Law enforcement officials from Maine to California detest open records laws as much as the media loves them.Unfortunately, as the Sante Fe Reporter's Maria Luisa Tucker reports, the laws governing those records vary widely from state to state. For example, California and Florida have relatively clear guidelines, while Delaware and Idaho’s are notoriously problematic. In New Mexico, a vague state law has created loopholes that allow police to shield reports about ongoing investigations — sometimes forever. Now, one newspaper's lawsuit may soon create more sunshine. It’s an important case, particularly in a post Sept. 11 culture, wher public access to public documents continues to shrink.
New Times has named Dawson Fercho, former director of e-business for Seventhwave Technology Corporation, as publisher of PitchWeekly in Kansas City.
Last month, 39 years after four little girls died in the bombing of an all-black church in Birmingham, Ala., Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted of the crime. One of four Ku Klux Klansmen who planted the bomb at the height of the civil rights movement, Cherry now stands as one of this country's most notorious racist killers. But to his 49-year-old son, Tom Cherry, he's just "Dad." And despite Bobby Frank Cherry's hateful, abusive ways -- both as a Klansman and as a father -- his son has never given up trying to forge some sort of bond with him. "Echoes of Hate" by Dallas Observer Staff Writer Carlton Stowers takes a look at this bizarre love-hate relationship.
To protest the Boston Phoenix's decision to link to a video of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's execution, Dreamworks Inc. initially reneged on an invitation for Phoenix film critic Peter Keough to screen their new movie, "Road to Perdition." Keough was later allowed to attend the screening.
President Bush recently allocated $4.8 to increase the security of the U.S. water systems. However, well-documented reports show that U.S. operations during the Gulf War virtually destroyed the Iraqi water infrastructure. Jane McBee of the Colorado Springs Independent traveled to Iraq recently with a humantiarian group to capture on film the lingering effects of the war and continuing economic and political sanctions, especially the impact on Iraqi children. "Water and sanitation are the biggest killers of children in this country. Not all the food and medicine in the world will improve the condition or the livelihood of these people 'til water and sanitation are improved," an Iraqi woman told McBee.
