The FOIA Council’s subcommittee on records meets Monday at 3 p.m. In my curtain-raiser of the issues on the subcommittee’s agenda, in this post I talk mostly about the “vexatious requester” item. Many in government want a way to handle requests or requesters they deem “vexatious” (defined in an online dictionary as “causing or tending to cause annoyance, frustration, or worry) because they file lots of requests, file duplicate requests, file requests with the intent to slow government down, etc. I’m open to the discussion, but I am reminded that one person’s annoyance, frustration or worry is a tough topic to legislate. VCOG Newsletter on Substack
Police departments around the region are increasingly offering updates on crime data, but depending on how big the department is, the speed of those updates might vary. Bigger departments can update every day. Others might update every few days, or even on a weekly basis. But to track it all, you usually have to go to each individual department’s webpage and search around for the information you want, if you’re trying to compare one area to another. That will no longer be the case. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has unveiled a new dashboard that lets you track crime around the region, from the District to the biggest suburban counties in Virginia and Maryland to the smaller municipalities that also work with COG. You can break it down by jurisdiction or group the D.C. area together.
Some Lynchburg City Council members are apologizing for something that happened during a meeting a few years ago. It happened during a 2023 meeting. During public comment, a speaker said something defamatory about Shawn Hunter, the leader of the Peacemakers in Lynchburg. Hunter sued her and won. Hunter was just awarded $50,000 in damages in a Lynchburg Circuit Court on June 6. During Tuesday night’s meeting, Vice Mayor Curt Diemer issued an apology to Hunter. Diemer not only apologized but also introduced a new resolution to preserve order and protect rights during their public comment section of Lynchburg City Council meetings.
