Transparency News, 1/26/21

After eight decades, the post newspaper is riding off into the sunset, but Fort Lee officials say that should not be seen as an obituary for news and information delivery from the Prince George County installation. The Fort Lee Traveller’s last edition will be Thursday, Jan. 28, according to Stephen Baker, Fort Lee’s public affairs officer. A lack of advertising sales due to the spread of COVID-19 was one of the official reasons listed for the decision to stop publication, but it also is a reflection of how the traditional print newspaper has fared as newer and faster ways to disseminate news have developed.
The Progress-Index

Carroll County has terminated a contract with a marketing company, citing a “breach of contact.” The Carroll County Board of Supervisors made the decision during its Jan. 11 meeting to unanimously terminate the contract with Ballycomm. County Attorney Stephen Durbin addressed the situation with supervisors before a vote could be held. “Pursuant to the board’s direction, I sent a request for Ballycomm to appear at the December meeting to discuss progress, or lack thereof, with Ballycomm under the contract between the county and the company. Mr. (Michael) Hamlar advised he wasn’t able to appear in person due to COVID, but would be available for a phone call or teleconference or alternative means. I emailed him back accepting that, then did not hear back from him. On December 4, I believe, I wrote again to Mr. Hamlar asking that he appear at this meeting, either by phone, Zoom, or by person. I have not heard back. He is not here presently. So, for what that’s worth, I will allow the board to draw its own conclusions on that. But to this point to our knowledge we have had no progress reported, no leases sent to us or other agreements pursuant to that contract, so I am happy to respond according to your directive.”
The Carroll News

 

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a vital law that allows the public to obtain a wide range of government documents. As reporters, it’s one of our most powerful tools for holding the government accountable. At BuzzFeed News, it’s also one of the ways we earn the trust of our readers: by providing documents that let us show our receipts. The process for securing these documents should be clear and swift — the government is allotted 20 days to determine whether or not to disclose records. But it’s no surprise that the government often stalls, avoiding compliance through obscure loopholes and flagrant delays. So what do we do when we hit a government roadblock? We go to court. From now until March 15, every BuzzFeed News membership sign-up or one-time donation will go toward our FOIA fund, which allows us to continue our aggressive pursuit of public records lawsuits.
BuzzFeed

 

A misinformed or incurious electorate won’t realize that the rule of law has given way to the dictates of a single person until it’s too late, until our Constitution and the institutions that support it are so atrophied that, as a people, resistance will be futile. The answer is educated discernment, putting in the work required of informed citizenship — the ability and willingness to go beyond facile fantasies shopped by conspiracy mongers and diligently find facts on our own. Learn firsthand what the Constitution says; don’t take some talking head’s word for it. Challenge unsupported conclusions and demand evidence. Use your freedom-of-information laws and look up original documentation from places of authority. Hold media and government alike to high standards for that same proof.
Bob Lewis, Virginia Mercury

Risk Based Security released their 2020 year-end data breach report this past week, and despite an overall decline in breach events (security incidents), the number of breached records grew dramatically. Other trends included a doubling of ransomware attacks from 2019 to 2020, and data breach severity rising. There are numerous stories surrounding the SolarWinds programs that were hacked to infiltrate at least 18,000 government and private networks. The New York Times wrote: “At a minimum it has set off alarms about the vulnerability of government and private sector networks in the United States to attack and raised questions about how and why the nation’s cyberdefenses failed so spectacularly.”
Dan Lohrmann, Governing