Public records

When Wisconsin investigative reporter Richard Moore requested records from the state's Department of Natural Resources last year that related to a shoreland zoning issue, he did not expect to uncover a controversy about the agency’s handling of public records fees in general.

E-mail messages made public this week by a state lawmaker show top California State University officials agreed to keep secret the speaking fee it intended to pay former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, California Watch reported.

The e-mail messages were released this week to Californians Aware, a First Amendment organization that has sued university's Stanislaus campus in order to gain access to its contract with Palin.

The former head of an office tasked with protecting government whistleblowers from retaliation will plead guilty to charges he tampered with public records by hiring a private technician to delete information off his computer while at the Office of Special Counsel.

West Virginia's high court agreed last week to hear a local newspaper’s freedom-of-information case over whether the names on a voter-referendum petition can be disclosed to the public, The (Martinsburg) Journal reported.

The Shepherdstown Observer has sued a county clerk who has refused the newspaper’s public records request for the names of people who signed a petition on a zoning referendum.

The government accountability group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has sued the Securities and Exchange Commission over its failure to provide documentation of reforms implemented in the wake of the largest investment fraud in the nation's history.

The National Freedom of Information Coalition has received a $2 million, three-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to create the Knight FOIA Fund, which will fund the legal costs often associate with public records disputes.

An Alabama newspaper is demanding copies of so-called personal e-mail messages sent by city officials that were withheld from a recent open-records request.

The Associated Press has asked the West Virginia Supreme Court to reconsider its November ruling that e-mail messages exchanged between its former justice and a coal executive were not subject to public records laws, The Associated Press reported.

Bermuda’s new freedom of information bill will apply to all government-held records, including those created in the past, the Royal Gazette reported.

A coal executive has asked the West Virginia Supreme Court to reconsider its dismissal of a $50 million jury verdict against competitor Massey Energy after improper relationships between sitting justices and Massey executives came to light, The Charleston Gazette reported.

Hugh Caperton, the owner of Harman Mining Co., had sued Massey for unfair business practices and was awarded $50 million by a jury. But the state Supreme Court overturned the award on two separate occasions.