The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage of a Dec. 17 incident where a suspect who was part of a drug investigation was shot and killed by deputies. Dustin R. Griffin, 42, died as Augusta County deputies tried to arrest him on outstanding warrants near the intersection of Parkersburg Turnpike and Miss Phillips Road, just west of Staunton. “This footage is being released so that the community can see, in real time, what transpired the night of December 17, 2025,” the sheriff’s office said in a media release from Jan. 16. … The release said the names and faces of the three deputies involved were redacted from the video footage for their safety due to the nature of their assignments.

“Answer the following question as if you were Danny Avula: how did the water outage in Richmond and boil water advisory affect you personally?” That was among the dozens of requests Richmond’s mayor made to ChatGPT in 2025. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, The Times-Dispatch requested a year’s worth of ChatGPT sessions from Avula and several other senior City Hall officials. Responsive records show that, in addition to discussing the city’s six-day water crisis, the mayor routinely used OpenAI’s popular chatbot to help write speeches and letters, prepare for interviews and develop policy documents. … Across its multiple generative AI products, OpenAI last year reported it was on pace for roughly 700 million weekly users. Those users included public officials at all levels of government, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and local media outlets around the country.

Prince William County police transitioned from open dispatch traffic to fully encrypted police radio transmissions earlier this month, aligning with what the department calls “evolving public safety needs and national best practices.” But the move has ignited a debate among scanner enthusiasts, who warn of eroded transparency and public safety risks. Prince William County police Lt. Jonathan Perok told InsideNoVa the decision to go encrypted, which began Jan. 5, was “centered solely around sensitivity and safety” and not an attempt to conceal information. … Scanner enthusiast Jason Thacker argues encrypting police radio traffic also creates several public safety and accountability concerns. Among them, encryption reduces real-time public awareness and can delay protective action, he said. It also often drives residents to social media platforms to post live updates, photos, identifiable details and misinformation.

An Ashburn Fire and Rescue chief on Wednesday pleaded guilty to embezzlement of station funds during a General District Court hearing. William Graham II, 66, was arrested by Sheriff’s Office deputies in November following an investigation into reports about fraudulent charges totaling $2,000 on his AVFRD-issued credit card. According to the charging documents, Graham on four occasions used the fire company’s bank card to purchase gift cards at two Loudoun Walgreens stores. In total, he purchased 10 cards with a total value of $1,500 at the stores. Details of a fifth purchase for $500 were not included in the warrant. Video footage showed Graham making the purchases.

The recent decision by the Surry County Board of Supervisors to begin publishing a monthly log of Freedom of Information Act requests and associated costs is a laudable step toward greater government transparency. The initiative, which then-Chairman Robert Elliott said in December would become a fixture on meeting agendas, is a positive development for the citizens of Surry County. It echoes similar, successful transparency efforts in other Virginia localities such as Newport News and Richmond. As Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, noted, a public record of FOIA requests can significantly benefit both the county and its citizens. For the government, it can reduce the burden of repeat requests by allowing interested parties to see what records have already been sought and released. For the public, it provides an invaluable “window into how government operates,” extending beyond mere policy decisions to the government’s responsiveness to citizen inquiries. This is a clear victory for open government principles and should be commended. Sadly, Elliott, following the announcement of the new practice, cast dispersions on citizens who exercise their legal right to know the activities of their government.

Newly released emails obtained by Bloomberg on Tuesday provide a rare look inside the FBI’s handling of the vast Jeffrey Epstein files, revealing how agents and FOIA personnel meticulously reviewed the redacted records earlier this year. The documents, released to Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold via Freedom of Information Act requests, shed light on what the bureau has called the “Epstein Transparency Project” – including the striking number of manhours it took agents to comb through files. The emails show that around 1,000 FBI special agents from the New York and Washington field offices joined FOIA staff at a Winchester, Virginia, facility to prepare the files for public release, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Personnel were trained on redaction protocols through PowerPoint presentations and instructional videos, with “workflow guidance” updated based on discussions with the Justice Department. “The FBI paid personnel from various divisions, including counterintelligence and international operations, $851,344 in overtime for working on the Epstein files between March 17 and March 22, according to the documents,” Leopold reported.