A Wichita television station that lost a defamation lawsuit for naming a possible suspect in the BTK serial killings told the Kansas Supreme Court this week that it did nothing wrong and shouldn’t be penalized for its reporting.  Click here for the full article.

The Adams County Nebraska Historical Society in Hastings, NE wants access to the names of 957 people buried in unmarked graves at a former psychiatric hospital cemetery called the Hastings Regional Center.

State officials say no, on the grounds that the names are part of the patients’ medical records and are protected under patient privacy laws.  A trial court agreed and now the case is on appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

On January 8, SPJ and several other media organizations filed an amicus brief supporting the Historical Society’s argument that “…the patients should not be forgotten and there is no evidence that they wanted their bodies buried in unmarked graves.”

Here’s a list of the media groups:  The Associated Press, the Nebraska Press Association, the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, The Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, the Radio-Television News Directors Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Tomorrow, SPJ will send out a press release providing more information about the amicus brief and the organization’s reasons for supporting the Adams County Nebraska Historical Society’s fight to gain access to the records.  Stay tuned.

“The Omaha World-Herald will eliminate one of its five daily editions on Feb. 2 and stop same-day delivery in much of western Nebraska to save money.”

I saw news about  appeared in Barney McCoy’s blog JournalCetera

Any Omaha journalists out there who’d like to comment on what this could mean for the community, for newspaper staffers?

As many of you know, the Christian Science Monitor will go to a weekly print edition and 24/7 digital platform come April.

I saw this on the AP Wires just now:

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas City Kansan says it will stop publishing a printed newspaper edition after Jan. 10, existing only on the Internet.

GateHouse Media, which owns the newspaper, said Wednesday it will continue to operate the Wyandotte County paper through its Web site, www.kansascitykansan.com.

The final printed edition will come out Jan. 10. The newspaper will send letters to subscribers about refunds.

The Kansan was founded in January 1921. It had been a daily newspaper until earlier this year, when it switched to twice-weekly publication.

A number of smaller U.S. newspapers have either gone online or cut back home delivery this year as the industry struggles with declining print readership and advertising revenue.