The Virginia Coalition for Open Government (VCOG) has named the winners of its 2026 Freedom of Information and open-government awards: Eric Bonds, a sociology professor at the University of Mary Washington, and the City of Newport News have been selected as this year’s government honorees. The winners will be honored at VCOG’s annual conference on April 23 in Norfolk. Concerned about the growing number of data center proposals in the Fredericksburg region, Bonds organized a student project to submit FOIA requests to local governments to determine how frequently non-disclosure agreements were being used. The results were striking: 31 of 35 localities had signed such agreements, raising concerns about how much information about data center projects was being withheld from the public until plans were fully formed.

On Friday, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula unveiled a plan to propose a new payment database ordinance, which he said would be easier to follow. “It cuts out the bulk of the stuff that needs to be reviewed and redacted,” he explained. “It scopes it so that we can actually practically do this right.” If Avula’s ordinance were to pass City Council, officials would only be required to release payments to vendors and employee reimbursements instead of releasing records of all city spending. That change, Avula said, would spare officials from having to review thousands of individual records that could contain sensitive or personally identifiable information — such as tax or utility account refunds, mental health services and other assistance fund disbursements. … But Avula’s proposal goes a step further than eliminating certain types of payments included in the register. It would also eliminate individual invoices and invoice descriptions. That’s despite the fact that Avula himself previously referred to invoice descriptions as one of the “most relevant pieces of information” required by the current ordinance. Avula’s version also would not include the names of the city employees who make each transaction. Instead, it would note the City Hall department from which payments originated and the general purpose of those payments, making it much more difficult to trace transactions back to specific officials. ,,, Also excluded from the updated database would be payments for legal settlements, even though such payments are generally subject to disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

The businessman behind a plan to put a sports center in Stafford sent a cease-and-desist letter to a county supervisor this week after she and a colleague said the proposal was hollow. … “This letter serves as a formal notice for you to cease and desist any actions that infringe upon the rights and interests of The Colosseum Sports Resort LLC,” CEO Farshid Hakimyar wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Supervisor Crystal Vanuch. “It has come to our attention that during the Board of Supervisor meeting on April 7th, you made certain comments that are harmful to our operations and reputation. We request that you immediately refrain from any further actions that could negatively impact our business, including but not limited to public statements, communications, or any activities that misrepresent The Colosseum Sports Resort LLC.”