Daily Staff Writer

A Story County District Court judge has denied the Iowa State Daily Publication Board’s motion to expand or modify his March open-records ruling against the board.

In his decision Thursday, Judge Kurt Wilke denied all pending motions, including one recently filed by Partnership Press Inc., the plaintiff, asking that Wilke find that the Publication Board had violated Iowa’s open-records law.

In the board’s motion, Daily officials argued, among other things, that the paper does not receive money from property taxes, as Wilke said in his original ruling.

Daily officials have said that the only direct money the paper receives from the university is about $89,000 annually in the form of “subscription fees” paid by student fees.

The university does provide the Daily with free rent and utilities, among other things. The Daily also buys into the university’s employee benefits programs for the paper’s professional staff.

Wilke set a hearing for Friday at 9 a.m. at the Story County Courthouse in Nevada to resolve any remaining disputes and assess legal fees. Officials for Partnership Press, the parent company of The Daily Tribune, have said their legal fees have topped $100,000.

The Publication Board hasn’t yet decided if it will appeal. The board will likely take up the matter at its April 23 meeting, its last meeting of the semester.