May 12, 2021
On behalf of Oklahoma Watch and one of its reporters, attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press are suing the state’s largest school system and its superintendent over their refusal to provide access to email records requested by the nonprofit news organization.
The May 11 lawsuit the first filed as part of the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative in Oklahoma, which launched last November centers on a state Open Records Act request Oklahoma Watch reporter Jennifer Palmer submitted to Epic Charter Schools last July seeking emails sent to and from the school system’s co-founder, Ben Harris.
February 16, 2021
In response to an administrative appeal filed by a Reporters Committee attorney, a district attorney in Oregon has ordered a county economic development department to disclose public records requested by the Malheur Enterprise, an important victory for the newspaper that could help shed light on a multi-million dollar infrastructure project.
The Enterprise filed a series of public records requests last October as part of its ongoing investigation into the inherent tension between the public and private roles of an Oregon state legislator involved in economic development projects as both the director of the Malheur County Economic Development Department and the owner of a private development company.