Transparency News, 12/7/20

CNU relied on its own community tracing and quarantining efforts. However, according to students who spoke with The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, CNU has lacked transparency throughout the semester and suffered from inconsistent quarantine policies. Because of CNU’s lack of reporting, when 57 students were in quarantine on Sept. 25, the CNU student body had no idea — until an alumnus and student employee teamed to release the info. The employee said this pushed CNU to make more data public, but the problems didn’t end there. Many students see the poor data reporting as part of a larger pattern in how CNU has handled COVID. A CNU student and employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, had access to an internal Google spreadsheet listing the quarantine rooms that needed food delivery. “People are going about their lives as normal,” he remembered thinking when he saw over 50 students listed on the spreadsheet. “But there’s a ton of people in quarantine.” Concerned, he reached out to Adam Fendley, a CNU alum who had been outspoken about the school’s COVID response on Twitter. Fendley had been upset with CNU’s dashboard from the beginning, describing it as “very bare and sparse.” His concern was understandable; thorough dashboards, such as the one at William & Mary, play a major role in keeping the community safe, Ridenhour said.
Daily Press

More than 300 people have faced charges stemming from protests in Richmond this summer and fall over racial injustice and police brutality. Most cases are still pending months later. Some charges have been dropped, or dismissed altogether. Twelve people have been convicted, though several have appealed; two have been acquitted, according to a review of online court records of the 107 people whom Richmond police have publicly identified.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Members of the Richmond City Council remain unconvinced that they should be legally obligated to let the mayor or a representative of his administration attend their closed sessions. The council is scheduled to vote later this month on whether it should ask its delegation in the General Assembly to amend a provision in the city charter that lets the mayor’s administration into those meetings. The recommendation is likely to meet a mixed reception, as a similar measure faltered after five council members rejected it three years ago. The provision in question entitles the mayor or his representative to sit in on all closed council sessions. Removing it would not preclude the council from inviting the mayor to closed meetings.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Aformer assistant manager for the town of Rocky Mount has continued to receive his full salary since turning in his resignation in June. Payments every two weeks to Matt Hankins of $4,167.86 kept going even after he started work Oct. 19 as assistant county manager for Wythe County at a salary of $98,000. “Matthew Hankins received payments in 2020 after separation from the Town of Rocky Mount,” wrote Town Manager James Ervin in response to a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request from The Roanoke Times. Ervin did not provide a reason for the unusual arrangement, and he did not comment as to whether the payments have an end date, describing the matter as a confidential personnel issue. Reached by phone Friday, Hankins declined to comment, citing the same reasons. Town council member Bobby Moyer said Tuesday that council members have not been given any information about the circumstances and conditions of Hankins’ departure. The other six council members all referred questions to Ervin and longtime Town Attorney John Boitnott.
The Roanoke Times

James M. Nachman, chairman of the Richmond Electoral Board, is planning to hold a board hearing to consider the removal of veteran Richmond Voter Registrar J. Kirk Showalter. Mr. Nachman said no date has been set as he is proceeding carefully to ensure that the decision could stand up in court should Ms. Showalter be removed and then file a lawsuit to challenge her ouster. Party officials claim Ms. Showalter failed to respond for several weeks to a Freedom of Information Act request for a log of voters whose mailed-in ballots had material problems and who needed to be notified so they could “cure” the problems. Mr. Nachman said Ms. Showalter allegedly did not meet a five-day deadline to respond to the request that is spelled out in state law. According to Mr. Nachman, Ms. Showalter, after discovering a staff member was keeping a log of ballots that needed correction, directed the staff member to stop and list the names on “sticky notes.” He said he intervened to ensure the log continued to be maintained and to ensure the state Democratic Party received the information, but the events drew embarrassing attention as a result of the state party’s lawsuit alleging FOIA violation. Ms. Showalter has denied any deliberate effort to violate the law.
Richmond Free Press
 

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving began with a flurry of urgent text messages and emails among Maryland educational technology chiefs. Within 10 minutes of hearing that a ransomware attack had immobilized Baltimore County Public Schools overnight, technology staffers with Carroll and Harford counties’ school systems were texting one another. The Anne Arundel County system’s information technology team swiftly blocked incoming emails from Baltimore County school employees and instructed staff to avoid sending messages to the neighboring school system. And Maryland’s Chief Information Security Officer Chip Stewart said his cell phone buzzed throughout the morning with questions from public school IT chiefs from around the state. They wanted to know what they could do to ensure the same thing wouldn’t happen to them. Experts say cyber attacks on public school systems are on the rise around the country. Just days after the Baltimore County attack, schools in Huntsville, Alabama, were also shut down by a ransomware incident. In the last six years, state audits routinely have identified cybersecurity vulnerabilities in most of Maryland’s 24 school systems. Among the findings, auditors found in 2018 that Baltimore City public schools had stored sensitive, personally identifiable information without adequate safeguards, and the network’s intrusion prevention system had substantial gaps.
Governing

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Center for Investigative Reporting is entitled to make a FOIA request seeking records of weapon ownership from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The so-called Tiahrt Rider of the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2012 does not exempt the data from public disclosure.
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When the Richmond City Council struck down the Navy Hill arena proposal in February, we lamented the “trust issues” that plagued the project. Fresh ideas and faces were needed at the table. Tuesday’s news delivered some of both. Henrico County officials, led by County Manager John Vithoulkas, introduced the sweeping GreenCity plan — a new $2.3 billion mixed-use “ecodistrict” development anchored by a 17,000-seat facility. It all sounds wonderful, but it also sounds a lot like Navy Hill. In reviewing Henrico’s GreenCity proposal, we’ll set an even higher bar for transparency. The Richmond region needs a new arena, but the process has to serve our communities well, without the gamesmanship of past efforts. There is promise here, along with plenty of pause.
Richmond Times-Dispatch