Transparency News 9/26/13

 

Thursday, September 26, 2013
 
State and Local Stories

 

The student newspapers at two of Virginia’s biggest universities can run advertisements for alcohol despite a ban the state says is intended to curb underage drinking, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond concluded that the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission ban on alcohol advertising in college newspapers is unconstitutional as it applies to The Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and the Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The regulation prohibits ads for beer, wine and mixed drinks in student-run publications unless they’re in the context of an ad for a restaurant.
Times-Dispatch

Nonresidential property owners in Roanoke can now get a solid estimate of how much they would pay if the city adopts a proposed storm water utility fee. Draft measurements of the impervious surface on about 10,000 parcels can now be viewed on the city’s real estate GIS mapping tool. The fee will be based on the amount of a parcel’s surface that rainwater can’t soak through, including roofs, driveways, parking lots, decks, awnings, out buildings and any other nonporous objects or coverings.
Roanoke Times

New details have emerged in the scandal that led Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford to take legal action against former lover and prominent Missouri attorney David Cosgrove. Lunsford filed for a protective order against Cosgrove in St. Louis County on Sept. 12, accusing the former Missouri governor’s aide of harassment after their relationship ended and alleging Cosgrove posted nude and semi-nude photos of her on his Twitter account without her consent.
Daily Progress

A group, including several Southwest Virginians and backed by billionaire Tom Steyer, has formed and its members intend to raise concerns they have about Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who is running for governor. The group, Virginians for Clean Government, met Wednesday in Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University with San Franciscan Steyer, co-founder of Advanced Energy Economy and backer of the NextGen Climate Action Committee. Three people were present from Southwest Virginia at the meeting, which included Steyer and others with NextGen.
Herald Courier

Lancaster County schools will have a new superintendent beginning July 1, 2014. On Monday, Sept. 9, the Lancaster County School Board announced they would not be renewing the contract for current  Superintendent Dr. Daniel Lukich, which expires June 30 of next year. The decision was the result of a closed meeting that School Board Chairman Alex Fleet said the board could not discuss as the matters pertained to personnel. “That’s the law,” said Fleet. “Our attorney has told us we can’t…make any comment on the whole thing other than [the contract] will not be renewed.”
Northern Neck News

National Stories

Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Commission on Wednesday ordered the release of the 911 tapes from last year's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, ruling in favor of an appeal by The Associated Press for access to records withheld by investigators. The recordings will not be made available immediately. The prosecutor leading the investigation of the Dec. 14 massacre, Danbury State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky III, said the commission's decision will be appealed in Connecticut's courts.
USA Today

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has begun to look into Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis and on Wednesday asked the Obama administration to turn over the unredacted 2007 background investigation report that approved his secret security clearance. Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, and Rep. Blake Farenthold, Texas Republican and chairman of the federal workforce subcommittee, sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management saying they want to get to the bottom of the “unacceptable breach of security” that allowed Alexis to gain access to the Navy Yard last week.
Washington Times

A North Carolina school board lifted on Wednesday its ban of Ralph Ellison's classic novel "Invisible Man" from school libraries after being ridiculed by residents and undercut by a giveaway of the book at a local bookstore. The widely publicized ban by the Randolph County Board of Education in central North Carolina came after a high school junior's mother complained that the sexual content in the book chosen for a summer reading program was "not so innocent" and "too much for teenagers." Five of the board's seven elected officials agreed on September 16 to bar the novel, with one member saying he "didn't find any literary value" in Ellison's account of African-American alienation in the United States in the early 20th century. But after a fierce backlash by hundreds of citizens, the board held a special meeting on Wednesday and voted 6-1 to put the book back on school library shelves.
Reuters

After nearly 280 years in print, the world's oldest continuously published newspaper is stopping the presses in favor of a digital presence. Lloyd's List, which was founded in 1734 as a notice posted to a London coffee shop's wall, announced Wednesday it will cease its print edition in December. The newspaper is widely regarded as the leading source of news and analysis for the global shipping market.
CNET News

The University of Missouri's journalism school plans to seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume the use of news-gathering drones. The federal agency has ordered the university as well as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to stop flying the drones outdoors until they obtain government authorization.
St. Louis  Post-Dispatch

How secret Colorado's secret ballots really are was argued before the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, and the high court's decision could determine how far elections officials must go to make sure a ballot can't be traced back to a specific voter. The case springs from a dispute over a March recall election in the town of Center. The mayor and two town trustees were recalled, but it was soon learned that elections workers did not remove stubs from about three-quarters of cast ballots. A number on each stub corresponds to a name on the election roll. A district judge in Saguache County found no solid proof anyone sought to find out how someone else voted but still ordered a new election.
Denver Post

Editorials/Columns

Daily Progress: I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. So goes a modern paraphrase of the sentiment attributed to Voltaire. But another modern sentiment goes like this: I do not agree with what you say, and I will destroy your right to say it. Such a mindset is inimical to the American way. It is the antithesis of freedom. Yet it runs strong even in America. Consider, for example, the recent vandalism to a stone replica of the Ten Commandments in Washington. The toppling of the tablet could not have been some spur-of-the-moment prank.