Two years ago, the AAN member biweekly attempted to obtain security tapes to confirm that multimillionaire James Leininger was secretly lobbying for school vouchers at the state capitol. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) immediately blocked the release of the tapes, saying it would compromise "homeland security." The Observer appealed to the state attorney general, who agreed that the DPS was obligated to release the videos. But the story doesn't end there. Instead of complying, DPS filed suit in state court, lost, and appealed the court's decision. Now documents obtained by the Observer and posted online show the department has spent more than $160,000 on the suit. "Beyond this being a frivolous lawsuit, what I find a little depressing is the DPS is proceeding like there is this bottomless bag of money from which to draw," Observer editor Jake Bernstein tells the Austin American-Statesman. "It just never occurred to us that they would carry this as far as they have."
The Observer joined the Innocence Project and other groups in asking a Texas judge to stop local officials from destroying a hair they say could exonerate a man executed for murder, Reuters reports. Claude Jones was put to death by lethal injection in 2000, when President George W. Bush was governor of Texas. "If the state of Texas did execute an innocent man, the people of Texas deserve to know what was done in their name," executive editor Jake Bernstein says. "This case begs for further examination."
When At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper begins its 22nd year in national syndication Aug. 25, Richard Roeper will be joined for at least the first several weeks by the Observer's Robert Wilonsky, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Wilonsky will take the place of Roger Ebert, who is recovering from surgeries.
Ask and ye shall receive: In last week's paper, LEO ran a short notice inviting employees of Louisville-based health-care giant Humana "to share interoffice memos" the company had prepped on Michael Moore's latest documentary. Several employees came through, and LEO has published three documents this week, all of which repeatedly cite Humana's acknowledgment of America's health care problem, claim that the Congressional testimony of an ex-employee featured in the film is false, and refer all media inquiries to the company's press office.
The alt-weekly placed first in nine categories in this year's Metro Louisville Journalism Awards: business reporting, minority affairs, editorial writing, column writing, feature photography, sports photography, review/criticism, headline writing, and page design. The winners of the awards, which are sponsored by the Metro Louisville chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, were announced last night.
After a judge agreed that his case could move forward, Dallas County Constable Mike Dupree resigned yesterday during a court hearing on a petition seeking to remove him from office, the Observer reports. The suit came on the heels of reports of Dupree's misconduct -- including sexual harassment of subordinates -- that were first revealed in the alt-weekly. In a separate Dupree-related matter, the police officer accepted a plea from the Texas attorney general's office charging him with misdemeanor abuse of power.
In a bizarre case of technological misinformation, last week a blog reported that Dallas Observer reporter Matt Pulle was identified in a sheriff's report as a suspected telephone harrasser. A source for the reporter's work on the embattled Constable Mike Dupree had mistakenly given Pulle's number to the authorities after receiving harrassing phone messages. When confronted with Pulle's phone records, though, the blogger amended his post. In an attempt to get Pulle's name out of the sheriff's report, a Village Voice Media attorney wrote the sheriff's office, and they are reopening the case to find out who may have actually made the calls.
Nate Blakeslee was formally recognized by the Texas House yesterday for his investigation that helped expose sexual abuse at a state youth correctional facility. The Texas Youth Commission has been rocked by the scandal, with the board resigning and a special rehabilitation plan put into place.
In February, Observer editor Julie Lyons reported on her "Bible Girl" blog that Pentacostal Minister Sherman Allen had a decades-long history of alleged sexual abuse. Her investigation also revealed that several women have alleged that the minister, who is being sued by a former employee and church member, is also involved in the occult. Now, the Church of God in Christ has suspended Allen "from all national and local pastoral roles and activities" until his trial is settled, according to the Observer. The Church of God in Christ is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States, as well as the fourth-largest Christian church organization in the country, with some 6 million members.
The Observer's spelling team edged out the Dallas Morning News yesterday at the Literacy Instruction for Texas spelling bee. Writer Andrea Grimes says the win is "sweet, sweet verbal revenge" for the "ass-kicking" the News gave the Observer in last year's softball league. She tells the News not to take the loss too hard: "We're sure those excellent batting averages are very helpful when it comes to putting out the daily paper."
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