Judge rules on Gibbons e-mails

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons has been ordered to give a newspaper copies of some of his e-mails or explain by Nov. 14 why he isn't legally required to do so.

Carson City District Judge Bill Maddox issued his order Wednesday, a day after the Reno Gazette-Journal filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to compel release of the e-mails.

The lawsuit was filed after Gibbons' lawyer, Chris Nielsen, rejected a June 4 public records request from the newspaper for six months of e-mail from the governor's state account.

Maddox said the newspaper "set forth issues of arguable merit that it is wrongfully being denied access to public records and/or an explanation for why the public records are not being produced."