Purcellville Vice Mayor Ben Nett and Town Manager Kwasi Fraser were arrested by Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office deputies Wednesday night. The arrests come three months after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares authorized an investigation into Nett by the State Police following ethics concerns raised by residents regarding his actions as vice mayor and while a member of the Purcellville Police Department. “Following a Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Fairfax Field Office Investigation, a grand jury charged Carl B. Nett, Purcellville Vice-Mayor, with six felony counts: four involving violations regarding the Virginia Criminal Information Network and two related to bid rigging and conspiracy,” Demlein stated. “In addition, the grand jury also indicted Kwasi Fraser, Purcellville Town Manager, on two felony charges related to bid rigging and conspiracy.”

Martinsville city councilors closed the books on their monthslong negotiations on the city manager’s pay increase. In a 3-2 split decision, with council members Julian Mei and Aaron Rawls dissenting, the council on Tuesday approved Aretha Ferrell-Benavides’ salary increase from $183,500 to $215,000. Figures provided by a number of Virginia localities with fewer than 50,000 residents show Martinsville isn’t the only one to compensate its top executive with more than $200,000. Among them are Danville, whose city manager is paid $273,069; Charlottesville, with a manager’s salary of $259,563; and Manassas Park, whose city manager receives $220,375. Ferrell-Benavides, who started as Martinsville’s city manager in 2023, replaced Leon Towarnicki, who retired that same year. Ferrell-Benavides started with an annual salary of $175,000. City officials would not release information about Towarnicki’s exit salary on Wednesday without a Freedom of Information Act request.

Martinsville City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately, and an outside accounting firm has been hired to conduct a forensic audit of the city’s financial books. The City Council held a specially called closed-door meeting at City Hall on Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. About an hour and a half later, council members gathered for a public session in Council Chambers, where they voted 4-1 to place Ferrell-Benavides on administrative leave. “It’s devastating,” said Councilman Aaron Rawls. “Our attorneys begged us not to talk about it, but we’ve agreed to a $20,000 forensic audit to investigate the allegations that have been made, find out what the gaps are, and by August, we might get some better information.”

Each year, Richmond City Hall departments are supposed to file 27 reports to the City Council detailing various aspects of how the government is operating. More than a third of those reports aren’t being filed on a regular basis, according to an ongoing review by Council staffers that’s been dubbed a “report on reports.” The 10 missing reports include documents meant to keep the Council informed about the size of the city’s annual budget surplus, open data initiatives, real estate purchases by the city and progress updates showing whether economic development projects are or aren’t creating as much tax revenue as promised. Council members don’t seem particularly alarmed by the numbers. However, a lack of information about city operations is a frequent Council complaint. The review showed that — even when the city has adopted official policy requiring information to be shared — the Council doesn’t always insist on receiving it.

This story is part of a continuing Alexandria Journalism Project investigation into safety concerns surrounding Alexandria’s Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Activities, or RPCA. At issue is both the threat posed to residents when tree care is suboptimal and dangers posed to city workers when best safety practices are not followed. Concerns about these potential dangers led a whistleblower to report what they view as repeated safety violations to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this year. OSHA launched an investigation four months ago, which is ongoing. An email chain obtained by the AJP through a Freedom of Information Act request reveals alleged falsification by city staff of documents that were given to OSHA as part of the investigation. The AJP has listened to the recording made by the whistleblower in which a senior manager admits to submitting deliberately inaccurate documents to OSHA. The AJP has filed additional FOIA requests for all arboreal maintenance completed during the past 15 years on the street where the accident involving Sandy Putzu occurred, but the city responded with an extremely large fee request for this information, a cost beyond the AJP’s budget.

The Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) has found East Haven resident David Godbout to be a vexatious requester for the second time since a 2017 law created a process that allows public agencies to petition the commission to ignore Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted by it claims are using public records requests to harass them for the period of a year. Godbout was also at the center of the first case brought to the FOIC after the law’s passage. The law itself does not define what constitutes a “vexatious requester,” but the FOIC adopted language in its first ruling in a PRVR case, brought against Godbout.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, representing the Detroit Free Press, has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Treasury for refusing to release public records concerning state payments tied to a major real estate project in downtown Detroit. The development in question — the One Campus Martius expansion, managed by Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock — is benefiting from transformational brownfield incentives. This program allows the state to pay developers with a portion of the taxes generated by the completed project — revenue that otherwise would support schools, roads and other public services. J.C. Reindl, Detroit Free Press reporter, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on March 17, 2025, seeking state-generated financial documents detailing how much tax revenue is being reimbursed and whether the site is meeting job and investment targets. The Michigan Department of Treasury denied the request, citing a state law protecting taxpayer information. The Mackinac Center argues that these are not private filings but government-generated financial reports — and that the Michigan Constitution requires disclosure of any records involving public funds.