Sealed records

Blackmail e-mail messages sent to an aide to the Hawaiian governor may not be publicly released, a federal judge has ruled. Bob Awana, the former chief of staff to Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, has a right to privacy regarding e-mail messages blackmailing him for $35,000 over a romantic relationship, Judge Michael Seabright said. Seabright reasoned that as a crime victim, Awana should be treated with "fairness and respect to privacy."

A federal judge refused to allow New York City to file a secret affidavit in the New York Police Department's defense in a case brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union alleging illegal police tactics at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

An Oct. 1, 2006 Los Angeles Times article on allegations of steroid use in Major League Baseball contained so many inaccuracies that a judge overseeing the case unsealed an affidavit because, he says, he was "compelled to point out what appear[ed] to be an example of abusive reporting."

In a big win for access to the courts, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled that court proceedings and records under the state's sexual predator statute are open to the public.  The Reporters Committee submitted a friend of the court brief in support of petitioners in the case, Newspapers of New Hampshire Inc., and the Union Leader Corporation. 

A North Dakota judge wanted to move a settlement along between the feuding NCAA and the University of North Dakota in a lawsuit over the school's controversial use of its "Fighting Sioux" logo -- the NCAA had alleged the logo to be "racially insensitive" and ordered the university to halt its use of the image. So Judge Lawrence Jahnke ordered records in the case to be sealed, reasoning that if the "divisive" media reports based on the filings ceased, the parties would be free to settle in peace.

And they did.

On Sunday, the first criminal hearing was held in the case of AP photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been in U.S. custody without charges for nearly 20 months, AP reports.

Hussein's defense attorney, Paul Gardephe, said no formal charges were lodged, and the magistrate judge hearing the case issued an order sealing the proceedings and details of the material presented.

Seven media companies have asked a federal court to release documents showing identities of major league baseball players alleged to have purchased steroids from an admitted dealer cooperating with the government. The judge handling the case is the same judge overseeing the Barry Bonds perjury matter and other related steriods cases. MLB's investigator is expected to release a report naming those implicated by the end of the year.