PETA has filed a Virginia Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against Virginia Tech, alleging that the university is unlawfully withholding records of experiments that resulted in the deaths of four minipigs. Last year, PETA, an animal rights nonprofit headquartered in Norfolk, requested photos and videos of the experiments, in which lab staff administered high-pressure blasts to the brains of several Gottingen minipigs, after obtaining records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to PETA, Virginia Tech refused to provide them, stating that those records are exempt under Virginia’s open records law. While there is a FOIA exemption for information of a proprietary nature collected by faculty or staff of public institutions of higher education in the conduct of research, that exemption only applies “where such information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted or patented,” according to Virginia code. PETA argues that the information it requested regarding the minipigs has already been publicly released, and therefore nonexempt.

The Southampton County School Board received a report in August listing Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by the division during the 2024-25 fiscal year, and the report will be revisited in September to allow for questions from the board. During the School Board’s Dec. 9 meeting, board members and Southampton County Public Schools (SCPS) Superintendent Dr. Gwendolyn P. Shannon discussed the possibility of providing a regular report of the previous month’s FOIA requests received by the school division. During the School Board’s Dec. 9 meeting, board members and Southampton County Public Schools (SCPS) Superintendent Dr. Gwendolyn P. Shannon discussed the possibility of providing a regular report of the previous month’s FOIA requests received by the school division. Goodwyn said, “Do you know about how many personnel hours were spent doing FOIA requests? Because we were also trying to gauge the time factor, because somebody had to pull all this information. And it’s fine if you don’t, I was just curious.” Shannon said, “Let me get back with you on the number of hours total that we spent from FOIA requests.” Moments later, Shannon added, “I know roughly it’s cost the division about $10,000 to fulfill all of the FOIA requests that are included here.”
NOTE: As of this morning, the FOIA Report was not posted with the school board’s agenda and related material for the Monday meeting.

Orange County and Gordonsville residents and officials alike are in an uproar after the town’s mayor took to social media to celebrate the “first official steps” toward annexing nearly 1,000 acres of the neighboring county. The project’s opponents on both sides of the town limits have called the annexation “unethical,” “reprehensible” and a “money grab.” Mayor Ron Brooks declined to go into detail with The Daily Progress, but pushed back on the framing that he had declared the annexation a done deal. Days later, on Aug. 28, Brooks and the Gordonsville Town Council would enter into a closed session at a special meeting to discuss the annexation. The Daily Progress has requested the minutes and recordings taken from the Aug. 28 meeting via the Freedom of Information Act, but the town has neither acknowledged the records request nor provided the material.

It was standing room only for most of a lengthy and impassioned Charlottesville City Council meeting Tuesday, Sept. 2, when dozens of community members lambasted city leaders over a proposed ban on camping, sleeping and storing personal belongings in public areas. Another was that the ordinance was developed behind closed doors, without community knowledge or participation. During his presentation, Police Chief Michael Kochis also touched on the origin of the proposed ordinance. He said that the process began on April 3, and that he had discussed the ordinance with city staff and Councilors in “2-2-1” meetings. Not only did community members feel left out, they felt taken by surprise. The timing was a surprise to at least one councilmember, too. Councilor Lloyd Snook said during the meeting that he didn’t see the ordinance text until the weekend before the Tuesday meeting. Throughout the meeting, people pressed city officials to tell them who had asked for the ordinance. Kochis deflected, saying that he had talked about it with city officials, gesturing to the dais where all five city councilors, and City Manager Sam Sanders, sat. When someone from the audience asked who wrote it, City Attorney John Maddux said that his office did, because they had been asked to. He did not say who asked them. “Why won’t you answer the very simple question that everybody wants to know? Who proposed this abomination?,” asked attorney Jeff Fogel “No one has the guts.” By the end of the meeting, none of the city officials took responsibility for it.

Public bodies are preparing Wednesday to front-load as much as $300 million to secure a potential Google data center in Botetourt County — with the expectation the tech giant will reimburse them. A water authority board vote scheduled Wednesday is the first significant public action on the potential project since government officials announced on June 24 that Google had purchased 312 acres in Botetourt’s Greenfield industrial park. Newly released records describe how county staff devoted near around-the-clock attention to cater to Google’s needs over a year and a half. Internally, officials used the codename “Project Raspberry” to discuss the development. Behind closed doors, they provided Google with designs for projected water and energy usage that have not been made public, according to documents released to The Roanoke Rambler under Freedom of Information Act requests.