A Nebraska state agency violated state law by requiring an independent news organization to pay $44,000 for public records, a state court judge ruled Tuesday.
That means Flatwater Free Press, of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, has prevailed in its Freedom of Information Act claims against the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. The news outlet sued the department and records manager Shawnna Lara claiming it was given an extremely expensive and unlawful cost estimate for a request and retrieval of public records.
