Q: I submitted a request to the local water authority for delinquent account records for 2010. The agency denied my request and cited “bill payer privacy” as the reason for denial. Is that right? Read More...

A seven-year battle between Kutztown and one of its residents over public financial records won't be resolved any time soon. In the latest round, Gennaro A. Marino, a former mayor, contends that the borough has not provided profit and loss statements he requested for television cable and Internet access services the municipality provides to residents and some customers in Maxatawny Township. Read More...

On the day it announced the largest gift in its history, Edinboro University told the Post-Gazette that the gift from Joseph T. Buba and Eleonora C. Navari Buba went to the Edinboro University Foundation, which does not release its donor records and thus the amount would not be made public. Read More...

Just how much money did Edinboro University -- and by extension Pennsylvania taxpayers -- receive when it got the largest gift in its history?

That question -- posed to Edinboro in December 2009 -- began a 14-month odyssey that illustrates not only how universities use foundations to keep information out of the public eye, but also how difficult it can be to obtain a public document using Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, even when the document belongs to a state agency. It ended when Edinboro said that it "admits to making a mistake" and agreed to pay a voluntary civil penalty and legal fees to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this month. Read More...

The state Commonwealth Court last week reversed a decision of the York County Court of Common Pleas by finding that 911 response logs are required to contain destination addresses or cross street information. This is a positive decision in the name of the public right to know and, most importantly, the public's right to know things accurately. Read More...

In County of York v. OOR and Ted Czech, the Commonwealth Court reversed the decision of the York County Court of Common Pleas by finding that 911 times response logs are required to contain destination address or cross street information. Read More...

HARRISBURG – The reform train is carrying a light load and chugging along at a slow pace in the state House. Under a new Republican majority, the House met for only one day last week to consider six reform bills on "second consideration" during which two amendments were approved and the others were shot down as not "germane." Read More...

Sen. Dominic Pileggi, as he promised last year, has reintroduced a bill adding amendments to Pennsylvania's two-year-old Right to Know Law. But he's removed one element that proved controversial in a similar bill that he introduced last session but which never came up for a vote — an amendment that would have charged people up to half of what it would have cost to make copies of the records in question just to look at them.
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Easton Area School District is suing to prevent a Morning Call reporter from reviewing e-mails the superintendent and school board members sent and received over their district accounts. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Northampton County Court, seeks to overturn a decision by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, which reversed the district's refusal to release the e-mails. Read More...

A Lebanon County judge found himself balancing the state's Right to Know Law against federal privacy rights in a case involving the Elco School District. A district resident, Robert Regnell, requested a copy of an Education Settlement Agreement approved by the Elco school board on Oct. 19, 2009, but the district refused to provide the ESA to Regnell, citing privacy rights of the affected student's family. Read More...

Philadelphia released a second batch of police-arbitration opinions Monday, further revealing the previously hidden struggles between the department's discipline and the police union's advocacy. The city is releasing the opinions in batches after a judge's order to make public about 200 arbitration awards. The city released 42 on Christmas Eve and 36 on Monday. Read More...