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...

Q: I requested access to e-mails sent between council members and the mayor of a local agency. The agency denied my request on the basis that the agency does not provide e-mail accounts to council or the mayor, and the e-mails are sent from personal e-mail addresses. Can they do that? Read More...

The prevalence of identity theft is one of the reasons the state has revised its paper record access policy for magisterial district courts. “Personal financial and Social Security information are two key elements of the kind that will not be included in court files for public review,” said Stuart Ditzen, assistant for communications, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
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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...

By Tammy Compton
Wayne Independent

TEXAS TOWNSHIP — A Texas Township Citizens’ Website will be coming soon.

A month after Texas Township supervisors declined to pursue a township website, a group of local residents say they’ll host their own.

In response, supervisors say they’ll be checking with the township solicitor to ensure that the township won’t be held liable should there be any misinformation online.

Reading from a prepared statement, resident Georgette Pascotto told the supervisors that failing to have a website was “short-sighted and unfair to many residents who can neither attend meetings nor afford copies of the minutes at 25 cents per page.”

Strongly in support of, and saying even the township’s planning commission advised proceeding with the “online resource,” Pascotto said they’d use their own finances to “establish a township website containing important items such as (approved) minutes, ordinances, names of officials, telephone numbers, meeting dates and time.”

Resident John Bartron said, “I think it’s fine if Georgette has a group or somebody that wants to put it on the net, but I think there should be a disclaimer in there, that this is in no way affiliated” with the township or published by the supervisors.

“If somebody makes a misprint putting it on the net ... and they get sued, they’re the ones that should carry the load, not the taxpayers of Texas Township,” Batron added.

Supervisor Don Doney, “While we’re on this subject, we get a magazine every month called The Township News. There’s an article in there this month that states ‘The Right to Know Law.’ There’s a lawsuit now about how the law applies to emails.”

A man in Montgomery County has filed a law suit against the supervisors, Doney said. “When a supervisor sends an email to another supervisor (not on the township’s computer) ... he wants access to all the supervisors’ emails. And it’s in the courts right now. That’s what that grew into down there,” Doney said.

“I’m not talking about emails, I never have been ...I’ve been talking about what is public record. You had people come here and say, ‘Look, I work two jobs, I can’t be here. Look, I have to help my kids with homework.’ You force them into a situation where, unless they’re here ...they can not be informed of what is happening. And I think that is very unfair,” Pascotto said.

“I can only say that we’re operating within the law,” Doney said.

“I know as long as I’ve sat here, and the boys, I don’t know of anything we’ve done that’s illegal. We might have and don’t know it ... I’ve been here a long time and I never seen any shaky stuff going on in this township,”said Chairman Jack McDonald.

“This is not about casting aspersions. This is about the public’s right to know,” Pascotto said.

“I’m 78 years old, I don’t know how we ever survived up here without this change,” McDonald said.

McDonald talked about how things used to be and how everything’s changed.

“Why do we have to change to accommodate everybody else? They moved here, we didn’t move there,” Batron said.

“Do we want to go back to kerosene lanterns?” asked Ed Thomas of Seelyville. “I’m fourth generation here in Texas Township. I didn’t move anywhere ... I’m still here. And I’m in favor of the Internet, and indoor plumbing and electrical service.”

Pascotto said, “Growth is around the world.”

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's fsummary of improvements needed in Pennsylvania's open meetings law, known as the "Sunshine Act." Read More...

Q: I recently attended a public meeting and was told that I could not use my cell phone to record the proceedings because cell phones are not approved by the board as an appropriate recording device and because I didn’t get permission to record in advance. Can the agency do that? 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...

Q: An agency requested an additional 30 calendar days in which to respond to my Right to Know Law request. On the 30th day, I received a letter stating that the records are public but the agency will take an additional three months to compile and copy them due to staffing limitations. Can the agency extend their time for response like that? Read More...

Ben Vonderheide spends a lot of time at the Lancaster County Courthouse, pursuing fathers' rights and inconveniencing local officials in the process. As such, Vonderheide said, he's been tossed out of many a county office and courtroom. But his ejection from one courtroom this fall prompted him to request copies of the surveillance tapes for his records. The county refused to provide the tapes, saying it would constitute a security breach. The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records disagreed. In a Christmas Eve ruling, appeals officer Lucinda Glinn ordered the county to turn them over to Vonderheide. Read More...