Manor school district sues to keep info secret

MANOR — School district officials in this Austin suburb have sued to keep information secret about practice and team meeting violations by high school football coaches, despite an attorney general’s ruling.

The lawsuit said the documents requested by a weekly newspaper, are exempt from state public records laws because they are private and confidential.

But Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office ruled recently that the information is not considered confidential under common law privacy and must be released.

Ratliff: Eanes wastes tax money on open records

AUSTIN — A parent has sued the Eanes school district, saying officials waste taxpayers money by distributing too much information that isn’t for the public good, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Thomas Ratliff, the son of former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, filed suit last month in Travis County District

Abbott files brief in support of California reporters

AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the convictions of two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who were ordered to jail for refusing to name sources in a steroid investigation that named Barry Bonds and several other professional athletes, the Associated Press reported.

Abbott and the attorneys general in 22 other states signed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief asking that the court recognize the privilege of Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to protect their sources. In August, a federal judge sentenced the reporters to up to 18 months in prison for contempt of court for refusing to say how they obtained transcripts of a grand jury investigation into alleged steroid trafficking by BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.