Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law says correspondence between a state lawmaker and a person seeking their help is off-limits to the public — unless that person is a lobbyist. But lawmakers have ignored the clause.

Spotlight PA decided to put the language to the test by requesting from both the state House and Senate copies of communications between legislators and a narrow group of well-known lobbyists. Unsurprisingly, both chambers swiftly denied the request. Spotlight PA appealed — and lost again.

Read the full report: Inside Spotlight PA’s fight to unseal lobbyist communications with the legislature.

THE CONTEXT: When the General Assembly approved the state’s Right-to-Know Law 15 years ago, it effectively exempted itself from providing access to records that it required the executive branch, for one, to make public. It also effectively gave itself policing power by appointing appeals officers to decide records disputes instead of the independent Office of Open Records.

Those appeals officers almost always rule in favor of lawmakers.

Both chambers hired a private law firm, Stevens & Lee, to defend their position that emails, letters, or other forms of communications are off-limits, even though a "correspondence" exemption in the RTK Law explicitly does not apply to messages between lawmakers and lobbyists.

• RELATED: Allegheny County sued over jail 'gag order,' via WESA

OPIOID SPENDING:

15 YEARS: Zach Rehl, ex-president of the Philadelphia chapter of the far-right Proud Boys, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his role in planning the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, KYW reports.

NEWS SALE: The owner of newspapers in Hazleton, Pottsville, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre is selling all four to a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known for gutting newsrooms nationwide. 

CABLE COSTS: York Daily Record (paywall) has the story of a couple that unknowingly paid the cable company's electric bill for 22 years (to the tune of more than $20,000 total) and struggled to straighten it out.

BEST TRAIL: Congratulations to the Mount Jewett to Kinzua Bridge Trail for being named Pennsylvania's 2023 Trail of the Year, via WPSU. This year also marks 20 years since a tornado destroyed part of the bridge.

SCRAPPLE DAY: This Labor Day Weekend is the perfect time to read this 2012 article on the holiday's "intertwined history" with scrapple, or, more specifically, a Philly union of scrapple-makers, via blog What is Scrapple.