The Courier Journal looks back at an eventful year, reminding us of its efforts on behalf of the public's right to know each time it "held government officials accountable, fighting in the courts to force them to release public records" and pry open closed meetings.

"We follow dozens of public meetings to ensure the public's business is being done in public. And we file hundreds of open-records requests every year to get access to the documents so we can get to the truth.

Often, officials try to stonewall those requests. When they do, we aggressively pursue civil litigation to force them to comply.

Every year, we win cases that compel officials and agencies to turn over public records."

We are indebted to The Courier Journal for its role in advancing interpretation and development of the open records and open meetings laws in favor of public access since the laws' earliest days.

We have all benefited from The Courier Journal's tireless efforts.