Martinsville’s mayor last week called for a citywide investigation of all council members, city employees, constitutional officers and volunteer members of boards and commissions authorized by the city. At the end of a three and a half hour regular meeting, Mayor LC Jones said he wanted the city manager and the city’s contracted law firm to look into the actions of people he believes are attempting to soil his good reputation. Neither City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, nor the Sands Anderson attorney who has contracted with the city and who was not identified, responded or reacted to the request, and no other council members commented on the matter at the meeting. Jones did not make clear what or by whom specific efforts had been made to slander or defame his character and integrity, how much such an exhaustive investigation might cost, or how it might affect the new budget now under consideration, but shortly after the meeting adjourned, Jones posted a comment on his personal Facebook page.

Hopewell will attempt once again to fire its city manager next week, according to a City Council meeting agenda that was posted Friday morning. Councilors scheduled a special meeting for Thursday evening, according to the agenda posted on the city’s official website. In addition to replacing City Manager Concetta Manker, there is also an agenda item to fire City Clerk Brittani Williams. It is the second time this year that council has tried to oust Manker. In February, after a marathon closed-door meeting, councilors tied 3-3 on her departure after Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis left before the vote. It is an unusual move to state employment intentions on a public document such as the council agenda. Normally, such actions are broached in language from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act allowing a council to meet behind closed doors.

Purcellville residents on Monday submitted recall petitions for the town’s mayor, vice mayor and two councilmembers just five weeks after starting the grassroots effort. The move to unseat Mayor Christopher Bertaut, Vice Mayor Ben Nett and councilmembers Susan Khalil and Carol Luke came after residents repeatedly expressed concerns during council meetings that the council majority was having discussions between the four of them without informing the public or the remaining three members of council.

In early February, the news broke that employees of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, had received an email ordering them to stop using Slack while lawyers sorted out the matter of “records migration.” The reasons were unclear, but the change had significant implications for communication: according to Jason R. Baron, a professor at the University of Maryland and former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration, the transition represented the difference between DOGE’s internal correspondence being covered by the Federal Records Act, and thus subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, versus the Presidential Records Act, which would exclude the office from FOIA. “The administration position is that those records will not be accessible until 2034,” Baron said. “But if they’re subject to FOIA, those records are available now.” Lawyers who specialize in public records and government transparency were uniformly shocked. Journalists will need to rely directly on sources rather than official document requests when it comes to covering DOGE—or any other branch of the federal bureaucracy.