Transparency News 11/11/14 – Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

State and Local Stories

VCOG announces its 2014 open government awards

The Virginian-Pilot has filed a lawsuit against the FBI seeking information about a training exercise last year off the coast of Virginia Beach that claimed the lives of two agents. The newspaper submitted a request under the federal Freedom of Information Act shortly after the May 17, 2013, deaths of Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw. The paper sought "any reports or memos regarding the training accident," which involved the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team. In a letter 13 months later, the bureau responded with a blanket denial.
Virginian-Pilot

The Richmond City Council approved another piece of the Stone Brewing Co. deal Monday night after council members made clear that they are expecting to have an oversight role in the project. “I think that’s very important so that we as a City Council maintain oversight, the accountability that the citizens expect of us,” Councilman Parker C. Agelasto said. “As that money is expended, we in fact do have some level of oversight and can see what is being budgeted.” Prior to the meeting, the council discussed the Stone project in a closed session that lasted about an hour and a half.
Times-Dispatch

The city of Virginia Beach’s voter registrar apologized Monday to voters who encountered technical difficulties casting their ballots last week and said her office is looking for improvements. Many voters voiced frustrations with problems at the polls Nov. 4, especially with machines that switched their votes from one candidate to another. Election officials attributed the errors to a problem with the AccuVote TSX machines' touch-screen calibration, which they said was tested before Election Day but may have been damaged in transport to some precincts. More than 30 machines were pulled from 25 polling places, and voters reported problems in 30 or more precincts. "I truly am sorry for any voter that was inconvenienced at the polls on Tuesday," Voter Registrar Donna Patterson said. "We did everything we possibly could to prepare for the election."
Virginian-Pilot

The Caroline County School Board voted, 3-2, Monday night to censure one of its members, Mary Anderson, who represents the Western Caroline district. The censure contains no punishment. A censure is an expression of formal disapproval. Reedy Church School Board Member Mack Wright Jr. made the motion and read a resolution to censure Anderson based on comments she made to the media following an incident in which, she and Bowling Green Supervisor Jeff Sili say, they were kicked out of Bowling Green Elementary by Superintendent Greg Killough last month. What seemed to irritate the School Board members who voted in favor of the censure was that it appeared that Anderson spoke on behalf of the board about the incident in an interview with The Free Lance–Star.
Free Lance-Star

Culpeper Town Council is set to adopt new employee policies regarding political activity. Included as part of the consent agenda for Wednesday's regular meeting, the proposed amendments to the employee manual replaces an existing paragraph with nine paragraphs, including one banning town employees from also serving on town council – with an exception. The exception is that town council members can work for the town if they make less than $5,000 annually, as in the case of Culpeper Town Councilman Frank Reaves, Jr., a former sheriff's deputy who now works part-time for the Culpeper Police Department as a park attendant. Town employees will not be permitted to engage in political activities while performing official duties for the town or use any town property or equipment to engage in political activities, according to the new policy. It also designates that no employee can use "the prestige" of their position on behalf of any political organization or party and prohibits town employees from discriminating in the provision of town services or responding to requests for services based on political affiliation.
Star-Exponent

Warren County recently upgraded its geographic information system to make the website more user friendly. GIS sites let users search online for information about land through maps and data in a given area. GIS Coordinator Doug Sexton said Friday that a new feature of Warren County's upgraded site lets users create an information card with property values, zoning and building characteristics and a corresponding map. Users can print the property tax information card, Sexton said. "We're taking that information and we're essentially fusing it with real estate information in order to supply with that owner name, characteristic and how it's spatially related," Sexton said.
Northern Virginia Daily

National Stories

The Postal Service on Monday became the latest government agency to announce a major theft of data from its computer systems, telling its roughly 800,000 employees and retirees that an attack “potentially compromised” databases containing postal employees’ names, birth dates, addresses and Social Security numbers. The announcement came just weeks after the White House disclosed an intrusion into its unclassified computer systems, which resulted in a shutdown of some of its communications while the malicious software was being removed.
New York Times

Technology isn’t a top concern for a newly elected governor. It’s less pressing than economic development, education or public safety for sure. But with the elections over in dozens of states, the governors — both newly elected and re-elected — might want to take some time assessing their state’s information technology systems and the people who run them. Why? That’s because technology is now embedded in all the critical programs that states run. Like banks and other major institutions that rely heavily on computers to operate these days, state government has become increasingly digital and can’t afford to have systems that under-perform or fail. Just look at what happened with several state-run health exchanges. To help the incoming governors understand what to focus on, here’s a list of five important technology issues, based on the results of a recent survey by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). A well-run IT operation can help modernize a state and keep it operating efficiently. But it takes an awareness of the issues to ensure success.
Governing

A superior court judge in Georgia reversed himself on Monday and lifted an order he had entered last week enjoining the media from broadcasting or publishing a story about witness intimidation in the ongoing criminal corruption trial about educators cheating on standardized tests in Atlanta public schools. Last Friday, Judge Jerry Baxter signed an order preventing the media from reporting a story that a witness for the prosecution had received an anonymous threatening voice mail for testifying against a former Atlanta public school superintendent. The county district attorney sought the order because, he argued, the news report might have a chilling effect on future witnesses or the jury. On Monday, an apologetic Judge Baxter vacated the order before lawyers for the media had a chance to make their arguments, explaining that he had been trying “to give everybody a fair trial,” but he realized he had been wrong to issue the initial order, according to news reports.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Editorials/Columns

Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms promised when he was elected six years ago that he would thoroughly review each City Council agenda to ensure there was no conflict with his work as an officer of TowneBank. "I absolutely cannot vote on any issues involving TowneBank or projects in which we have loans," Sessoms told Pilot reporter John Holland.
Virginian-Pilot