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Today's featured article

City Building of Champaign, Illinois

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...)

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Today's featured picture

Lucia Chamberlain (1882–1978) was an American novelist. Her 1909 book was the basis of the 1916 film The Other Side of the Door, and her 1917 short story "The Underside" formed the basis of the 1920 film Blackmail. The 1916 film The Wedding Guest is also based on her writing. This photograph of Chamberlain was taken around 1908 by the American portrait photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf, and is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Photograph credit: Zaida Ben-Yusuf; restored by Adam Cuerden

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In the News

Ebrahim Raisi

A helicopter crash near Varzaqan, Iran, kills eight 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.

Did you know?

Samir Aït Saïd

... 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"?

On this day...

May 20: National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia (1975); National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908); Victoria Day in Canada (2024)

Schlosskirche Weimar

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)

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