News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

Random drug and alcohol testing of student athletes does not violate the search and seizure protections in the Oregon Constitution, the state appeals court has ruled.

In an Oct. 23 decision, the appellate court upheld the 800-student Oakridge school district's decision in the fall of 2000 to drop Ginelle Weber, who was 15 at the time, from the school's volleyball team after she and her parents refused to consent to a random urinalysis. Earlier that year, the district had adopted a drug-testing policy for student athletes as part of its participation in a national program financed by the National Institutes of Health, according to court documents. The program studied the effectiveness of random drug testing, and included 10 schools in Oregon.

The Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on the Webers' behalf, arguing that the district's policy violated the state bill of rights' protection against unreasonable searches. The school district defended its policy by giving evidence that Oakridge students used alcohol and drugs more than their peers at other...