Bredesen administration keeps records closed

The Tennessean reports today that the Bredesen administration will keep the list of victims in the Tennessee Highway Patrol's illegal background check scandal secret. Yesterday, Safety Commissioner spent an hour and a half sharing details of the THP's investigation with a prosecutor from the district attorney's office.

The meeting with District Attorney Torry Johnson's staff, the first since the start of the probe on July 2, was part of the normal investigative process, Mitchell said, and did not signal that the investigation was moving in a new direction or that criminal charges were imminent.

"We gave them the initial facts of the investigation and allowed him to ask questions," Mitchell said.

As of Tuesday, 80 people on the list had been contacted and interviewed by the Highway Patrol's Criminal Investigation Division. Those include a Tennessean reporter, Brad Schrade, who has investigated and reported extensively on the Highway Patrol in the past three years.