has bloomed in recent years.

From the Fayetteville Observer (3/14/10): It started with automobile brake lights glowing before dawn last May. It ended in January with a middle school teacher going to prison.

From the Wilmington Star-News (3/12/10): When Louise Romanow went to the Wake County Courthouse to view search warrants late last month she was turned away.