Aug 2010
Council straddles law with e-mails
August 28, 2010 | Filed in: Sunshine
Act | Open
meetings
SUNBURY — E-mails are the cyberspace version of
“behind closed doors,” and Sunbury city
councilmen meet there often. Read
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Opinion: Technology can cloud transparency
Government emails are treated no differently from
any document printed on paper and should be made
available for review, under Pennsylvania’s
revamped Right-to-Know law. A story in Saturday’s
newspaper tackles the use of emails from a
different direction. This is the other side of
the push for public transparency. The story
explores how the use of email by elected
officials can limit or eliminate deliberation in
meetings. Read
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City fighting to keep G-20 cop reports
It has been five months since an Allegheny County
judge ordered the Pittsburgh Police Bureau to
turn over arrest reports from the G-20 Summit to
the Citizen Police Review Board. Since then, the
city first provided reports that were redacted so
heavily the board found them to be useless and
then challenged the court's order by refusing to
provide the information. Read
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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. Read
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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. Read
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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. Read
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Appeals officer says school district must identify fired teacher
August 21, 2010 | Filed in: Open
records | Right to Know
Law
The Monessen School District must provide the
name of a teacher fired in June by Sept. 17, an
appeals officer has ruled. Read
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Opinion: Court finds Sunshine Act violation in executive session
Trib Total Media, Inc. ("TTM") brought suit
against the Highlands School District because the
school board barred a reporter from attending an
executive session. In its answer to TTM's
complaint, the school district admitted that the
school board discussed a property tax assessment
appeal with owners of the shopping center subject
to the appeal. The school district asserted that
such an action was permissible under Section
708(a)(4) of the Sunshine Act, which permits the
discussion of matters of pending litigation in an
executive, hence private, session. The
Commonwealth Court held that only attorneys and
advisors may participate in executive sessions
pursuant to this section. Read
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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. Read
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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. Read
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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. Read
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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.
Read
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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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Ruling: Highlands violated 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." Read
More...
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. Read
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