School district denies it violated Sunshine Law
HUGHESVILLE — On Tuesday night, the East Lycoming
School District denied it violated the state
Sunshine Law regarding what can and can't be
discussed in executive session for legal, personnel
or student-related purposes, but a media law
attorney isn't so sure the district is in the
clear.
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SWB Yankees appeals ruling to Supreme Court
The management company for the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees has appealed to the
state Supreme Court a ruling that ordered it to
make public its records on concessions. SWB Yankees
LLC wants the state's highest court to overturn a
Commonwealth Court ruling that found the Right to
Know Law applies to a company contracted to manage
the publicly owned baseball team.
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County court employee e-mails exempt from Right to Know Law
A decision by the Commonwealth Court to make
e-mails of employees of court offices exempt from
the Right to Know Law is broad in the eyes of open
records experts and the state Office of Open
Records - but they say it shouldn't stop people
from making requests.
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Tamaqua board leader denies open meeting law was violated
August 15, 2010 | Filed in: Sunshine
Act |
Open
meetings
During the formation of the Tamaqua school
district's recently-adopted mandatory drug and
alcohol testing policy for students participating
in co-curricular activities, an advisory committee
met on a regular basis. A question was raised as to
whether the meetings, which were characterized as
"closed door" sessions, were in violation of
Pennsylvania's Open Meetings law, known as the
Sunshine Act.
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Judge bars release of county official's e-mails
August 13, 2010 | Filed in: Open
records | Office
of Open Records | Judicial
records | Right
to Know Law
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania courts' broad
exemption from the Right-to-Know Law shields
judicial records from public scrutiny even when
they are in the hands of agencies that are subject
to the law, a three-judge panel of the state
Commonwealth Court has ruled.
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Court ruling broadens open record exemption for courts
August 12, 2010 | Filed in: Open
records | Judicial
records | Office
of Open Records | Right
to Know Law
In a precedent-setting ruling handed down Wednesday
by Commonwealth Court, records of ancillary offices
to the state's court system have been found exempt
from the 2009 Right to Know Law. Addressing whether
The Times-Tribune and others were entitled to
Lackawanna County records for its Department of
Domestic Relations, the court ruled the county and
state Office of Open Records were permanently
barred from making the information public.
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Superintendent locks down school salary data
August 11, 2010 | Filed in: Open
records | Right
to Know Law
Days after a Daily News columnist wrote about the
high salaries of School District Superintendent
Arlene C. Ackerman and several of her top deputies
- with salaries higher than those of Mayor Nutter
and Gov. Rendell - Ackerman moved to limit the
number of district employees able to access the
district's payroll system.
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Ruling: Highlands violated Sunshine Act
August 06, 2010 | Filed in: Open
meetings | Sunshine
Act
A three-judge appeals panel ruled Thursday that the
Highlands School District violated state law when
it held a closed-door session with shopping center
representatives last year to talk about a tax
assessment appeal. In the order, Commonwealth Judge
Patricia A. McCullough wrote that the private
meeting with Heights Plaza Shopping Center
representatives "has the odor of favoritism that
the Sunshine Act does not tolerate."
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South Mountain forestry study details types, number, conditions of trees
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.
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