Public records

The Asbury Park Press reports it has won an appeal for details of a 2007 sexual harrassment settlement between Monmouth County and a local Department of Public Works and Engineering official.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his onetime chief of staff, Christine Beatty, have lost their bid to keep private un-redacted copies of hundreds of text messages they exchanged on city-owned equipment, the Detroit Free Press reports:

In a Sunday Washington Post column,  David Simon -- the former Baltimore Sun police reporter and creator of HBO’s acclaimed police drama The Wire -- argues that as more newspapers make cuts or close their doors, a lack of access to information and acceptance of the official line will become that much more common.

The Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio to pay additional attorney's fees in the Tuscon Citizen’s open records case.

The appellate court awarded the paper $29,403.65 in fees, which comes on top of the trial court’s award. Arpaio now owes a total of $54,644 in fees.

A nearly $124,000 fine slapped on Washington's King County is not penalty enough for "grossly negligent noncompliance" with a 1997 Public Records Act request, the state Supreme Court said on Thursday.

If a city can't hand over a copy of its public information policy in fewer than 15 days, one might wonder what hope there is for a legitimately complex request.

Several groups that backed a California initiative banning gay marriage are suing to get all donations relating to the ballot measure pulled from public view, according to The Associated Press.

An Arizona newspaper is entitled to more than $25,000 in attorney's fees from a county sheriff who sought to stop the local prosecutor's office from releasing public records, an appellate court has found.

Students at Georgetown University are suing the CIA, FBI and other government agencies for information in the death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

A Denver judge has ruled against The Denver Post in an open-records lawsuit over phone records of Gov. Bill Ritter.

According to The Post's account, the newspaper sued Ritter under the Colorado Open Records Act for his personal phone records dating back 19 months.  Ritter's attorneys said he seldom uses his state-issued telephone, but conducts regular state business calls on his personal cell phone, according to the report.