A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:
Advocates fight to keep Georgia archives open to public
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for October 5, 2012
From The Citizen’s Voice:
Luzerne County has acknowledged possessing thousands of emails excluded from an open-records release because of an assumption the emails were deleted.
The emails were from Leonard Piazza, the ousted director of elections fired April 11. The county has resisted access to Piazza’s emails since The Citizens’ Voice filed an April 12 request for Piazza’s emails dating back to Nov. 1, 2010.
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Read More… from Luzerne County has yet to comply with open-records request for emails
From PennLive.com:
As a gubernatorial candidate, Tom Corbett vowed to provide “an open, transparent, accountable and trustworthy government.” Corbett said he was committed to “100 percent transparency throughout state government.”
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Read More… from Gov. Tom Corbett administration’s records denials called public ‘abuse’
From Lehigh Valley:
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission is not subject to the records laws of Pennsylvania or New Jersey, according to commission attorney Jonathan F. Bloom.
Instead, the commission created its own policy in 2009, but it’s a far cry from New Jersey’s demanding Open Public Records Act.
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Read More… from Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission in legal quandary for open records
Opinion from Poynter:
The Freeh report on the Jerry Sandusky Penn State sex abuse scandal makes many recommendations on how the whole rotten mess might be avoided in the future, including transforming the very culture of the university. Sadly, the report fails to recommend a tangible key change that might have exposed the problems and protected children years ago.
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Read More… from How Open Records law would have stopped sex abuse sooner at Penn State
From TribLIVE:
PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania has removed millions of public records from a state court system website, and while a statewide newspaper group says that’s a troubling policy shift, an online privacy expert says it’s reasonable.
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Read More… from Pennsylvania destroying online court records
From Legal Newsline:
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Legal Newsline) – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that private companies — more specifically, those operating for "public benefit" — can be required to make their records public under the state's Right-to-Know Law.
In particular, the disclosure of any written concessionaire bids is required under the recently revamped law, the Court said in its May 29 ruling.
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Read More… from Pa. SC: Records for private companies can be public
From The Beaver County Times:
Public-records requests filed under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law need not cite the law or satisfy other technicalities so long as they include the requester's name and address and enough information for government agencies to identify the records being sought, an appellate court panel ruled Monday.
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Read More… from Court rules Pa. records requests need not be perfect
From York Daily Record:
HARRISBURG, Pa.—Public-records requests filed under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law need not cite the law or satisfy other technicalities so long as they include the requester's name and address and enough information for government agencies to identify the records being sought, an appellate court panel ruled Monday.
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Read More… from Court rules Pa. records requests must be considered
From The Time-Tribune:
Commissioners Jim Wansacz and Corey O'Brien have held more than a dozen private meetings with elected municipal and school board officials from throughout Lackawanna County over the past three months in possible violation of Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act.
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Read More… from Pennsylvania’s commissioners defend unadvertised meetings
