The attorney for former Hopewell City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker is demanding she be reinstated to her post immediately, claiming her May 1 termination was handled improperly according to Roberts Rules of Order, the almost-universal conduct manual local governing bodies, including Hopewell’s, follow for meetings. In a June 9 letter to City Attorney Anthony Bessette, Richard Hawkins gave City Council until June 20 to give Manker back her job or face legal action for wrongful termination. In addition to violating Roberts Rules, Hawkins also said one of the votes to terminate – from newly elected Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis – violated Virginia’s conflict-of-interest laws because Ellis works for the city.
Daron Culbertson, a Fauquier County supervisor, says economics prompted his decision to sell his family farm on Remington Road to developers of a data center campus. He plans to recuse himself from discussions and decisions on the data center development, according to a statement issued on Monday. Culbertson’s statement comes amid criticism and backlash following news of the impending sale and proposed data center development last week. Virginia limits county officials’ ability to benefit from government contracts they sign, but the statute does not mention property sales and developments.
A judge Monday ordered Aurora to release all unedited body-worn camera footage of police shooting and killing Kilyn Lewis, finding that the city denied 9NEWS’ requests for the video in violation of Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act. Although Aurora police have disclosed some body-cam footage of the shooting of Lewis by a SWAT team member on May 23, 2024, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Benjamin Figa concluded that the state legislature in adopting the law in 2020 and amending it in 2021 “intended for officers to capture not only the ‘initial incident’ but also context around peace officer contact with individuals.” Aurora argued that it is only obligated to provide the news station with “trimmed” video clips from five officers present during the shooting that were previously provided to Lewis’ family. There is “additional footage on the front and back end of what was provided,” a deputy city attorney acknowledged, “but that additional content does not depict the incident of misconduct identified by the family.” 9NEWS, represented by attorney Rachael Johnson of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, contended that “all unedited footage” must be released after a complaint of officer misconduct has been made.
A federal appeals court is allowing the Trump White House to ban the Associated Press from the Oval Office and other restricted spaces for now in a ruling that blocked a lower court’s ruling that claimed the ban was unconstitutional. In a 2-1 order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted in part a stay of the lower court’s April 8 ruling that declared the content-based ban unconstitutional. Both of the judges who ruled in the administration’s favor were nominated by President Trump in his first term.
