Montgomery County officials have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury investigating accusations that two commissioners violated the state Sunshine Act, according to anonymous sources. The District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on grand jury involvement in the case or whether prosecutors were looking into pay-to-play allegations that have dogged Republican Commissioner Chairman James R. Matthews for nearly a year. Read More…

The Gettysburg Times recently launched a new page on its website which allows readers to view the complete budgets of government bodies. Read More…

Nearly half of all sick days taken by Easton firefighters so far this year have been combined with other paid time off, city records show, a pattern that city officials say suggests the department may be misusing its leave. A Morning Call analysis of city payroll records obtained through the state Right to Know Law found that 46 percent of the total sick days taken by firefighters through mid-October have been combined with holidays, personal days or vacation days for extended time away from work. Read More…

James Powers, former director of the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security, destroyed the original intelligence reports he received from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response. That may have violated multiple provisions of the state’s record retention policy. Read More…

Allentown's portion of South Mountain has trees, plenty of them -- more than 1,000 yellow poplars and black oaks, and even a few black cherry. While this may not be a surprise, the administration of Mayor Ed Pawlowski has filed a petition in court to keep a tree inventory and other details about South Mountain out of the public domain. Read More…

A Pennsylvania state university and its nonprofit fundraising foundation have asked the state’s high court to hear an appeal in a case over whether the foundation, which is staffed by public employees, is subject to state public records laws. Read More…

Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records has ordered the release of documents detailing the moonlighting done by state troopers to the Tribune-Review and the Associated Press. Read More…

HARRISBURG (AP) — The Pennsylvania State Police must release most of its records about work that its employees perform while they are off-duty, the state Office of Open Records has ruled. The office concluded in Wednesday's decision that the state police erred in withholding information about employee moonlighting in response to a right-to-know request filed in April by The Associated Press. Read More…

East Stroudsburg University and its foundation have asked the state's highest court to reverse an appellate court ruling that would force the foundation to turn over records to the Pocono Record. In the latest turn in an ongoing legal battle, ESU and the private ESU Foundation, which raises money for the university, filed an appeal in the Middle District of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, arguing that a unanimous decision of a full panel of judges of the Commonwealth Court in May should not be allowed to stand because it is overbroad and intrusive. Read More…

Donor records relating to scholarships and a signature East Stroudsburg University building must be made available to the Pocono Record, a state court ruled Monday in the most recent turn in a 15-month-long legal battle. In a precedent-setting decision, the Commonwealth Court ruled 7-0 to uphold the substance of a previous ruling by the state's open records agency. Read More…

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records has granted The Express-Times access to the Wind Gap police chief's text messages in a ruling that a government transparency watchdog group called groundbreaking. Read More…

In light of recent accusations about undue political influence in Montgomery County government, a former county official has asked the Board of Elections for details about the commissioners’ campaign finance spending over the past two years. Read More…

Montgomery County has stated it will require another month to provide the county’s professional services contracts and related documents requested earlier this month by The Times Herald. Read More…

A state appeals court's first ruling on the new Right to Know Law upholds the idea that government agencies must prove they have a good reason for withholding information, lawyers and others said yesterday. "It's a strong decision for open government," said Barry Fox, spokesman for the state Office of Open Records. Read More…

The management group for the Lackawanna County-owned Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees argues a judge erred in a case that will decide whether concessionaire bids for the baseball team and stadium are public records. Read More…

Allentown is suing The Morning Call, reporter Jarrett Renshaw and the state Office of Open Records, claiming the agency improperly ruled on Renshaw's request under the year-old Right-to-Know Law for the official e-mails and schedules of Mayor Ed Pawlowski and other administration officials. Read More…

An eight-month fight over the identities of Sharon sewer customers who collectively owe about $1 million in unpaid bills ended Tuesday with a judge agreeing with the state Office of Open Records and ordering the records be released. Read More…

A midstate TV station is appealing a Cumberland County judge’s ruling barring it from information on a Shippensburg University student’s death. Read More…

Mercer County Prison Board on Tuesday ruled that inmate photographs from Mercer County Jail can be released to the press after a Herald request made earlier this month. Read More…

Bucks County officials do not believe the record of when two employees – opponents in a county election – entered the courthouse each day should be a matter of public information. Read More…

The state Office of Open Records this week upheld an appeal by The Beaver County Times of a fee imposed by the State Employees Retirement System for providing information under Pennsylvania’s open-records law. Read More…

Lackawanna County must obtain and provide to The Times-Tribune any receipts and invoices related to the cost of medical care at Lackawanna County Prison between November 2004 and November 2009, the state Office of Open Records has ruled. Read More…

Lackawanna County must obtain and provide to The Times-Tribune any receipts and invoices related to the cost of medical care at Lackawanna County Prison between November 2004 and November 2009, the state Office of Open Records has ruled. Read More…

Allentown officials are appealing an administrative ruling ordering the city to provide the e-mails and records of daily schedules for Mayor Ed Pawlowski and two Cabinet members to a reporter from The Morning Call. Read More…