New York's highest court agreed Wed., June 26, to hear the Empire Center for New York State Policy’s appeal of lower court rulings that would keep secret the names of teacher pension recipients, according to a statement released by the Center, Thurs., June 27. The New York Times, Newsday, the Hearst Corp. and other major news organizations have filed a brief in support of the Empire Center's position. The state Court of Appeals will review decisions by the Appellate Division’s First and Third departments, respectively, on the Center's legal challenges to support the release of pensioners’ identities by two teachers' retirement systems. The information sought was released in previous years and then widely disseminated, both in the Empire Center’s SeeThroughNY.net database and on various newspaper Web sites. However, this year the two teachers’ retirement systems withheld that information.