Open records

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that documents relating to the sale of a public hospital are subject to the state’s Open Records Act.

The Iowa Supreme Court will weigh whether a federal student privacy law should override a state open records law, after the court heard oral arguments Oct. 15 over a university's withholding of documents in a sexual assault case.

A New Jersey appeals panel ruled Thursday that county governments cannot circumvent public records requests by housing documents at off-site locations, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The state Open Public Records Act is silent on whether government records must be maintained in-house in order to be considered public, but yesterday’s decision closes that loophole.

The Mississippi Press Association, The Associated Press and the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information have teamed up for a third year to write a series on what they call the “culture of secrecy” that surrounds open meetings and records laws in the state and those who are making effort to strengthen government transparency, the AP reported.

A Pennsylvania city is suing its newspaper, a reporter at the newspaper and the state public records office that granted the reporters records request, Allentown's The Morning Call reported.

A newspaper is counter-suing a Louisiana parish after its deputy attorney asked a court for a protective order to stop the release of public records related to a federal investigation and state ethics inquiry,The Times-Picayune reported.

A New Hampshire court ruled last week that a city is under no obligation to provide public records in electronic format, The Keene Sentinel reported.

A Louisiana parish sued two news media outlets last week, asking the court for a protective order to keep public records that are also being reviewed in a state ethics inquiry confidential.