A Florida appellate court again has rebuffed the NCAA's effort to prevent public disclosure of documents on academic cheating at Florida State. The documents, with students' names blacked out, could be released as early as Wednesday, said Carol Jean LoCicero, an attorney for The Associated Press and other news media. LoCicero's clients sued the NCAA, Florida State and the university's outside law firm under the state's open-records "sunshine" laws. The 1st District Court of Appeal late Monday denied the college athletics organization's motions for a rehearing or certification of the case to the Florida Supreme Court as a question of great public importance. The NCAA still could ask the state high court to review the case and block release of the documents until the justices make a decision. That will be difficult, though, because of strong trial and appellate court rulings that found the documents to be public records. |