News & Opinion

Pro sports’ bans on Twitter could provoke First Amendment protest

Professional athletes filling time around games by tweeting whatever was on their minds, some of it critical, are now facing rules restricting their freedom. Questions  remain about whether the bans violate the free speech rights of the athletes and whether they even care enough to challenge the bans. -DB The Dallas Morning News Opinion October 5, 2009 By Kevin Sherrington In the wake of insubordinate comments made recently on Twitter accounts, please match the coach to

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Anti-SLAPP law used against citizens legislature intended to protect

The Redding Record Searchlight says that when Shasta County uses an anti-SLAPP law to sue a citizen seeking redress of grievance, it constitutes a regrettable development for a law intended to protect the right of citizens to speak out on controversial issues. -DB The Redding Record Searchlight Opinion October 5, 2009 Leave it to the lawyers. In 1992, the state passed a law aimed at protecting citizens who speak their minds on controversial issues from expensive,

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FBI searches house of man arrested for using Twitter to coordinate protests in Pittsburgh

The FBI last Thursday spent 16 hours searching the Queens house of a man arrested in Pittsburgh on September 24 at the Group of 20 summit. The man, who claims to be an anarchist, is facing criminal charges of helping  protesters avoid arrest after they were ordered to disperse. -DB The New York Times October 5, 2009 By Colin Moynihan As demonstrations have evolved with the help of text messages and online social networks, so too

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Police review board findings kept secret

An opinion piece in the Redding Record Searchlight suggests that a state law opening the reports of police review boards to the public would actually reduce suspicion and distrust of police departments and enhance their reputations. -DB Redding Record Searchlight Opinion October 1, 2009 The greatest benefit of such a panel: It would open a window onto the rarely seen world of police departments’ disciplinary proceedings. But that window is nailed shut. A 2006 state

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Supreme Court upholds lower court order for release of priest child abuse records

The Bridgeport, Connecticut Roman Catholic Diocese may be nearing the end of its seven-year long fight to keep sealed over 12,000 pages of records concerning priests’ sexual abuse of children as the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a court order to release the files. –DB The New York Times October 5, 2009 By Paul Vitello The United States Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport to

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