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” . . . secrecy frustrates efforts for citizens to assess the plans . . .”
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CORRECTION: The bill cited in Friday’s recap of the House General Laws subcommittee should have been HB1650.
The two Senate bills dealing with the names of Lottery winners will be heard this afternoon in the Senate General Laws Committee, which is 45 minutes after adjournment of the Senate floor session.
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Henrico County officials are open about the benefits they hope to reap from partnering with a private company to build an indoor sports center at the Richmond Raceway, but won’t say what competing proposals under review could cost taxpayers. The administration of County Manager John Vithoulkas refused to answer questions about the financing of the two pitches and withheld cost estimates and other information from a report released to the Richmond Times-Dispatch under the Freedom of Information Act. The document, a county staff memo provided to the county’s Board of Supervisors for its Dec. 11 meeting, listed total project costs that differed by about $10 million, board Chairman Tyrone Nelson said during the meeting. It’s unclear what Henrico would owe. That information was not provided to the board, Nelson said. State law allows the county to shield financing information that could hurt ongoing negotiations, a move hailed as effective by some experts on public-private partnerships and questioned by open government advocates who say taxpayers should know what localities are doing on their behalf. Nelson said the secrecy frustrates efforts for citizens to assess the plans, but he trusts county staff to strike a fair and balanced deal with either firm.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hampton Roads Regional Jail has settled a lawsuit filed by a former human resources director who alleged she was forced out after being accused of mishandling a sexual harassment investigation. The terms of the deal remain confidential, but it appears the jail didn’t have to pay any money to Kathryn Crocker or rehire her as part of the settlement reached last month. The state’s Freedom of Information Act requires the release of documents showing how government agencies spend money, regardless of any confidentiality agreements. But Superintendent David Hackworth said the jail had ”no records for checks or wire transfer records relating to this settlement.” He added that there is no future payment planned and Crocker is not a current employee.
The Virginian-Pilot
Before the fiery crash that left two people dead and dozens displaced, the pilot who crashed his helicopter into Bristol Commons in July had his medical certificate to fly revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA denied an October Freedom of Information Act request for Schwarz’s health records. In another request made in October and clarified in November, the FAA provided airman records and Schwarz’s death certificate. A third request is pending, but it remains unclear whether or not it will be processed in a timely manner due to the partial federal government shutdown.
The Virginia Gazette
Reva resident Kathleen Hoffman tells all in her eloquently written new book, “Little Papers are Journalism, Too,” about the people, places and situations she encountered in local newspapering 50 years ago in small-town Culpeper. A reporter, editor and photographer for the Culpeper Star-Exponent and Culpeper News from 1966 to 1984, Hoffman—then Kathleen Crawford—came to town as a 23-year-old recent college graduate of Mary Washington College, launching a career that would present one interesting situation after another in a time very different from today.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
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