FOIA Friday: Judge sets trial date in Richmond transparency case // News editor wins plate reader case // CDC public records staff placed on leave // Richmond’s new pump increased fluoridation levels

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears took the unusual step last year of including a note of personal objection to a bill she was constitutionally required to sign — a symbolic gesture that underscores her deeply held views on LGBTQ+ rights as she campaigns for governor. “I remain morally opposed to the content of HB 174 as passed by the General Assembly,” Earle-Sears wrote on the legislation, which prohibits officials from denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender or race. A copy of the signed bill was obtained by Virginia Scope through a public records request filed with the House Clerk’s Office.

By Linda Cicoira An order was filed Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court that favored former Accomack Schools Superintendent Rhonda Hall in a civil case regarding violations of the state Freedom of Information Act. Visiting Judge Afshin Farashahi ruled t…

Hopewell citizens upset with City Council plans to fire City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker and City Clerk Brittani Williams express anger May 1, 2025.

In a majority vote on Monday, the Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted to censure Steve Marshall, Blue Ridge District representative. Overby read the resolution, which stated in part that the board “expresses their displeasure with the consistent display of unprofessional behavior of Board of Supervisors member Steve Marshall by his repeated attempts to silence, harass, intimidate, bully, threaten and defame other members of the Board of Supervisors as well as appointed members of the board’s committees, commissions, and authorities and citizens of Patrick County. After the vote, Marshall said, “Understand that censure – these things, that’s free speech. It’s meaningless, absolutely meaningless. What’s trying to be done here is silence what I’m saying online which is exposing things that this board does. Okay, other than that that’s their right to censure, and that’s pretty much all I have to say. You can censure every meeting.”

As the Richmond City Council wrapped its budget amendments Monday, members had $50,000 in taxpayer money remaining that hadn’t been dedicated for any particular purpose. In public, the council agreed to set that money to the side and figure out what to do with it later. But when the council published a document online this week formalizing its budget decisions, the spreadsheet indicated the $50,000 would go to the nonprofit run by former mayoral candidate Michelle Mosby. Council President Cynthia Newbille (7th District) had filed an amendment to give a $50,000 funding boost to Mosby’s Help Me Help You Foundation, which helps formerly incarcerated people re-enter society. On Thursday, Interim Council of Chief Matthew Slaats said the apparent funding for Mosby’s group was a mistake. The council staff didn’t catch it, he said, until The Richmonder asked about it on Wednesday afternoon.

A data breach at a third-party vendor used by the city of Bristol, Tennessee, may have exposed sensitive personal information of residents whose accounts had been turned over for collection. During a City Council work session Tuesday evening, officials said approximately 6,000 letters will be sent to people notifying them of the breach and offering complimentary identity protection services. The breach occurred last summer but was not disclosed to the city until February 2025, city attorney Danielle Smith said Tuesday. The third-party vendor, Nationwide Recovery Services, provided collection services for the city’s utility, municipal court, EMS and ambulance billing, and general billing operations.