Transparency News 6/7/16

State and Local Stories

In another of a series of initiatives aimed at improving transparency, the Arlington County government will now post responses to Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the public online. “This is one simple way that we can share information that we have already collected, which already has some interest from the community,” County Manager Mark Schwartz said in rolling out the effort. Responses to requests will be available on the county government’s Web site at www.arlingtonva.us (search “FOIA”). Information that is protected from release by state law will be exempted.
Inside NOVA

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors changed its bylaws Monday night to get rid of penalties against board members — including those on board appointed commissions — who violate the county’s ethical standards. The vote also eliminated a requirement that elected and appointed officials sign a statement — a “Model of Excellence” — stating they would uphold the county’s standards of conduct. The board’s vote followed a public hearing held during the board’s meeting in Chatham. No residents spoke on the matter.
Register & Bee




National Stories
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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel administration's release of massive amounts of evidence in nearly 90 pending investigations of police shootings and other incidents marked a watershed moment for a city that fought for decades to keep videos in excessive force cases hidden from the public. The rollout marks the official start of a new policy to release video of shootings by police within 60 days of most incidents — an unprecedented shift toward transparency that even longtime critics of the secrecy of the Police Department have praised as an important step.
Chicago Tribune

Newly declassified NSA documents provide official confirmation that Edward Snowden was a CIA asset, and show the extent to which the government went to discredit him after he told lawmakers in Europe that he tried to blow the whistle on a secret federal program that snooped on private citizens. The documents, obtained by Vice News, do not conclusively confirm claims by Snowden, then a private contractor working for the NSA, that he tried to alert supervisors of what he believed to be illegal spying before going public. They do show that following a flurry of claims by Snowden in early 2014 that his supposed concerns the agency was violating the constitutional rights of citizens were ignored, Obama administration officials sought to discredit him with his own words.
Fox News

Judge Amit Mehta handed the Obama administration a defeat in court in a case involving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), ruling the White House showed bad faith in withholding information and data underpinning John Holdren's claim global warming was making winters colder. Holdren is the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) director. In response to a FOIA request by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), OSTP initially claimed it found just 11 pages of documents, none of which included drafts of the director’s final conclusions.
Heartland