Newsletter

Sixty million Americans have declared their phone numbers off limits to sales pitches by signing up with the national do-not-call list. Virginian-Pilot columnist Dave Addis imagined what those pitches might have sounded like in earlier times: “Mr. Madison, Mr. Madison! We’re giving you a free vacation for two at a muddy, stanky campground in Colonial…

Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, has appointed the House majority leader, Del. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, to the Freedom of Information AdvisoryGriffith introduced legislation in the 2004 General Assembly session that would have exempted meetings of the legislature from the open-meetings portion of the FOI Act. Griffith will replace Del. S. Chris…

On March 9, the Virginia General Assembly formally commissioned a joint subcommittee of legislators and citizens to examine the impact of electronic records on the state depository. The purpose of the study is to generate proposals to amend the Public Records Act (“PRA”).The PRA designates the Library of Virginia as the depository of state records.…

A $350,000 check got cut in an out-of-court settlement involving the death of Larry Frazier, an inmate from Connecticut who was housed at a Virginia “super-max” prison.Despite a Freedom of Information Act inquiry from The Roanoke Times, the Office of the Attorney General insisted that “attorney-client privilege,” as well as a confidentiality agreement with Frazier’s…

A new federal law gives consumers added protections against identity theft, including free credit reports and a national fraud-alert system. The measure also requires that receipts omit the last digits of credit cards.Opponents of the bill said it pre-empts tougher state privacy laws that prevent businesses from sharing their customers’ financial information with other companies.…

Montpelier, the home of James Madison, will undergo a $30 million restoration over the next four years, returning the mansion to its original 1820s condition.The majority of the restoration money, $20 million, will be provided by the estate of philanthropist Paul Mellon. A federal program will donate an additional $1 million, and the remaining money…

Talia Buford, editor-in-chief of Hampton University’s Hampton Script, is one of 10 winners of this year’s Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award.Buford got the $5,000 prize “for serving as an inspiration to student journalists everywhere when she won the university’s promise of an uncensored student newspaper.” Buford said, “I have a staff of about 15…

• Hampton — Even when a closed meeting’s technically legal, closure isn’t always good policy or good politics. Hampton’s new city council obviously agrees. Acting on the recommendation of City Attorney Paul Burton, it went into secret session to discuss the city’s options for handling state funding for schools.But once the members were behind a…

Nelson County man battled DGIF for fish hatchery records When Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries halted public access to Nelson County’s Fish Hatchery, neighbors were not happy.Before the ’03 closing, the hatchery, nestled in the tiny community of Montebello in the county’s mountainous western reaches, had drawn an estimated 40,000 visitors each year.…

HEATHSVILLE — Northumberland County has a new official seal, featuring a brilliant yellow shield held upright by long-tongued bipedal lions. The seal is displayed on the county’s Web site, but the county refuses to authorize use by anybody else — including the Northumberland Woman’s Club and even the local sheriff. As one critic noted, “this…

Charlottesville — When it’s time to talk about controversial roadways — where to build them, or whether — closed sessions almost inevitably occur, legal or not. “Somebody, someday might sue Charlottesville over the Meadowcreek Parkway, so City Council rushes into secret session to huddle over possible options,” the Daily Progress noted. But as the editorial…

If you’re looking for records from a federal agency, don’t hold your breath.According to a report issued by the National Security Archive, the FBI, CIA and the Pentagon have unanswered requests dating back to the 1980s. The archive is a nonprofit research center seeking to declassify government documents.

This is the court story of the case that doesn’t exist. Even though two different federal courts have conducted hearings and issued rulings, there has been no public record of any action. No documents are available. No files. No lawyer is allowed to speak about it. Period.Yet this seemingly phantom case does exist — and…

by Harry Hammitt Every so often a story comes along involving FOIA that serves to remind us why the statute is so important in our democracy. Sometimes, with little or no warning, a piece of information works its way out of the system that either astonishes us because of its substantive quality or because we…

One for the books, but questions still linger Does use of e-mail by several members of a local governmental body ever constitute an impermissible electronic meeting? Two years after the Fredericksburg e-mail case started as a feud among political rivals, the Virginia Supreme Court weighed in on the issue, but its March 5 opinion in…

Carroll + Hillsville = Chillsnet If community Web sites are all about “branding,” Chillsnet.org may get the prize.Chillsnet is a “community portal” that gets its name from a Carroll County/Hillsville partnership. Andy Cohill, developer of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, recently praised the Chillsnet site, saying Internet users who can’t find a good community portal will…

From March 29 to June 8, the council fielded 243 telephone and e-mail requests for information, as well as seven requests for formal, written opinions.The period encompassed 51 work days, which means requests averaged nearly five inquiries per day. Of the phone and e-mail requests, 129 came from state and local government, 85 came from…

The 2004 General Assembly punted three bills to the FOI Advisory Council for further review. That’s exactly the kind of role the architects of the council envisioned when the body was created in 2000.At its next regularly scheduled meeting, the council heard presentations from Executive Director Maria Everett on what the bills referred to the…

In response to an inquiry from the Sierra Club, the council issued AO-25-03 to answer whether Newport News could withhold records generated by a public relations firm hired to boost public support for the King William Reservoir Project. The city invoked the attorney-client and work-product exemptions of FOIA. The council, however, concluded that the attorney-client…

Woodrum, Maroney join VCOG’s board Former Del. Clifton A. “Chip” Woodrum has joined VCOG as a member of its board of directors. He accepted the appointment after retiring from the legislature in early January.The Roanoke lawyer was awarded one of 13 at-large seats on the recently expanded VCOG board. (Ten other directors are designated by…

When the 2004 General Assembly wasn’t squabbling about taxes and budgets, it inserted nine new exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. Seven deal with records, two with meetings, bringing the state’s total to 127. Four other record exemptions were expanded, usually to include additional agencies. As suggested by the FOI Advisory Council, record exemptions…

For more than three decades, Virginia’s legislature wisely (policy-wise and politics-wise) wrote itself into its Freedom of Information Act Always there were some exceptions applicable only to the General Assembly. In the beginning, even committee meetings were kept secret. Local government, state boards and sunshine advocates occasionally grumbled about “double standards” — but, if only…