California

A state judge today dismissed the remaining charges against a Santa Cruz photographer about to stand trial for his coverage of an “Occupy” demonstration in Santa Cruz last year.

Bradley Stuart Allen was charged in February with a felony conspiracy, a felony vandalism and two misdemeanor trespassing charges after he published his photographs of a November demonstration to the online media outlet Indybay.

CNN's decision not to include closed captioning services for its online video content was not First Amendment protected conduct, and because of that the company is not entitled to early dismissal of a lawsuit under California's anti-SLAPP statute, a federal judge has ruled.

A California judge refused to dismiss a felony conspiracy and two misdemeanor trespassing charges against a photojournalist for his coverage of an “Occupy” demonstration in Santa Cruz.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Sillman did rule last week, however, that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence that Bradley Stuart Allen committed felony vandalism, another offense he faced as a result of his newsgathering activities, and dismissed that charge after a hearing last week, Allen’s attorney, Ben Rice, said in an interview.

A U.S. District Court ruled that the FBI must release unredacted documents about Ronald Reagan to a journalist who has legally sought the information for the last 27 years in an attempt to prove that the former president was not only a bureau informant, but that the FBI assisted in his political career in return.

The names of city of Long Beach police officers involved in shootings are subject to disclosure under the California Open Records Act, a California appeals court ruled this week.

The Second Appellate Court District upheld a lower court's finding that the release of the names of Long Beach police officers who were involved in shootings was not an invasion of privacy and the names were not protected as part of personnel or investigative files under the law.

Los Angeles County Juvenile Court proceedings will be open to regular media coverage, but not to the public, unless a compelling case is made to close it, the court’s presiding judge ruled this week.

Prior to the ruling by Judge Michael Nash, the dependency side of the court, which focuses on cases of child abuse, foster care and adoption proceedings, had been largely closed to news organizations.

Video recordings of the contentious trial that struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage will likely not be released to the public after all, following a federal appellate court’s reversal today of a lower court’s finding that there was no compelling reason for the tapes to remain sealed.