Is it OK to publish a press release already appeared somewhere else. I am afraid Google will spank me for duplicate copies.
I would tweak it a bit so each press release is slightly different, at least that is what I do when I release them.
A press release should be the same everywhere you release it. Press releases aren't "web content" - they're news. The news doesn't change. One release can be sent to many outlets at the same time, and you'll be picked up in Google news w/o any issue. However, publishing a press release on a blog or something as-is would be a no-no, since a) then it's duplicate "content" and b) it's just flat-out lazy journalism. If you publish your press releases to your website, just do that before releasing it elsewhere, although it really won't matter much... that's more to serve as an archive for journalists down the road than anything else.
Well when I release them I modify them a bit so they are always a tad different, always works for me *shrugs*...