Mails

A column Wednesday mischaracterized a legal action by Gov. Corbett's office in a case involving access to the governor's daily schedule and e-mails since he took office. It should have said the governor's office had filed a petition for review appealing a decision by the state's Office of Open Records after it sided with the requestor, an Associated Press reporter. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357)

By James Schultz The British statesman Benjamin Disraeli once noted "how much easier it is to be critical than to be correct. " Journalists at The Inquirer and other publications have been proving him right lately by accusing the Corbett administration of flouting the state's Right-to-Know Law and even of "suing" an Associated Press reporter. Contrary to recent reports, however, the governor has never declared his daily schedule off limits to public scrutiny. And his office is not suing the reporter, Mark Scolforo.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Top officials in Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration used personal e-mail accounts to craft a media strategy for imposing hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid cuts - a method of communication that can make it more difficult to track under public-records laws, despite Jindal's pledge to bring more transparency to state government. E-mails reviewed by the Associated Press reveal that non-state-government e-mail addresses were used dozens of times by state officials to communicate last summer about a public relations offensive for making $523 million in health-care cuts.

Question: My wife is friends with a former coworker (also married). I have always supported their friendship and never thought much of it, until one night when I saw an e-mail from him that read "Can I see you tonight?" Immediately something struck me as off - the wording of the e-mail just didn't strike me as a "friend" tone. I thought if it was nothing (i.e., just getting together to chat about work), then my wife would mention it to me, but she didn't. I went into her e-mail later to see her reply, and found the message deleted from her inbox, as well as her trash folder, which made me think it was something she didn't want seen.

A PHILADELPHIA WATER Department employee was indicted alongside a married couple from Arkansas by a federal grand jury Wednesday for allegedly scheming city taxpayers out of more than $1.3 million over six years. Calvin Duncan, 61, of Philadelphia, used his position as a Water Department mail-room clerk to purchase printer-ink and -toner cartridges and then sell them at a discount to Derek and Danita Willis, who own Laser Cartridge Plus, Inc., in Russellville, Ark., authorities said.

Question: I recently found out that my boyfriend deletes all his e-mails, including ones from me. I was so surprised when I heard this because I've never met someone who doesn't keep any personal e-mails! I was also a bit hurt and upset because we've had some heartfelt e-mail exchanges, especially when we did long-distance for a year. I've poured hours of thought into our correspondences. Admittedly I am somewhat of a sentimentalist and enjoy reading old messages, or at least knowing they are available to be read at any time.

What do we talk about when we talk about Gen. David Petraeus? Or, more precisely, Petraeus, Paula Broadwell, Gen. John Allen, the Khawam twins from Lower Moreland, and Frederick Humphries II, a.k.a. the shirtless FBI agent? The debacle, little more than a week old, abruptly upended the illustrious career of Petraeus, the four-star general and now-former CIA chief whose image the media and biographer/paramour Broadwell burnished like a brass star. All In became All Out. Even in crisis, Petraeus remained mythic, likened to Icarus and Othello, while the scandal stoked the news cycle's voracious maw. Is this any of our business?

Retired Gen. David H. Petraeus made the right decision in resigning from his post as head of the CIA after admitting he had been involved in an extramarital affair. If for no other reason, Petraeus needed to step down because, as his former Army spokesman, Steve Boylan, said, "He screwed up, he knows he screwed up; now he's got to try to get past this with his family and heal. " Even under different circumstances, a military man who has spent most of the past decade in overseas theaters would do well to spend more time with his family.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: I really hurt my friend of 20-plus years when I backed out of a group vacation at the last minute. I e-mailed what I thought was a truly apologetic explanation, offering to try to make it up. I should have called, but I feared a bad reaction on my friend's part, which is exactly what happened. She flipped out and became very emotional, quickly sending a very raw e-mail and voice mail that frightened me in their intensity. I've apologized again, asked to get together to talk about what happened, tried to have some light communication, but I'm being shut out. It's been six weeks.

Households without mail service will be able to pick up Social Security checks beginning Thursday at open post offices nearby, the United States Postal Service said. Where regular mail service has resumed, those checks will be delivered as usual. Other mail will not be available at post office branches for households without normal mail delivery. Mail service has been restored to broad swaths of the region, spokespeople said, but road obstructions and utility outages make some areas inaccessible.