From tropical islands to snowy peaks, Sunshine spread across land March 16-22 as newspapers, broadcasters, online media, schools, libraries, public officials, civic groups and individuals celebrated open government with Sunshine Week 2008.

The theme of this year's initiative, The Sunshine Campaign, was picked up by public officials and citizens alike, who used the occasion to talk about preserving and protecting access to government information and meetings. Others focused on special projects such as information audits or general education about how to get and use the records that rightfully belong to the people.

This is only the beginning of what we've seen; more will be posted regularly, so be sure to keep checking back, and let us know if we've missed anything.

View the gallery here.

Three-quarters of American adults view the federal government as secretive, and nearly nine in 10 say it's important to know presidential and congressional candidates' positions on open government when deciding who to vote for, according to a Sunshine Week survey by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

The survey shows a significant increase over the past three years in the percentage of Americans who believe the federal government is very or somewhat secretive, from 62 percent of those surveyed in 2006 to 74 percent in 2008.

"In a democracy whose survival depends on openness, it's sobering to see that three-fourths of Americans now view their national government as somewhat or very secretive," said David Westphal, Washington editor for McClatchy Newspapers and co-chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Freedom of Information Committee. "On the other hand, it's gratifying to see that almost 90 percent believe a candidate's position on open government is an important issue when they make their Election Day choices."

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In October 2007, the then-16 major-party candidates were asked to complete a brief Sunshine Week survey on open government. To date, of the remaining three leading candidates, only Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has joined former candidates New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in responding.