Kane probe looks at prosecutor’s firingHARRISBURG — The circumstances surrounding the firing of a prosecutor will become part of a wider criminal investigation into whether state Attorney General Kathleen Kane unlawfully leaked secret grand jury information from a 2009 case, an official said Tuesday.Meanwhile, a newly unsealed grand jury report is another potentially damaging blow to Kane, giving an inside look at how she has clashed with some of her top staff over the leak allegation.Montgomery County’s district attorney, Risa Vetri Ferman, said Tuesday that her office will investigate the firing of James Barker. Her statement came a day after three county judges referred the matter to her office and said it was possible that Barker’s April 8 firing violated retaliation and official oppression laws.Ferman is already reviewing a grand jury’s recommendation, first revealed in January, to charge Kane criminally in connection with documents given to a newspaper about a 2009 investigation that should have been kept secret.More information about the grand jury’s findings became public Monday, when the courts unsealed the panel’s report. It revealed how the testimony of Kane’s top staff aides helped special prosecutor Thomas Carluccio build his case against her.

Jury commissioner group may disbandHOLLIDAYSBURG — The few jury commissioners remaining in the state will decide whether to terminate their trade organization.Jury commissioners will meet Thursday in Blair County to decide if the Pennsylvania State Association of Jury Commissioners should be shut down.The group recently lost two court challenges to laws allowing counties to eliminate the elected positions and shift jury selection duties to other employees.In July 2013, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court upheld the law that gave county commissioners the ability to seek other methods of selecting potential jurors.Pennsylvania has had elected jury commissioners for 147 years, but the position has been replaced in nearly every county in Pennsylvania.