From The Gazette (Colorado Springs):  Gazette reporters routinely use public records in the course of their reporting. Here is a sampling of recent stories in which access to public records played a role in the story – or was the story itself. See this story at gazette.com for links to the original stories.

– Headline: Complaint: Councilwoman Helen Collins ‘appears’ to have violated city’s ethics code

Gazette reporters this month consulted numerous public documents, including land and title records, while reporting about a land deal involving Colorado Springs City Councilwoman Helen Collins and Douglas Bruce, a former elected official and felon.

Gazette reporters also requested under the Colorado Open Records Act a city ethics complaint filed against Collins.

The resulting stories reported that Collins, already the target of a recall election on April 7, faces an ethics complaint that alleges she participated in the real estate deal with Bruce, which helped him avoid payment of a nearly $7,600 court judgment he owes the city.

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