On Monday, when I got a call from our lawyer that the judge had ruled against us in our lawsuit over whether court billing documents are public records, the attorney said he would e-mail me the ruling.

Well, no, I said. Our e-mail is down; can you fax it to me?

After a surprised pause, he stammered that yes, he could probably do that; he would print out the e-mail he had received first and then find where they'd stashed that antiquated 20th century facsimile machine.

Technology is truly a wonderful thing ... when it works.

So this column is about technology, and a couple of things that are working great. (And there will also be a mention of what hasn't been so great this week, including that ruling.)

The first great thing is the addition of "comments" on our Web site, yakimaherald.com.

Readers do love to have your say -- and this provides you with an even quicker and much more public way to comment on news articles and editorials published in print and online.

Here's how it works:

Go to www.yakimaherald.com and click on any of the local articles (or, under Opinion, the local editorial). When the story opens, you'll see a gray "Links" bar (it should be just under the headline). There, you will have a choice of "E-mail" (to send a link to the story to another person), "Print," or "Comments."

If other readers have already commented on an article, you'll see a number in parentheses, something like "Comments (3)."

When you click on Comments, you will be asked to register by creating a login and password. You'll then get an e-mail for our system confirming that you've registered.

And then ... go for it!

Comments will be posted instantaneously, and will be monitored over the course of the day. Our hope is that rules of online etiquette will apply and that commenters can disagree without being disagreeable. Just in case, though, there will be button to "Report Violation" at the bottom of every comment, so it will be simple to let us know about any problems as they develop.

The next great addition, I hope anyway, will be an online "Ask the Editors" section.

Every day, I and other Herald-Republic editors hear questions from readers about how (and why) news is handled the way it is -- why a certain photo was selected, why one story was given more prominence than another, how the decision is made to name (or not name) a person in a story, why spelling errors don't get caught before the paper is printed and any number of other questions that fall in a general "what were you thinking???" category.

With the online "Ask the Editors," you'll be able to ask, and I and other editors -- including managing editor Barbara Serrano, city editor Craig Troianello, editorial page editor Bill Lee and sports editor Jerrel Swenning -- will be able to answer as quickly and completely as we can.

So your first question might be, When will "Ask the Editors" go online?

Our hope is within the next week or so.

I can't be more definite than that because sometimes technology just throws us for a complete loop.

Such was the case when our e-mail server died Monday morning.

By Wednesday afternoon, our tech folks had an acceptable "patch" in place and we were once again connected to the outside e-mail world.

So if you sent a news release, calendar item or other information to us between about 9:30 a.m. Monday and 5 p.m. Wednesday, you may want to check with us to see if we've received it -- or you can just resend it.

Please feel free to e-mail news@yakimaherald.com or call Donean Brown at 577-7697 to check on unanswered news releases.

For letters to the editor, you can check with Karen Troianello, letters editor, at 577-7656, or resend the letter to opinion@yakimaherald.com.

For information about calendar listings or announcements about engagements, weddings and anniversaries, contact Vera Sanabria at 577-7705, or by e-mail at vsanabria@yakimaherald.com.

Now, back to our lawsuit.

In his five-page decision, Kittitas County Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper refused to unseal attorney billing records from a possible death penalty case that has cost Yakima County taxpayers more than $2 million.

Cooper held that the documents sought by the newspaper are court records, not county records, and as a result, Washington State's Public Records Act does not apply in the case.

Instead, Cooper said the newspaper must get permission to unseal the records from Yakima County Superior Court Judge James C. Lust, who sealed the records in the first place.

As disappointed as I and publisher Michael Shepard were by the ruling, we are not deterred.

We will continue to pursue these records because we believe today, just as we have from the very first moment this file was sealed, that the people of Yakima County have a right to know how $2 million in taxpayer money has been spent.

And I appreciate the support we've received from people in the community. Our thanks to all who have called, dropped me notes and urged us on.

We'll keep you posted.

* Sarah Jenkins is editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic. If you have a question or concern, you can reach her at 577-7703; P.O. Box 9668, Yakima WA 98909; or sjenkins@yakimaherald.com.