These topics air Friday March 14, 2014 at noon and 8pm on 90.5 WESA. To leave a question or comment before or after the show dial 412-256-8783. Join the conversation LIVE between 12pm & 1 pm weekdays at 412-246-2002. More Essential Pittsburgh segments can be heard here.
Open Records Law
Five years ago Pennsylvania's Open Records law was changed, with the promise of ensuring more information would be made more easily available to the public. The new law is generally seen as a positive for the Commonwealth, but open records officials and some people who use the law see room for improvement. We'll hear 90.5 WESA reporter Deanna Garcia's special report on the open records law and then Deanna discusses where we go from here.
Impact of Open Records Law
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Rich Lord joins us to talk about how he uses the Open Records law and whether the law could be more open, and if so, how. And Pennsylvania State Senator Jay Costa, one of the law's original sponsors, joins us to discuss how the legislation has evolved and how it might be tweaked.
PA Charter
This week over ten-thousand people visited historic sites in the Commonwealth. One reason was to celebrate Pennsylvania’s History Days. The other was to observe Charter Day referring to the charter King Charles of Great Britain granted Pennsylvania founder William Penn on March 4, 1681. We’ll mark the occasion with Howard Pollman, spokesperson for the PA Historical and Museum Commission.
