Monday, March 18, is the deadline for reserving hotel rooms in our room block for the Mega-Conference. It may be difficult to reserve a room at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown after Monday.

it's also possible that rooms in our block will sell out before next Monday. Reserve your hotel room as soon as possible. Find full details here

Still deciding whether to attend? Our conference agenda will convince you of the importance of this event. Take a look at the agenda here.

Curious as to which companies will be represented at Mega? Take a look here.

AP, Frontline documentary ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ wins Academy Award® for ‘Best Documentary Feature Film’

“20 Days in Mariupol,” the feature documentary from The Associated Press and PBS documentary series Frontline has won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film at Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards®.

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#SunshineWeek resources for news outlets

Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.

SunshineWeek.org has guest columns, cartoons, graphics and logos for news outlets to use this week — through March 16:

https://sunshineweek.org/content-for-publication

https://sunshineweek.org/what-can-i-do

https://sunshineweek.org/graphics

https://sunshineweek.org/sample-posts

The website also is rounding-up notable events and coverage:

https://sunshineweek.org/events-calendar

https://sunshineweek.org/2024-showcase

States have hodgepodge of cumbersome rules for enforcing sunshine laws

A nationwide review of procedures by The Associated Press and CNHI News revealed a patchwork of complicated systems for resolving open government disputes that often put the burden of enforcing transparency laws on private citizens.

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Keep the America's Newspapers Open Government Litigation Fund in mind next time your newspaper could use help with a First Amendment case

America's Newspapers has an Open Government Litigation Fund that is designed to assist members that are engaged in lawsuits supporting the First Amendment rights of newspapers and the public's right to know..

To date, the fund has awarded:

• A grant to the Vail (Colorado) Daily to assist with costs incurred in a media coalition fight to unseal the affidavit of probable cause supporting the warrantless arrest of Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspect in the Club Q mass shooting.
• A grant to the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman in its public records dispute with The University of Texas at Austin.
• A grant to the News Reporter in Whiteville, North Carolina, in litigation against the Columbus County sheriff, who withheld incident reports for a month for a negative editorial that the paper wrote about him.

Read about the fund guidelines on the America's Newspapers website and reach out to Dean Ridings, CEO of America's Newspapers if your newspaper could use similar help with a state public records or open meetings lawsuit or with a federal Freedom of Information Act-based claim. He can be reached at dridings@newspapers.org.

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Carmage Walls Commentary Prize to award cash prizes honoring courageous columns and editorials

Awards for excellence in editorial writing (representing the view of the newspaper) and awards for excellence in column writing (columns written by one or more individuals) will be presented this October in Phoenix, Arizona, at the America's Newspapers Senior Leadership Conference. Win cash prizes and recognition!

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Pete Wasson steps down as editor of Ashland Daily Press

Pete Wasson, who has served as editor of the Ashland (Wisconsin) Daily Press for the past six years, is stepping down from the newspaper. His last day will be Friday, March 29, he announced March 1 in a farewell column.

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Effectively immediately, America's Newspapers has a new mailing address for dues, invoice payments and membership. Our new address is:

America's Newspapers

2615 Centennial Blvd., Suite 200

Tallahassee, FL 32308-0592