Monthly Archives: May 2009

No mandatory public-interest test in RTK law

It’s fascinating (and encouraging) to see Pennsylvania residents using the new right-to-know law and trying to make it work for them. Demetra Stamus of Carbon County tried something interesting when she appealed the county’s denial of 911 audiotapes and other … Continue reading

Posted in appeal, denials, Pennsylvania Right to Know, Right-to-Know Law, Scott Blanchard | Leave a comment

Rendell administration v. new open records law

Remember the flap when the state open records office’s director said the Gov. Rendell administration was “going out of its way to block access to public records”? Well, WHTM-27 is reporting this evening that Mutchler recently had a face-to-face meeting … Continue reading

Posted in Pennsylvania Right to Know, Scott Blanchard | Leave a comment

How to check the status of a court case

*(9/6/09: UPDATE: see below for note on court costs, fines, etc. 8/25/11 update to reflect redesigned website.) I was e-mailing back and forth with a reader who wanted to know the trial date for a particular criminal case and asked … Continue reading

Posted in Judicial records, Scott Blanchard | Leave a comment

Open records can cost $$ — for requester or agency

I came across a couple of things last week about how much open-records laws cost — both an agency that has to produce records, and sometimes the person requesting records. People have raised the issue as a problem on both … Continue reading

Posted in Pennsylvania Right to Know, Scott Blanchard | Leave a comment