Public officials' e-mail open -- but you can't always see it
May 2, 2009: "A state open records request has York Township looking into options for how e-mails are received and sent by its commissioners, because some e-mails may be in a private company's files and are not open to public review.
In a March appeal involving township Commissioner Philip W. Briddell, the state's Office of Open Records said that e-mails in a private company's files are public if they include correspondence by a public official. But the open records office said it can't force a municipality to search those files, and can't force a company to produce the e-mails." Read the full article here.
Public funding, private records
May 2, 2009: "Just because the Wall Street West effort receives more than $20 million in public funding doesn’t mean its finances are subject to public scrutiny.
That’s according to officials at Wall Street West, the nonprofit economic development group, which successfully argued before the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records that it is not subject to the state Right to Know Law." Read the full article here.
New law doesn't prompt more requests
April 22, 2009: "Citizens exercising their "right to know" have met few obstacles throughout the Centre County area, although the same can't be said statewide.
Most of the municipalities in the area have seen limited requests for information and haven't run into problems in addressing the citizens' concerns unlike at the state level, where problems have been reported by The Associated Press." Read the full article here.
Pa. backs New Era on autopsy reports
April 21, 2009: "The state has ruled that Lancaster County must supply autopsy records in two cases to the Lancaster New Era.
In addition, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records has admonished the county for not complying with the state's Right to Know law when it rejected the newspaper's request." Read the full article here.
Pennsylvania's open records law sets barriers
April 21, 2009: "Attorney Paul Wright of Seattle-based Prison Legal News was stunned when he filed a right-to-know request with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and was told the department didn't have the information he sought.
Wright wanted records on lawsuit settlements. The department responded that it isn't required to create records.
"I call it the 'Right to Know Nothing Law,' " Wright said of Pennsylvania's open records statute." Read the full article here.
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