Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay publicly apologized this morning (Tuesday) for calling a school board member a “bimbo” during a heated text-message exchange over budget issues. His language, directed at Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren, was “unacceptable,” McKay acknowledged during the county board’s May 19 meeting. “Policy disagreements are both healthy and inevitable,” McKay said, while admitting he had crossed a line in a communication he did not know was being sent to Meren. “Accountability matters. This is a moment of reflection, and one I will learn from,” McKay said in the latest apology he has issued on the subject.

The Armed Forces Brewing Company threatened legal action against its loudest critics last year, amid the closure of its Norfolk taphouse and reports that the company hadn’t paid some former employees and vendors. Now, the controversial brewer has filed a lawsuit alleging defamation. … The lawsuit filed Monday names Craft Beer Professionals founder Andrew Coplon, his wife Stacie Coplon, Butch Bracknell, freelance photojournalist Zach Roberts and an unidentified Reddit user as defendants, according to what appeared to be a court filing attached to a press release from Armed Forces Brewing. The lawsuit alleges they teamed up to destroy the brewery’s reputation by coordinating “media attack narratives,” using “intimidation tactics” to turn away potential business partners like food truck operators and “knowingly and maliciously tortiously interfering” with business contracts. The suit alleges the defendants “villainized” the brewery as one with a culture of hate and intolerance and seeks $50 million in damages.

Pennsylvania is debating a bill that would bar public officials from signing non-disclosure agreements relating to the development of a data center. Louisiana lawmakers recently made the news for doing the same – a move that the Louisiana Illuminator said was a new tactic. The Pennsylvania bill would amend the state’s Right-to-Know Law so that agencies can’t sign a data center agreement that “requires confidentiality, nondisclosure or otherwise restricts the agency from disclosing information to members of the public.” Wyoming lawmakers proposed a similar bill with a much wider scope, but it was immediately shot down. The Pennsylvania bill was referred to the energy committee last month.