A former police officer with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission is suing three of the agency’s leaders, alleging retaliation for reporting internal surveillance on fellow officers. David Townsend — fired in April 2024 after seven years with the Virginia Marine Police — filed suit in Hampton Circuit Court against Commissioner Jamie L. Green, Chief of Law Enforcement Col. Matthew Rogers and Human Resources Director Rebecca Herrington. Townsend’s lawsuit contends the three defendants “devised and implemented a plan” to fire him after he exposed the two instances of surveillance. The first incident occurred Feb. 6, 2024, when Virginia Marine Police Capt. Robert Griffin took a sick day. According to the lawsuit, Lt. Col. Herbert Bell was suspicious. He thought Griffin — a board member with the Southern States Police Benevolent Association — might instead be going to Richmond, where state lawmakers were discussing salaries. The lawsuit maintains that in an attempt to catch Griffin in “a deception,” Bell ordered Capt. Chris Miller to monitor the General Assembly’s live video stream to determine if Griffin was there.

Gainesville residents’ fight to undo the massive Prince William Digital Gateway, a project that plans up to 37 data centers at the edge of Manassas National Battlefield Park, won two major victories Friday when Judge Kimberly Irving denied a request to dismiss the case and ruled that the plaintiffs have “standing” to proceed. Matt Westover, an attorney for one of the data center companies, argued the county provided more notice than required because the legal ads ran three times instead of the mandated two – even if they failed to run at least six days apart, as required by Virginia law. At the time, public hearings had to be advertised twice over a two-week period. They also had to be placed no fewer than six days apart and not less than five days before the public hearing. The county asked the Washington Post to run the ads on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5. The ads instead ran on Dec. 2, Dec. 5 and Dec. 9, 2023, with the last appearing just three days before the public hearing.

Lynchburg City Council’s public hearing on increasing the real estate tax rate Monday night was adjourned only moments after it began when Ward IV Councilman Chris Faraldi told his fellow councilmembers that his “no car tax plan” did not have enough votes on council to pass. As Mayor Larry Taylor was calling the public hearing to order, Faraldi chimed in to say that he did not see a need to hold the hearing after learning that the mayor would not be supporting the plan. Taylor then banged his gavel and said, “Meeting adjourned,” creating confusion among the people who had filled the Council Chamber to express their opinion on the proposed increase in the real estate tax rate. Vice Mayor and Ward III Councilman Curt Diemer, At-large Councilman Martin Misjuns and Ward I Councilwoman Jacqueline Timmer stayed in their seats and offered their opinions on the decision to adjourn the meeting and no longer consider increasing the real estate rate to $1.025. “I apologize to all of you for what you just saw because I know people took time out of their schedule to speak,” Misjuns told the audience.

School board member Kimberlee Sia said she often gets asked questions about how many people are suing the district she represents, Denver Public Schools. “I have constituents who call me who say, ‘I’m one of three lawsuits at my school. You should check into how many lawsuits are happening at the district,’” Sia said. A proposed policy that Sia introduced this month would require DPS to disclose that information and more. The proposal says the district would have to provide the school board with a list of lawsuits DPS is involved in and a tally of how much it spends on external legal costs.