Charlotte City Attorney Mac McCarley said Thursday that public information requests for e-mail had become so burdensome that top officials had quit sending sensitive messages for fear they might become public.

Records released by the Easley administration show that until recently, several public information officers deleted most of their e-mail messages to and from top officials in the governor's press office.

Government e-mail messages contain more than birthday greetings and announcements of meetings. Several major stories in the past few years have been confirmed by getting the e-mail through the public records law.

A respected legal scholar said Friday that the Easley administration's policy of allowing workers to delete e-mail messages when their "reference value" ends is lawful.

Gov. Mike Easley may want to study the recent experience of Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, who announced in January that he would not seek re-election in part because of a furor over deleted e-mail messages by his office.

The News & Observer and nine other North Carolina news organizations sued Gov. Mike Easley on Monday over his administration's deletion of e-mail, which they say violates the state's Public Records Law.

For nearly eight years, Gov. Mike Easley's low-profile style has served him well. Now, a series of high-profile problems at agencies in his administration could overshadow his goals for his last nine months in office.

Gov. Mike Easley said Wednesday that he has instructed his senior staff, his press office and other state public information officers to cooperate better with news media outlets to provide information to the public.

Representatives of North Carolina's newspapers and broadcasters Thursday told a panel appointed by Gov. Mike Easley that state law requires government officials to retain copies of all e-mail messages pertaining to public business.

Gov. Mike Easley said Tuesday that he is not convinced that recently released notes jotted by state employees are clear evidence that officials in his office instructed others to destroy public records.

Three Republican gubernatorial candidates and the director of an open government group said Monday that the SBI should look into allegations that Gov. Mike Easley's staff told state public information officers to delete e-mail messages.

Internal investigations into the actions of three Durham police officers, including one who shot and killed a teenager, have been completed, but the public may never know whether the department thought the officers acted appropriately.