Federal officials try to stop publication

FORT WORTH — The Federal Aviation Administration recently asked the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to stop working on a profile of Ruth Leverenz, an FAA official, and to not photograph her.

The public must be able to evaluate the qualifications of government officials to judge whether they are capable of performing their jobs, Star-Telegram Executive Editor Jim Witt said.

The newspaper decided to proceed with the Leverenz profile because of her prominent role at an agency undergoing dramatic change, he said.

In another case, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency asked Washington, D.C., reporter Todd Carter not to post resumes of EPA political appointees on the Natural Resources News Service Web site.

EPA officials asked Carter to return the resumes, and they sent him new ones on which education levels, awards, affiliations and job experience had been blacked out.

Carter said the EPA’s general counsel told him that “in the wake of Sept. 11, they didn’t want information about government officials made public.”

Carter did not comply with the request and put the resumes on the Web site. The EPA’s general counsel did not respond to Star-Telegram requests for an interview.

City waives $1,333 copying bill for EMS public records

 PARIS — The city council voted 5-1 to waive fees associated with The Paris News’ open records request for information on the emergency medical services contract between the city and county.

The newspaper filed its request in late May and asked that fees be waived pursuant to Section 552.267 of the Texas Public Information Act, which says charges can be dropped if the information benefits the public.

The city estimated the records request would have cost $1,333.70. The mayor and at least one councilman opposed the fee waiver.

Newspaper files complaint after school records withheld

BRYAN — The Eagle filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office in June after the Bryan school district failed to release within 10 days the short list of candidates for a vacant board trustee post.

“The school district has an obligation to let people know the names of those under consideration as school board members,” publisher and editor Donnis Baggett said. “The law is very clear on this. It’s our responsibility as a newspaper to represent the public interest and to compel the administration and school board to follow the law.”

District officials originally told the newspaper they could not comply with the request even though the document was presented to the board and discussed during a June 10 meeting. But later said it would be released when the board president returned from vacation, several days after the 10-day deadline.

Crawford sets strict policies for White House press corps

CRAWFORD — The school board adopted a stringent series of guidelines for the White House press corps using the school gym during President Bush’s visit to his ranch here this month.

A parent had complained that members of the press were allowed to enter the school without identification and that the security in the gym was lax.

The new rules include: the press can only be in designated areas, cannot bring or use tobacco products on school property, must wear ID badges at all times, must keep equipment away from students, cannot interview students without school permission, must be sensitive when taking pictures of students, and avoid meetings near beginning or end of the school day.

College must reinstate student expelled for column

LUBBOCK — A district judge ruled that Texas Tech University must reinstate a medical student expelled for writing a newspaper column about witnessing an autopsy.

The judge issued a temporary injunction ordering the college to let Sandeep Rao take final exams he missed during the expulsion and to return to class until the case goes to trial in July 2003.

The student sued the college in May, arguing that the disciplinary action violated his free speech rights. A former opinions editor and frequent columnist for The University Daily, the student wrote a column Jan. 24 describing the procedure.

The university contends the student violated a confidentiality agreement he signed before being allowed to witness the Jan. 21 autopsy.

Out-of-state meeting prompts questions for county

EL PASO — Three of the five El Paso County commissioners who attended a convention in New Orleans likely violated the Open Meetings Act, a Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas lawyer told the El Paso Times.

The commissioners attended the National Association of Counties conference and, along with members of the US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition, met with the national group’s incoming president to urge federal support for reimbursement to counties that hold undocumented immigrants in county jails.

The meeting was not posted and was not accessible to El Paso County residents.

The assistant county attorney told the newspaper the meeting did not violate the act because the commissioners did not discuss county business.

One of the commissioners told the newspaper that in hindsight the officials probably would wish they hadn’t had the meeting but said it was a rare chance to speak with the association official.

Convicted killer’s husband sues to keep tape secret

HOUSTON — Russell Yates, husband of convicted child killer Andrea Yates, has sued the Attorney General’s Office to attempt to prevent the release of the police video tape showing the dead bodies of the couple’s five children.

Two Houston television stations filed an open records request for the tape that jurors viewed during Andrea Yates’ capital murder trial.

The AG’s office ruled that the Harris County District Attorney’s office had to release the video and other evidence made public during the trial.

The DA did release taped interviews psychiatrists conducted with Yates shortly after she murdered her children but they withheld the video tape, which includes an image of the oldest child, age 7, lying face down arms outstretched in a bathtub filled with murky water.