Two U. of Oklahoma students who run a Christian campus paper charge in a lawsuit that a policy barring the use of student fees for "religious services" violates their right to free speech. The lawsuit was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based civil-liberties group, on behalf of Ricky Thomas and James Wickett, who work for the Beacon OU, a paper that provides "news from or with a Christian perspective." More here.
SPJ national update III: More freedom in Baghdad than in Crawford, and there's news in the ER. Every Arab country has its state newspapers, where readers find the approved version of the news. In the new Iraq, the "government" paper is the one backed by the Pentagon. Abu Muhammad al-Hassan pointed to the U.S.-funded Al-Sabah daily at his newsstand in downtown Baghdad. "You could say that's the 'semiofficial' paper," he said. "It's certainly the best selling." Stacked across the sidewalk at al-Hassan's kiosk, a variety of newspapers reflect the blossoming of the press since Saddam Hussein's fall in April. Iraq leaped from being terrorized into silence to being unique in the Arab world, a country with few press restrictions. More here. ... Five peace activists were found guilty Feb. 16 of illegally protesting in Crawford, Texas, under a local ordinance designed to curtail demonstrations in President Bush's adopted hometown. The law, enacted after Bush became president in 2000, makes it a misdemeanor to hold a "procession, parade or demonstration" on any public space without giving 15 days notice, paying $25 and obtaining the sheriff's OK. After the demonstrators' May arrest, the rule was changed to seven days notice. Demonstrators also must stick to the local high school football field. More here. ... Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled Feb. 13 that the state's public-information law trumps a federal privacy statute. The decision gives Texas reporters access to data that some hospitals have declined to release under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA, a sweeping overhaul of health care privacy laws that took effect in April, has frustrated journalists who have found some basic information hard to come by. "Governmental bodies who've been using HIPAA as a shield just lost that protection," Abbott said.
SPJ national update IV: Prisoner abuse, records abuse, Bush abuse. Two California lawmakers are reintroducing legislation to rescind rules that limit prisoner interviews, following state Senate hearings on allegations of mistreatment and corruption in the $5.3 billion prison system. Former Govs. Pete Wilson, a Republican, and Gray Davis, a Democrat, vetoed attempts to create greater oversight. New Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned on increasing government openness. More here. ... Forty-three percent of 234 government agencies in Florida violated the state open records law, according to a statewide audit published last month. Organized by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the Florida First Amendment Foundation and the Florida Press Association, the audit spanned nearly every county in the state. The documents requested -- e-mail messages, cellphone bills, personnel files, travel expenses -- are all public records under Florida law. More here. ... An uproar over illegal immigration roiled the California Republican convention Feb. 21 as party leaders struggled to keep the masses united. Hundreds of GOP loyalists booed the president at a rally where U.S. Senate hopeful Howard Kaloogian and his allies denounced Bush's plan to give temporary legal status to undocumented workers. "Enough is enough!" the crowd shouted. "Enough is enough!" A Kaloogian supporter, Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, told the crowd that a gynecologist he knew had surveyed patients and the plan rated "right below genital herpes."
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White-collar Crime and a Nasty Case of the Blues
by Larry Lutz
Joe Shannon is a man on a mission. He wants to keep us from giving away our identity to crooks. The Tarrant County assistant district attorney shared his passion for privacy with Fort Worth SPJ in February, and a sobering tale it was, with plenty of cautionary asides.
Shannon, who heads the DA's economic crimes unit, said little can be done to stop a determined i.d. lifter. Technology opens too many doors. In six years, the number of people reporting identity theft jumped from 8,886 to 27 million. The economic loss, he said, surpasses $48 billion. continued
