Last Day for Early Bird!

Hey, folks – this is last call on our early-bird discount for Capitolbeat’s 2009 conference in Indy, Aug 20-22.
If you register today, it’s just $125.  Starting tomorrow, July 1st, it goes up to $150.  So save yourself a few bucks — sign up now!

Wanted: state house reporters

Our list-serv has been buzzing with several recent news stories about the dwindling statehouse press corps. There’s this from the Christian Science Monitor:
“Many important issues remain unaddressed as lawmakers are consumed by this clownish partisan free-for-all about whose petty issues most New Yorkers could not care less,” declared the Staten Island Advance, in a typical [...]

CPI’s States of Disclosure

The Center for Public Integrity is back with its “States of Disclosure” project. From its introduction:
Two southern states — Louisiana and Mississippi — made the biggest strides in the Center for Public Integrity’s latest financial disclosure rankings for state legislators, but 20 out of the 50 states still received a failing grade and three of [...]

Join Capitolbeat on Twitter

Capitolbeat is on Twitter. Join us at http://twitter.com/capitolbeat_org.
Have no idea what Twitter is? You can learn all about it and other useful journalism tools at the Capitolbeat 2009 conference this August in Indianapolis.

Job Posting: Politics and Government Editor

There’s a job in Minnesota! Check out our job board for details.
If there’s a journalism job in your shop, please email board@capitolbeat.org and we’ll post it.

Register for conference now; Save $$

You’re busy, so this will be brief and to the point.
Capitolbeat, the professional organization for reporters and editors covering state government, will have its 2009 conference Aug. 20-22 in Indianapolis. Our hotel is the Hyatt Regency.
Register for the conference by June 30 to get the $25 discount. And when you make your hotel reservation, be [...]

Former member news

Capitolbeat member (and former President) Aaron Sheinin sent this item along to the list-serv recently:
Here is a lengthy, and fascinating, story about former Capitolbeat board member and officer Bill McAllister from the Anchorage Press. In case you didn’t know, McAllister left the biz to work for Sarah Palin. He’s now working for [...]

Legal update: Anti-SLAPP and FERPA

Capitolbeat Members:
Our excellent attorney, Kevin Goldberg, has sent along two updates in recent weeks. The first was a request for information.
Some of you may have read recent stories regarding the overreaching and inconsistent application of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), the federal law which protects student records at educational [...]

2009 Elections

Dear Capitolbeat members:
We will have at least seven board seats up for election this year. Those elections take place in conjunction with the conference and we’ll be sending out more information later in the summer about how to cast your vote.
Today, I’m writing to ask you to consider serving on [...]

Membership survey

Dear Capitolbeat members:
Last year, the board began to revise our bylaws to help our organization survive and thrive in what has become a very challenging news and philanthropic environment. With your input, we approved the majority of those changes at our meeting in November.
One item that was left outstanding was the question of membership [...]