Los Angeles is suing a journalist and a police watchdog group in an attempt to claw back public records that it had released to them after police invented a new definition of the word "undercover": https://theintercept.com/2023/04/11/los-angeles-lawsuit-lapd-headshots/

In short: LA handed over a dataset of LAPD headshots to a journalist as part of a Public Records settlement. Stop LAPD Spying Coalition launched a searchable database of LAPD cops using the data at https://watchthewatchers.net/.

After the LAPD police union noticed, they flipped their shit. Now, they've convinced the city of LA to sue Ben Camacho, the journalist, and the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, trying to claw back the public records. But it's doomed to fail. The data is all over the internet, including published by DDoSecrets: https://ddosecrets.substack.com/p/release-lapd-headshots-269-mb

Several First Amendment experts have denounced the lawsuit as legally meritless. "Once the government gives you information in good faith, you have the right to publish it under the First Amendment. This is not even a close case." -David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-06/la-officials-sue-journalist-activist-group-after-accidentally-releasing

Important #SaveTXO update: We now have a GoFundMe that is LIVE and accepting donations!

This money will go to support the staff, but donations will also go a long way towards showing that there's a will to keep this magazine alive. https://www.gofundme.com/f/laid-off-texas-observer-journalists-and-staff

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