The city of Richmond’s water system could get a bigger boost of state funding than originally planned. … The potentially higher funding number was revealed Friday morning at the first meeting of the Richmond Regional Water Workgroup, the state and local panel set up to decide how the funding should be spent to best prevent a repeat of the 2025 water crisis. … The group spent several minutes haggling over the logistical details of how a legally public body could meet at the water plant for a meeting that has to include a public vote to go into closed session and another post-tour vote that the meeting focused only on sensitive infrastructure. … During the discussion of how to arrange a closed tour of the water plant, Richmond CAO Odie Donald II urged the group to ensure the plan was fully compliant with open meeting laws, saying Richmond gets “five times the scrutiny of anybody else.” When the panel was getting a brief rundown on how the Virginia Freedom of Information Act requires transparency in the work ahead, Donald also advised work group members to be mindful of what they put in writing, saying “FOIA is weaponized against us.”

The Warren County Board of Supervisors censured one of its own members on Tuesday over an Aug. 18 physical altercation with a county resident. Chairwoman Cheryl L. Cullers, Vice Chairman Tony F. Carter and supervisors Richard A. Jamieson and John W. Stanmeyer voted to approve a resolution of censure of Supervisor Hugh B. Henry for his actions, both verbal and physical, at and after the Aug. 18 board meeting. Henry, the supervisor for the Fork District, abstained from voting. … During supervisors’ comments on Tuesday, Henry apologized for his actions. “I need to start with an apology, obviously,” Henry said. “I fell into the trap of social media. I have given advice for others and I should have done that, should’ve taken my own advice.

Flock Safety provides fixed cameras that automatically read the license plates of passing cars. The company — which contracts with businesses and local governments — has been under scrutiny throughout 2026 following privacy concerns and questions over the security of its data. In addition to Chesterfield, several other localities in the area use the cameras, including Henrico and Richmond. … According to the contract, which The Richmonder obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Chesterfield is paying Flock Safety $2,500 to $3,000 per device, adding up to $225,000 per year.

Local government leadership is a public activity, from campaigning to showing up when constituents need help or attention. But according to a new survey from Princeton’s Bridging Divides Initiative, many local leaders feel less comfortable being in public. Since 2022, Bridging Divides has conducted quarterly surveys of local officials to get a sense of the scale of threats and harassment they face in an era of increasingly divisive politics. The latest survey, conducted in the first quarter of 2026, draws on responses from a national sample of about 500 mayors, councilmembers, county commissioners and others in local leadership positions. “We are continuing to see a persistently high baseline of hostility against local elected officials,” says Sam Wilson, senior research specialist at Bridging Divides. More than half of those surveyed said that they had experienced one or more forms of hostility in the previous three months, including insults, harassment and threats. Women and minority officials were disproportionately affected, Wilson says, which has been true since the first survey.