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Sunshine and the senator
Rise and shine March 15 to hear U.S. Sen. John Cornyn speak on openness in government and public records at a breakfast meeting in downtown Fort Worth. Cornyn sponsored two major open-government initiatives in recent years and has co-sponsored legislation to improve public access to information on how federal money is spent.
His visit comes during Sunshine Week, an initiative begun in 2005 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to underscore the importance of freedom of information. Funded primarily by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the week now involves civic groups, libraries and schools as well as journalists.
Date & time: Monday, March 15. Full breakfast buffet
begins at 8 a.m., remarks at 8:30
Place: room 4202, Trinity Building, Tarrant County College Trinity River Campus
Parking: free wth parking pass on garage levels three or four; use the Belknap Street entrance at Cherry Street
Cost: $10 (cash or check), payable at the door
RSVP by noon March 10: eddye.gallagher@tccd.edu or 817-515-6307; no-shows will still be expected to pay
Things got raucous indeed in December 2008 at the John Peter Smith Hospital book benefit ramrodded by IABC with assistance from SPJ. Here’s the take: 297 books and 310 magazines collected at the door plus another 238 books donated by Friends of the Library. JPS valued the books at $7.50 each and the magazines at 50 cents each. Throw in $363 net cash, and the readers library at the county hospital received $4,530 worth of value.