Public records

More than 700 pages of e-mails messages between New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and his former girlfriend, labor union leader Carla Katz, are to be released to the public within two weeks, a judge ruled Friday.

But the Attorney General’s Office plans to challenge Superior Court Judge Paul Innes’ ruling, arguing both that the e-mail messages are private correspondence, and that they are protected by executive privilege.

The New Orleans Police Department and the Times-Picayune have reached an agreement that will require the police department to turn over police incident reports in a more timely manner. 

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is expected to approve the state’s first major revision of its open records law in a quarter of a century.  

Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said that the governor could sign the bill at any time.  

The public has the right to known the names of police officers who were involved in critical incidents, though there may be situations in which officers’ safety concerns or the integrity of the case outweigh this presumption of openness, according to an opinion released Tuesday by California Attorney General Jerry Brown. 

The R.I. House recently passed a bill that would expunge the criminal records of people who have received deferred sentences, or who were found not guilty or had their cases dismissed. The bill passed 46 to 17, and has been sent to the Senate.

The state of Missouri is dramatically raising the cost of obtaining driver's license and vehicle title records, and the information clearinghouse companies who will be most directly affected have sued to reverse the changes,The Associated Press reports.

Since 1998, the price for ordering the records has been $1.25 per individual copy and significantly less when the records are ordered in bulk. Under the change, which went into effect on May 1, all copies now cost $7.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. expressed outrage over e-mails sent between members of the Secret Service, in which the agents reportedly joke about the possible assassination of the elder Jackson and wife, Jacqueline.

The Jacksons filed Freedom of Information requests to obtain the e-mails, the existence of which was disclosed through a discrimination lawsuit filed against the agency by some of its black agents.

A new law that recently passed in South Carolina exempts names of concealed weapons permit holders from the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

The bill, signed into law on April 16, bars the public from knowing the names of the more than 60,000 permit holders in the state. Access is limited to law enforcement officials or through a court order only.

Tennessee's Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed a new open records measure (SB 3280) today, sending the bill to the full chamber for a floor vote.

The Times-Picayune [New Orleans] filed suit against the New Orleans Police Department on Friday, claiming the agency has both routinely delayed releasing incident reports and failed entirely to provide numerous records that the newspaper has requested.

The lawsuit specifies six records requests, which the paper submitted to the police department between December 2007 and March 2008 that have yet to be fulfilled.