Judge John Cleland on Sandusky trial, news organizations and the ‘Twitter’ ban

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

McKean County Judge John Cleland worked with media organizations before the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse trial, including the media’s request to be allowed to tweet, text and post from the courtroom.

On May 18, he spoke to a group of news organization reporters and editors in Harrisburg.

In this excerpt, he talks about the logistical discussions, his decision to allow electronic devices to be used in the courtroom and then explains his decision to ban them. It’s fascinating stuff. If, as I was, you were among those who didn’t really understand Cleland’s reversal on electronic media, you will after listening to this.

Teri Henning, president of the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, was involved in the logistics discussions before the trial and told me that Cleland was thoughtful, reasonable and trying to work with news organizations. After hearing him Saturday, now I understand what she was trying to tell me. He was trying to work around a Pennsylvania court rule that bans electronic media — a rule that ought to be changed.

Related links:

–Judge changes his mind, prohibits tweeting and other electronic communication in Sandusky trial:www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-r…ectronic-communica

–Judge: Sandusky case compelling, but not a legal ‘game-changer’: www.centredaily.com/2013/05/18/3621…compelling.html

–Meet John Cleland, veteran judge at center of Sandusky trial: www.ydr.com/sports/ci_20821742/…-at-center-sandusky

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Matthew Diehl’s court documents related to Rodney Miller’s death, other cases

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Ed Mahon

Here are court documents for Matthew Scott Diehl, 32, of Shrewsbury, who is charged with homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence and other violations connected to the death of Loganville Volunteer Fire Chief Rodney Paul Miller.

Diehl pleaded guilty to his first DUI offense in 2006, according to court documents.

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Eight York County school districts approved to raise tax rates higher than state ceiling

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

Eight York County school districts got approval from the state to raise tax rates by more than the 1.7 percent allowed by the state.

Getting approved for an exception doesn’t necessarily mean the district will take advantage of it. Districts sometimes ask for the exception as they go through the budget process, just in case they need it.

The districts that got approval are Central, Eastern, Northeastern, South Eastern, South Western, Spring Grove, West Shore and York City.

You can see related budget numbers and potential tax rate increases in the document below. If you click on the four arrows at lower left, the document will open in a separate page with an index to where York County schools appear in the document.

 


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Thoughts from open records advocates on proposed amendments to right-to-know law

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

Couple notes from a story by Mark Scolforo of The Associated Press about the proposed amendments to the state’s right-to-know law:

  •  The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association supports some elements but has concerns about others, Deb Musselman, a lobbyist with the organization, told the AP. “There are some portions of the bill that, if they are not changed, would cause us to really have to sit down and think seriously about our position,” Musselman said. “But we are hopeful we can make our case about the things we want to change.”
  • Pileggi’s bill would not apply the law fully to Pennsylvania’s four “state-related” universities — Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Lincoln and Temple — but that provision, which has some support in the Legislature, could be added as an amendment.
  • If agencies feel they have been saddled with unduly burdensome requests, they would be allowed to ask a judge for a protective order. “That’s very sticky and that’s something we are concerned could be misapplied,” Musselman said.
  • Inmates would be limited to a list of records, most of which pertain to the inmate directly, including his or her criminal records, work records and disciplinary records. Pileggi said inmates account for a significant portion of requests under the Right-to-Know Law, requests that he said have questionable public benefit.
  • Kim de Bourbon, executive director of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, said many of the proposed changes would restrict access, and many existing problems with access are not addressed. “There are still far too many agencies spending a lot of time and effort trying to find reasons not to provide public records, rather than spending that time and effort to make it all easier for people to understand what their government is doing,” de Bourbon said.

Pileggi said he did not have a deadline in mind for consideration of the bill but expected at least one public hearing will be conducted.

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Time-response log definition — including location — part of proposed amendments to Pa.’s right-to-know law

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

Right-to-know law amendments filed today by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, include the definition of a time-response log that includes addresses or geographic location — a definition that arose from a Commonwealth Court decision in a case won by the York Daily Record/Sunday News.

York County had argued that locations were not part of time-response logs. The state’s open records office agreed with the YDR that they should be; the county appealed and won in Common Pleas court; and the YDR appealed to Commonwealth Court, which ruled unanimously in its favor.

You can see the proposed amendments in the document below. I’ve highlighted some that are interesting or could have a big impact. For example, among other things, the amendments suggest:

–limiting inmates’ rights to request records;
–allowing agencies to charge for commercial requests;
–adding the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, economic development authorities and campus police as agencies subject to the law;
–exempting volunteer fire, ambulance and other responder agencies from being subject to the law.

Let me know what you think of the proposals.

Ways to see the notes
– You can click on “Notes” in the navigation at the top of the document to see only the notes.
– You can scroll through the document and the notes will show up as yellow tabs that you can click on.
– For the best view, click the four arrows at the bottom left of the document to view it in a full page.


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York City denies request for report on former Human Relations Commission director

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

From YDR staffer Teresa Boeckel:

The City of York has denied a Right-to-Know request seeking the Human Relation Commission’s independent audit/report on former executive director Stephanie Seaton’s case files.
Seaton was fired last month, several months after the Human Relations Commission board sanctioned an independent audit of her case files.
The city denied the request, citing numerous exemptions. It relates to a performance rating or review and written criticisms of an employee.
It also is a record of an agency relating to a noncriminal investigation, including: complaints submitted to an agency; investigative materials, notes, correspondence and reports; and work papers underlying an audit.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said one of the problems with the law is that noncriminal investigation exemption is broad.
Melewsky believes there would be a way to share the report. She said information that fits the exemptions or other states laws could be redacted, and the rest of the document could be shared with the public.
“To withhold the entire thing is not in the public interest,” she said.

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Teacher salary numbers fuel the debate: Overpaid or underpaid? – The York Daily Record

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

An open government update brought to you by Record Tracker via Evernote.

For more open records resources, visit:

YDR Datacenter

My open records resources folder in Evernote.

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How would proposed Pa. bill on employer access to employees’ social media affect journalists, news orgs?

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

Pennsylvania House bill 1130 would, among other things, make it illegal for employers to ask or require employees to give them logins to their personal social media accounts, or provide information from their personal accounts.

What issues does this raise for news organizations and journalists? If a reporter interviewed a subject via Facebook messages on a personal account, and someone challenged whether the source existed, should the news organization have the right to see the interview? What if a reporter’s Twitter feed includes both personal and work-related tweets, and includes private DMs with sources? Would a journalist ultimately have to completely separate personal and work-related social media accounts?

Read the bill below, and add your thoughts/concerns/questions in comments below, or tweet @scott_blanchard.


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So, why wouldn’t an agency grant a teen’s RTK request?

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

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Business is booming at Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records | PennLive.com

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Scott Blanchard

An open government update brought to you by Record Tracker via Evernote.

For more open records resources, visit:

YDR Datacenter

My open records resources folder in Evernote.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment