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Abortion, gun, election cases before PA courts

.... where do they stand?

This is The Investigator, a free weekly newsletter with the top news from across Pennsylvania.
A weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom producing investigative journalism for Pennsylvania.



September 5, 2024 | spotlightpa.org
CASE BY CASE
A state ban on Medicaid funding for abortion. A program capping power plant emissions. The felony murder rule. These issues and more are at the center of high-profile cases currently awaiting consideration or decisions from Pennsylvania's highest courts

One of them recently saw action. A panel of Commonwealth Court judges directed Pennsylvania to stop rejecting mail ballots solely because voters failed to date them, Spotlight PA and Votebeat report.

Also this week, the legislature appears unlikely to address a 2016 law that has led to higher utility bills for communities across the state despite customer frustrations and concerns from the commonwealth’s official consumer advocate.

Finally, Republican lawmakers, citing recent Spotlight PA reporting, plan to introduce legislation that would give the state Department of Health a greater say in which doctors can approve patients for medical marijuana
📅 UPCOMING EVENTS
VIA SPOTLIGHT PA

» A complete guide to the candidates for Pa. attorney general

» Who needs and provides care in Pennsylvania, by the numbers

» Local governments need 12K people to function. Experts say you could be one of them.

Lessons from reporting on the Trump assassination attempt

Spotlight PA, ProPublica, and the Butler Eagle recently published a collaborative investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

Our reporting revealed that the July 13 shooting resulted from existing vulnerabilities in the process the Secret Service uses to secure campaign events. The story focused on the Secret Service rather than authorities in Pennsylvania.

But as I filed records requests to local police departments while reporting, I learned about a serious obstacle to getting access to police-recorded footage in Pennsylvania.

Frequent readers of this newsletter might be familiar with the Right-to-Know Law, Pennsylvania’s version of the federal Freedom of Information Act. It provides the public with access to government documents.

When police officers start recording video using body-worn or vehicle dashboard cameras, however, the resulting footage is subject to a different law: Act 22 of 2017.

Just weeks after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2017 ruled that dash- and body-camera footage are public records, the legislature passed a law all but invalidating the victory that transparency advocates had fought for years to achieve.

Act 22 requires requests for police footage to be made within 60 days of the recorded event, and to be delivered either in person or via certified mail. And it puts full discretion on whether footage is released in the hands of the police agency, making such releases very rare. So rare that an Office of Open Records official once asked me if I had ever obtained police-recorded footage. He had yet to hear a success story.

Few people know how to file such requests — and apparently, few local governments know how to handle them.

I mailed out six Act 22 requests to departments we either knew or suspected provided security for the Trump rally during my reporting. Many departments denied my requests, citing the Right-to-Know Law — a completely different and irrelevant statute.

This response left me confused and unsure how to proceed.

While I can appeal a right-to-know request to the statewide Office of Open Records, an Act 22 denial can only be appealed in the local Court of Common Pleas, a potentially expensive and difficult step for most newsrooms.

Ultimately, one police department sent us footage: Butler Township. Two weeks after initially denying my Act 22 request (and erroneously citing the Right-to-Know Law in the denial), the local agency changed course and provided 12 videos showing the minutes before and after Thomas Crooks clambered atop a building and shot former President Trump.

Those videos became the pillar of my story about the shooting, and taught me a lesson. Always request the footage — even if the law makes it difficult! Danielle Ohl, Spotlight PA

🤔 NEXT QUESTION: Are you on top of the news? Prove it with the latest edition of the Great PA News Quiz: ‘Counterfeit’ endorsement, steel deal skeptics, and poaching the 76ers
WEEKLY RUNDOWN

» AP: Man arrested at Trump rally wanted to hang a protest banner

» AXIOS: Harris opposes US Steel takeover by Japanese company

» CENTER SQUARE: Mail ballots complicate tracking vote totals

» CNN: Election deniers to pay $1 million in voting machine dispute

» INQUIRER: Police misconduct lawsuits cost Philly taxpayers $60M

» NY TIMES: How a leading chain of psychiatric hospitals traps patients

» PENNLIVE: FBI visits Dauphin County tourism bureau after investigation

» POLITICO: Shapiro floated as possible US attorney general

» WGAL: York County business owner sues over law against tarot reading

» YORK DISPATCH: School crossing guards contract draws contention

 ☕️ NOW BREWING
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THE RIDDLER
Send your answers to riddler@spotlightpa.org.

FAMILY MATTERS (Case No. 272): I am your mother's brother's only brother in law. Who am I?
 
Feeling smart? Challenge a friend.

Last week's answer: A piano. Find last week's clue here

Congrats to Josh W., who will receive Spotlight PA swag. Others who answered correctly: Michael H., Marianne C., Beth T., Ed M., Martina M., Norman S., Ted W., Karen K., Annette I., Kevin M., Don L., Sherri G., Lynda G., Chris R., Peter S., Lydia B., Harriet Z., Connie K., Margaret G., Judith A., Edward F., Elizabeth B., John D., MaryLou P., Mary S., Lois P., Sharen W., Mary B., Jack R., John H., Don H., Kathy M., Jeff B., Susan C., Alan B., Carolyn R., Giacomo D., David M., Michelle T., Jeffrey F., Dennis F., Johnny C., MaryAnne S., Ed N., Bill B., Alberta V., Bruce W., Susan J., Gerry L., Karen W., Trish B., Maria W., Fred O., Seth Z., Bruce B., Joe A., and Jo-Ann S.
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