An Albemarle County police officer was recently injured so seriously in an on-duty wreck that he was airlifted for medical treatment. But the department has declined even to identify the officer, citing an ongoing crash investigation and federal medical privacy law. … Except for a brief, next-day bulletin by a Richmond television station, the incident went otherwise unreported. Why? County police declined to say. They also declined to provide or confirm the officer’s identity. The Daily Progress obtained it by cross-referencing county police badge numbers with radio dispatches. … Spokeswoman Logan Bogert did say the officer has consented to sharing that he had been released from the hospital. “The records were withheld because the crash investigation remains ongoing,” Bogert wrote, “and because medical and personal health information is protected by HIPAA.”

Both of Virginia’s U.S. senators and local candidates are demanding greater transparency from municipal governments as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) continue to shroud major economic development projects across the region. … The issue has now captured federal attention, with Virginia’s congressional delegation warning that cloaked development hurts public trust. “Those federal standards ought to be, you can’t sign a nondisclosure agreement that hides the information from the community,” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said. “Most companies end up hurting themselves if they do secret deals, and most local governments end up sort of regretting them too.” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine echoed the call for accountability, urging residents across the commonwealth to press local leaders before decisions are finalized behind closed doors.

Immigrants seeking documents from the government to prove that they are in the country legally are being rebuffed or provided paperwork that is heavily redacted, according to dozens of immigration lawyers, who say the refusals put their clients at risk of deportation. … the Trump administration has been redacting and withholding documents at a strikingly high rate, according to nearly three dozen immigration lawyers interviewed by The New York Times. … Federal law entitles people to their immigration paperwork, which they may request under the Freedom of Information Act. A 2020 court order requires the government to respond within 30 business days. … The Department of Homeland Security did not address Turner’s claims but said its public records officials provide documents in a timely manner and tell immigrants the reasons for no-records responses. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services “receives over 2,000 Freedom of Information Act requests a day. Almost all of the requests are for individual immigration files and records,” the department said in a statement. “Many people who request records have similar names, birth dates and countries of birth. To ensure we comply with privacy laws and send the records to the right person, USCIS carefully checks the identity of each requester. If we can’t definitively identify persons, we let them know why and allow them to correct and resubmit their requests.”

Entergy has dropped a federal court complaint against a Little Rock woman and two publications. That suit had been filed after details about plans for a Google data center were accidentally released by the Arkansas Public Service Commission in response to a Freedom of Information Act by a Little Rock woman, Jessica Kivell. A previous filing in the case asked that the defendants be immediately prohibited from using or disclosing the documents, since it would do “irreparable harm” by disclosing Entergy Arkansas’ trade secrets.