Though the Kentucky Court of Appeals has not yet ruled on the case by three state newspapers against the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Judges are ruling the records, previously ordered-to-be-released, will have to be made public before a decision.

In a ruling released Monday, Court of Appeals Judges Glenn Acree and Joy Moore denied the CHFS's motion to stay the release of thousands of pages of documents about children who were killed or almost killed from abuse or neglect until its appeals were exhausted.  Judge Michelle Keller dissented in part.

The denial reenforces Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd's February ruling that the Cabinet had to release the files and could only redact certain information pertaining to names of private citizens, siblings and the children who nearly died from abuse or neglect.

The ruling, which cited the Cabinet's lack of appeal in a similar case in 2010, was a minor victory for the Courier Journal and the Herald Leader.  However, the Court of Appeals did deny the newspapers' motion to dismiss the CHFS's appeal outright.