Connecticut
CT's FOI law turns 50. Let's shoot for 100
It has been reported that the Mexican government plans to shut down that nation’s highly respected National Institute for Access to Information (INAI), the country’s Freedom of Information (FOI) agency. The responsibility for guaranteeing access to government information will then presumably fall to government departments subject to presidential control. In other words, a case of the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse.
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Michell PearlmanINAI was modeled in significant part on the Connecticut’s FOI Commission. Mexico studied the Connecticut law and its commission and learned from our successes and failures.
Unfortunately what Mexico is now experiencing with the likely closing of INAI has been happening, to one degree or another, in many countries throughout the world – including supposedly democratic ones. The United States has not been immune to this threat. Nor has Connecticut.
For example, it often takes our federal government (which has no independent FOI enforcement agency) years to process even a simple request for information and in many cases government agencies deny requests with questionable claims of exemptions. The only option then for a disappointed requester is to go to the expense of filing a lawsuit, which in itself can take years to resolve. And in Connecticut, numerous unnecessary exemptions have been added to its FOI Act and there have been several notable attempts to curtail the FOI Commission’s independence and funding.
Connecticut’s FOI Act turns 50 in 2025. The law was enacted in 1975 during the post-Watergate reform era. Over time, it too has been weakened. But remarkably, it has largely endured thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the commission and its staff, supporting nonprofit organizations, such as the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government and the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, and, importantly, the many Connecticut citizens who rely on the commission to administer and enforce the FOI law.
That is why the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of FOI in Connecticut is so significant: it has survived substantially intact for half a century where in many other places similar laws have not. The law still remains a vital – and sometimes the only – tool for citizens and the press to uncover government inefficiency, waste and corruption.
But laws and institutions that promote government transparency and accountability require constant vigilance. The Connecticut FOI experience over the past 50 years proves that such vigilance does indeed work.
We should be justifiably proud that Connecticut has for 50 years maintained an effective and credible FOI law that provides its citizens with meaningful government oversight and accountability. The fact that the law has survived to its golden anniversary is a tremendous achievement.
But we can only hope to move that record forward for another 50 years or more with continued vigilance. And by doing so, we can keep Connecticut as a beacon of open government for the entire world well into the future.
Pearlman was formerly the executive director of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government and the Connecticut Council on Freedom of information.
HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) – Dave Matthews Band’s U.S. tour will make a stop in Connecticut this summer.
The band scheduled a show for July 25, 2026 at The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford, Live Nation announced on Tuesday.
The band’s tour starts on June 10 in New York and wraps up Labor Day weekend in Washington State.
Online ticket presale for members of the DMB Warehouse Fan Association started Tuesday at 9 a.m.
General on sale for tickets begins on Friday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m. Check out LiveNation.com for more.
Copyright 2026 WFSB. All rights reserved.
NEW YORK – Track school closings and delays for Tuesday, Jan. 27 in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
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- MORE: Click here for real-time school closing updates.
List of school closings and delays
New York
- Byram Hills School District: 2-hour delay
- Central Islip School District: 2-hour delay
- East Islip School District: 2-hour delay
- Haverstraw-Stony Point School District: 2-hour delay
- Liberty Central School District: 2-hour delay
- Mattituck Jr. / Sr. High School: 2-hour delay
- Newburgh City School District: closed
- Poughkeepsie City School District: 2-hour delay
- Tuckahoe School District: 2-hour delay
New Jersey
- Barnegat Township School District: closed
- Bergenfield Elementary School: 2-hour delay
- Bergenfield Middle and High School: 2-hour delay
- David Gregory School: 90-minute delay
- Englewood City School District: 2-hour delay
- Essex Co. Vocational School District: 2-hour delay
- Fair Lawn Schools: 90-minute delay
- Hackensack School District: 2-hour delay
- Hoboken School District: 90-minute delay
- Jefferson Township School District: 2-hour delay
- Kinnelon Borough School District: 2-hour delay
- Livingston Township School District: 2-hour delay
- Memorial Day Nursery-Paterson: closed
- Middletown Township School District: 2-hour delay
- Mount Carmel Guild Academy: 90-minute delay
- Neighborhood Child Care Center: 2-hour delay
- Pequannack Township School District: 2-hour delay
- Ridgefield Park ATC: no transportation
- Riverdale Public Elementary: 90-minute delay
- Somerset Co. Educational SVCS. School District: 90-minute delay
- Springfield Adult Training: no transportation
- Springfield Township School District: 2-hour delay
- Tewksbury Township School District: 2-hour delay
- The Jardine Academy: 90-minute delay
- The Phoenix Center: closed
- Totowa School District: 1-hour delay
Connecticut
- Bridgeport Board of Education: closed
- Norwalk High School: closed
NEW YORK – Several inches of snow fell on Sunday across the Tri-State area, and observations from the National Weather Service are showing totals across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
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Final snow totals
By the numbers:
The agency is detailing snowfall measurements as of Monday morning.
- Astoria 10.1 in
- Battery Park 7.5 in
- Bay Ridge 10.2 in
- Bellerose 10.5 in
How much snow did NYC get this weekend?
- Central Park 11.4 in
- Crown Heights 8.0 in
- Elmhurst 9.0 in
- Flatbush 11.3 in
- Fordham 13.5 in
- Howard Beach 11.0 in
- Midwood 9.0 in
- NYC/JFK 10.3 in
- NYC/La Guardia 9.7 in
- Sheepshead Bay 10.5 in
- Sheepshead Bay 9.7 in
- Throgs Neck Bridge 12.5 in
- Washington Heights 14.9 in
- Whitestone 11.1 in
- Williamsburg 12.0 in
- Williamsburg 10.5 in
- Bergenfield 11.5 in
- Cliffside Park 14.4 in
- Cranford 11.2 in
- Englewood 15.0 in
- Franklin Lakes 13.5 in
- Glen Ridge 9.5 in
- Harrison 10.0 in
- Hoboken 9.8 in
- Kearny 7.4 in
- Leonia 14.7 in
- Linden 9.6 in
- Little Ferry 13.9 in
- Mahwah 14.5 in
- Montclair 9.5 in
- Montvale 12.5 in
- Newark 12.1 in
- North Caldwell 11.5 in
- Nutley 9.0 in
- Park Ridge 12.8 in
- Pompton Lakes 14.0 in
- Ridgefield 15.8 in
- Ringwood 15.0 in
- River Vale 13.3 in
- Secaucus 12.0 in
- Teaneck 15.5 in
- Tenafly 16.3 in
- Union 11.0 in
- Waldwick 12.5 in
- Wallington 10.2 in
- Wanaque 13.0 in
- Wayne 14.0 in
- West Milford 15.0 in
- Westfield 10.0 in
- Westwood 12.5 in
- Wood-Ridge 10.0 in
- Bethel 15.7 in
- Bridgeport Airport 15.1 in
- Danbury 15.5 in
- Easton 14.3 in
- Greenwich 11.0 in
- New Canaan 12.6
- New Fairfield 16.0 in
- Newtown 10.5 in
- Newtown 13.7 in
- Norwalk 13.5 in
- Ridgefield 14.0 in
- Shelton 15.0 in
- Stamford 11.0 in
- Stratford 12.0 in
- Weston 12.9 in
- Wilton 13.8 in
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