As lawyers in the whistleblower case brought by former Richmond public records official Connie Clay against the city and its former top spokesperson continue to clash over records and depositions, a judge is ordering them to make more of an effort to get along as the discovery process continues. “I understand strong advocacy,” Richmond Circuit Court Judge Claire Cardwell told attorneys in a Tuesday morning hearing. “But without pointing fingers in either direction, I would like counsel to start anew.” “To the extent you can work together on administrative matters, please do so,” she added.

A former management analyst for the Richmond Fire Department in 2023 used his city credit card to spend nearly $40,000 at a company registered to his home address in Henrico County, according to records obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That employee is now under investigation by the city’s internal watchdog agency, officials say. Reginald Thomas, a management analyst for RFD, racked up $38,686.89 in charges at RPM Supply Co., LLC, a transaction log for his card shows. State Corporation Commission records show the company is registered to a house on Stevens Street in Henrico. Henrico property records show Thomas is the owner of that house.

Richmond Mayor Danny Avula announced Wednesday a reset in the city’s procurement card program (p-card program) and a reduction in the number of cards available to city workers. P-cards are essentially credit cards issued to staff, allowing them to make smaller purchases more easily and efficiently. A series of recent reports uncovered areas of weakness within the program, as well as examples of alleged waste, fraud, and abuse. The number of city p-cards will be reduced by over 80% — from 320 to approximately 60 — by May 9, according to a city spokesperson.

Purcellville Mayor Christopher Bertaut announced just before 5 p.m. that he will be suspending council discussions on the fiscal year 2026 budget until the question about whether Vice Mayor Ben Nett may participate in those discussions is resolved. The announcement came just one hour before a special meeting was planned to discuss the budget following last week’s vote to reverse a plan to close the town’s Police Department in FY 2026. On Tuesday morning, the council received a clarification of the April 21 opinion issued by Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Anderson ruling that Nett could not participate in discussions pertaining to the Police Department, following his firing as an officer April 4.

Roanoke’s city manager has accused school officials of potential law breaking and “malfeasance in office” over their handling of a multi-million-dollar rainy day fund, allegations that the superintendent said amounted to “defamatory language” and “veiled threats.” The heated exchange — in the middle of a tight budget year — played out in letters last week between City Manager Valmarie Turner and Superintendent Verletta White. The correspondence between the city leaders was released to The Rambler Tuesday by the school district in response to a public records request.

To weigh the costs and benefits of data centers and to set the ground rules for any potential data-center development, local governments should empower members of the public with all relevant information to foster a meaningful debate. We fear, however, that the widespread use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and a larger ethic of secrecy regarding data-center development curtails this discussion and, in so doing, impairs local democracy. In order to understand how common NDAs are between local governments and data center companies, we submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to every Virginia locality we could identify with an existing, approved, or proposed data center. We found that the vast majority – 25 out of a total of 31 localities – have NDAs. We think that this could be an underestimate because some local governments may use definitions or maneuvers to avoid disclosing this information. For instance, one county reported that officials signed an NDA with a major tech firm, but they did not retain a copy for public record. When we began our research, we naively assumed that NDAs were narrowly drawn guarantees that local governments would not share a company’s proprietary technology or cutting-edge trade secrets.