Public records

The Small Newspaper Group recently completed a seven-month investigation that examined Illinois' teacher disciplinary system, and filed 300 public records requests across the nation in doing so.

While the investigation showed just how far Illinois' system lags behind those of other states, among other findings, it also demonstrated how Illinois public records law frustrates non-governmental attempts to scrutinize the system by making teacher disciplinary case files exempt from disclosure.

The Department of Defense does not have to publicly disclose documents related to the formation of special military commissions created to try suspected terrorists despite the fact that the documents were produced by consultants hired outside the agency, a federal court ruled Friday.

Washington State's Department of Social and Health Services has been sued over failing to disclose records under the public records act. 

Three former foster children say public records show that state social workers ignored prior warnings and failed to remove them from a home where they were being abused by their foster father.  They say the state has withheld documents supporting their claims in violation of the law.

A former deputy attorney for Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was wrongfully fired for bringing to light a plan to deliberately delete e-mail messages from the state executive's office in order to keep it away from the media and the greater public.

A nonprofit environmental group is suing the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of the Inspector General under the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to documents related to the firing of a high-ranking Interior official and other recent investigations.

New Mexico's attorney general filed a motion Wednesday to intervene in a lawsuit on behalf of the public's right to access a report on possible leaks at a Sandia National Laboratories mixed waste dump.

"Our analysis is that the requested document is a public record and the report should be disclosed," Attorney General Gary King told the Associated Press.

King's motion is a welcome departure from the state's other actions in this case. 

The University of North Dakota's Presidential Search Committee wants the State Board of Higher Education to lobby for weaker open meetings and open records laws to aid the search for a new university president, the Grand Forks (N. Dak.) Herald reported [free registration required] this week. 

The Supreme Court of Mississippi will decide whether records of dental experiments and other research conducted on animals by Mississippi State University for a pet food company are protected trade secrets or publicly available under the state's public records act.

An Iowa county prosecutor has told the University of Iowa to ignore newspapers' requests for public records related to sexual assault allegations against members of the school's football team.

The dead hand of practical obscurity has surfaced in a new South Dakota bill that seeks to remove birth dates from voter registration lists.

The measure was proposed by the State Board of Elections in an effort to deter identity theft, according to a piece in the (Sioux Falls) Argus Leader.