From today's featured article
City of Champaign v. Madigan is a 2013 case decided by the Appellate Court of the US state of Illinois, ruling that messages sent and received by elected officials during a city council meeting and pertaining to public business are public records subject to disclosure, even when stored on personal electronic devices. It was the first court ruling in Illinois to hold that private messages were subject to disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act. The case addressed a public records request from a reporter for The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois, who observed city council members and the mayor using their personal electronic devices to send messages during a city council meeting. City officials denied the reporter's request; the case eventually reached the Appellate Court, which held that public officials have to disclose their records, even if they are stored on a personal electronic device or account, but only when acting as a public body, such as during a council meeting. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that gymnast Samir Aït Saïd (pictured) performed a backflip as the French team walked in during the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony?
- ... that the New York City government sought to demolish a wall around the Isaac L. Rice Mansion for five years?
- ... that Mayling Oey-Gardiner went from being a University of Indonesia clerk to a full professor?
- ... that according to Brandy Hellville, executives at Brandy Melville have bought the clothes off of employees' backs?
- ... that a California TV station wondered whether it had the "World's Longest Pregnancy"?
- ... that it will soon be illegal for government employees to gamble in the country of Georgia?
- ... that Czech industrialist Jan Felkl founded a company in 1854 that would produce globes in 17 languages?
- ... that the Russian and Belarusian military exercise Zapad 2013 was officially described as counterterrorist, but international observers concluded that it was a preparation for a conventional war?
- ... that after criticizing the political patronage system, John Silva Meehan was hired as Librarian of Congress through "purely an act of political patronage"?
In the news
- A helicopter crash near Varzaqan, Iran, kills nine people, including President Ebrahim Raisi (pictured) and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
- In boxing, Oleksandr Usyk defeats Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in twenty-four years.
- Protests over voting rights changes break out in the French territory of New Caledonia.
- Lee Hsien Loong steps down after nearly twenty years as Prime Minister of Singapore, and is succeeded by Lawrence Wong.
On this day
May 20: National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia (1975); National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908); Victoria Day in Canada (2024)
- 794 – According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia was beheaded on the orders of Offa of Mercia.
- 1714 – Johann Sebastian Bach directed the first performance of his Pentecost cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder at the chapel of Schloss Weimar (pictured).
- 1927 – With the signing of the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia.
- 1941 – World War II: German paratroopers began the Battle of Heraklion on the island of Crete, capturing the airfield and port in Heraklion ten days later.
- William Fargo (b. 1818)
- Gertrude Guillaume-Schack (d. 1903)
- Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi (d. 2021)
From today's featured list
Eighteen tropical cyclones formed during the 1993 Pacific hurricane season, an event in the annual formation of tropical cyclones over the Pacific Ocean north of the Equator and east of the International Date Line. Fifteen cyclones developed into named tropical storms, of which eleven became hurricanes and nine became major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson scale). The season officially began on May 15 in the Eastern Pacific proper (east of 140°W) and June 1 in the Central Pacific (140°W to the International Date Line), and ended on November 30. The most impactful storm of the season was Hurricane Calvin (pictured), which made landfall near Manzanillo in the Mexican state of Colima as a Category 2 hurricane; it killed more than 30 people, mainly due to significant flooding, and damages amounted to $32 million. (Full list...)
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