State Integrity news for Maryland and Virginia from SII partner WAMU:

If "sunlight is the best of disinfectants," as former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, local lawmakers may need a refresher on the importance of government transparency. The State Integrity Investigation gave failing grades to both Maryland and Virginia when it came to the public's access to information.

Maryland ranked 46th out of 50 states and Virginia ranked 49th. While the District was not included in the survey, the mayor's administration faced sharp criticism this summer when it proposed weakening D.C.'s public records laws and broadening the range of documents that may be exempt from disclosure.

Read and hear more from SII partner WAMU - Washington, D.C.

State Integrity news from SII partner Colorado Public Radio:

The ongoing controversy about judicial secrecy in the Aurora shooting case has called attention to Colorado's disclosure laws. Judge William Sylvester has sealed documents normally open to the public. Colorado earned a "C" grade in the Investigation's category of "judicial accountability."

Hear more from Colorado Public Radio.

State Integrity news for Massachusetts from SII partner WBUR:

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has issued a ruling that sets an important standard on how judges are judged.

The high court says that while holding judges accountable is essential, judges have certain protections. Specifically the court says judges do not have to disclose to investigators what they were thinking when they made a ruling, and that the notes a judge makes while on the bench are for the judge only.

The ruling comes as a national survey gives Massachusetts a C+ grade for how it holds judges accountable.

Read and hear more from WBUR - Boston.

State Integrity news for Mississippi from the (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger:

Open government advocates say Mississippi is more open than it was four years ago, when the Mississippi Ethics Commission first was given the power to mediate state meetings and records disputes.

But the state still has a long way to go.

Mississippi received a D+ in "Public's Access to Information" on a 2012 report card from the State Integrity Investigation, a collaborative project led by the Center for Public Integrity, an investigative news organization.

Read more from the Clarion-Ledger.

State Integrity news for South Carolina from The (Columbia) State:

Recent events have exposed many weaknesses in South Carolina’s ethics and open-records laws, weaknesses that leave taxpayers in the dark whey they try to watchdog what legislators are doing and hold them accountable for their actions.

S.C. ethics regulations are so weak that the state was given an “F” grade this year and a ranking of 45th among the 50 states from the State Integrity Investigation, a project of the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International.

Read more the The State.

State Integrity news from SII partner Colorado Public Radio:

Reporters playing cat-and-mouse with lawmakers in the Capitol, legislators slipping away to secluded restaurant booths, Colorado's open meetings law looks simple enough on paper, but in real world practice it's no easy matter.

Listen to the discussion from Colorado Public Radio.

State Integrity news for South Carolina, from The State:

The Center for Public Integrity announced last week that South Carolina ranked dead last nationally for public access to government information.

It wasn’t exactly news, because those of us who try to discover and disseminate that information have always sort of known it and, more to the point, because it was just a rehash of one part of the center’s landmark study from this spring that famously named our state the nation’s sixth most corruptible. As I noted earlier, that report was laced with questions about how easily the public could access information in general and information about potential conflicts in particular, and time after time we scored abysmally on them.

Still, this reminder of how we stack up against our peers couldn’t have been more timely, coming as it did against the latest spate of secrecy scandals.

Read the rest of this story at The State.

State Integrity news from SII partner Oregon Public Broadcasting:

Oregon has an unusual regulatory system for campaign contributions. It's one of only a handful of states that places no limits on hom much money donors can contribute. That can lead to dizzying piles of cash pouring in to campaigns.

On the other hand, the state has some of the nation's tightest disclosure laws, so voters can track the flood of money.

Read and hear more from Oregon Public Broadcasting.

State Integrity news for Missouri and Kansas from SII partner KCUR:

In Missouri -- one of only four states without campaign contribution limits -- single donors have made contributions this year as large as $750,000.

Meanwhile, across the border in Kansas, the state does have contribution limits, but national groups like Americans for Prosperity are for the first time getting involved in primary races for Kansas Legislature seats.

Read and hear more from KCUR - Kansas City.

State Integrity news for Utah from the Deseret News:

The issue of legislative ethics reform won't go before voters, at least not this year.

The Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a lower court's summary judgment decision that would have given members of Utahns for Ethical Government an opportunity to gather signatures for an initiative to be included on the November ballot.

"This is a hugely disappointing turn of events," UEG representative David Irvine said Tuesday.

The group had intended for citizens to vote in November on a proposed code of conduct for state lawmakers.

Read more from the Deseret News.