Transparency News 7/6/16
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
State and Local Stories
The first meeting of the FOIA Council’s Personnel Records Work Group will be held at 10:00 AM on Thursday, July 14, 2016, in the House Redistricting Room, 2nd Floor, General Assembly Building (GAB), 201 N. 9th St., Richmond, VA 23219. All interested parties are welcome to attend and participate. The Records Subcommittee has previously considered the personnel records exclusion, Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(1), as part of the three-year FOIA study directed by House Joint Resolution No. 96 (2014). The Subcommittee recommended incorporating the provisions of subsection A of § 2.2-3705.8 into the exclusion at Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(1) in order to consolidate all of the FOIA provisions addressing the treatment of personnel records. The Subcommittee also recommended adding "name" to the list of items that must be disclosed, because while "name" is not explicitly listed, disclosure of names along with salary, job position, and other information has been required under existing law since 1978. This year, while reviewing educational records exemptions, the Subcommittee was informed that letters of recommendation may be treated differently by educational institutions than by other public bodies, and that such letters are also treated differently for data subjects under the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act. In further discussion additional issues were raised, including the scope of the personnel exemption and the fact that there is no statutory definition of "personnel records." In order to give these issues full consideration, the Subcommittee directed staff to meet with interested parties as a work group and then report back to the Subcommittee.
Her family still doesn't know how Valerie Anderson's trespassing arrest in Newport News on May 14 ended with her burial in a Central State Hospital grave six weeks later. State officials still have yet to get in touch with the Newport News woman's family members — and will not even publicly identify the inmate who died at the Petersburg hospital May 26, a day after being transferred from the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. The Times-Dispatch identified Anderson in part through a Freedom of Information Act request for records from the State Medical Examiner's Office, which investigated her death. Those records did not name Anderson, but identified the funeral home that transported her body to the Medical Examiner's Richmond laboratory. That same company also handled her burial in the Central State Hospital graveyard. The death notice on the funeral home's website used her name, and a Times-Dispatch reporter and photographer found the grave, including flowers and a card with her name expressing "deepest sympathy" from the hospital.
Daily Press
National Stories
The FBI recommended on Tuesday that no criminal charges be filed over Hillary Clinton's use of private email servers while she was secretary of state, but rebuked the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate for "extremely careless" handling of classified information. In a lengthy statement on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's conclusions from its yearlong investigation, Comey directly contradicted statements Clinton has made while defending her use of the private email setup. He said, for example, that the FBI found at least 110 emails that contained classified information when they were sent, although Clinton has repeatedly said she never sent or received classified information on her private servers.
Reuters
On the same day that the FBI announced that the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server is likely to conclude without any charges, a federal appeals court issued a ruling that could complicate and prolong a slew of ongoing civil lawsuits over access to the messages Clinton and her top aides traded on personal accounts. In a decision Tuesday in a case not involving Clinton directly, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that messages contained in a personal email account can sometimes be considered government records subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Politico
The same week President Obama signed a bill reforming the Freedom of Information Act, the Labor Department came into criticism for inefficiencies and out-of-date computer systems for responding to requests for documents. Labor has “not updated its FOIA regulation to reflect changes in its process made in response to more recent amendments to the law and new implementing guidance,” the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report dated June 2 but released June 30. The department, GAO said, “uses an information technology system to manage and track requests, but it has not implemented key required and recommended capabilities for enhancing FOIA processing, such as capabilities to accommodate individuals with disabilities or electronic redaction.”
Government Executive
June has come and gone, and there is still no sign of the secret 28 pages missing from a 2002 joint congressional report into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Advocates of releasing the long-sought pages had hoped that they would finally see the documents, basing their optimism on indications from high-ranking Obama administration officials that their review before the declassification would be finished by the end of the month. Now lawmakers are worried the effort to win disclosure of the pages has again stalled. To keep the pressure on, they are scheduled on Wednesday to join some relatives of those killed in the attacks to push the House Intelligence Committee to release the report on its own. They will gather for an early afternoon event outside the Capitol.
New York Times
Kim Davis, the county clerk who went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, violated the state’s Open Records Act, the Kentucky attorney general’s office said Tuesday. The Rowan County clerk violated the act by refusing to produce documents related to the gay marriage battle, the attorney general’s office said in an opinion. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit group, requested records between Davis and her attorneys, the religious advocacy group Liberty Counsel, on March 1. Liberty Counsel refused to provide the documents, saying they are preliminary and private. Liberty Counsel represented Davis after she was sued for refusing to issue marriage licenses.
Fox News
A Ku Klux Klan group's legal battle to pick up highway trash continues after Georgia's highest court unanimously ruled in the group's favor on Tuesday. The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Georgia Department of Transportation. A lower court had ruled the agency violated the Klan group's free speech rights when it denied the group's application to participate in an "Adopt-A-Highway" program.
CNN
Editorials/Columns
Hillary Clinton and her supporters have breathed a sigh of relief. Their foes have emitted a groan of despair. FBI Director James Comey says the agency will not recommend criminal charges against Clinton in the email investigation. The decision commands respect, even from those who doubt Clinton’s character.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Her family still doesn't know how Valerie Anderson's trespassing arrest in Newport News on May 14 ended with her burial in a Central State Hospital grave six weeks later. State officials still have yet to get in touch with the Newport News woman's family members — and will not even publicly identify the inmate who died at the Petersburg hospital May 26, a day after being transferred from the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. The Times-Dispatch identified Anderson in part through a Freedom of Information Act request for records from the State Medical Examiner's Office, which investigated her death. Those records did not name Anderson, but identified the funeral home that transported her body to the Medical Examiner's Richmond laboratory. That same company also handled her burial in the Central State Hospital graveyard. The death notice on the funeral home's website used her name, and a Times-Dispatch reporter and photographer found the grave, including flowers and a card with her name expressing "deepest sympathy" from the hospital.
Daily Press
National Stories
The FBI recommended on Tuesday that no criminal charges be filed over Hillary Clinton's use of private email servers while she was secretary of state, but rebuked the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate for "extremely careless" handling of classified information. In a lengthy statement on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's conclusions from its yearlong investigation, Comey directly contradicted statements Clinton has made while defending her use of the private email setup. He said, for example, that the FBI found at least 110 emails that contained classified information when they were sent, although Clinton has repeatedly said she never sent or received classified information on her private servers.
Reuters
On the same day that the FBI announced that the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server is likely to conclude without any charges, a federal appeals court issued a ruling that could complicate and prolong a slew of ongoing civil lawsuits over access to the messages Clinton and her top aides traded on personal accounts. In a decision Tuesday in a case not involving Clinton directly, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that messages contained in a personal email account can sometimes be considered government records subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Politico
The same week President Obama signed a bill reforming the Freedom of Information Act, the Labor Department came into criticism for inefficiencies and out-of-date computer systems for responding to requests for documents. Labor has “not updated its FOIA regulation to reflect changes in its process made in response to more recent amendments to the law and new implementing guidance,” the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report dated June 2 but released June 30. The department, GAO said, “uses an information technology system to manage and track requests, but it has not implemented key required and recommended capabilities for enhancing FOIA processing, such as capabilities to accommodate individuals with disabilities or electronic redaction.”
Government Executive
June has come and gone, and there is still no sign of the secret 28 pages missing from a 2002 joint congressional report into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Advocates of releasing the long-sought pages had hoped that they would finally see the documents, basing their optimism on indications from high-ranking Obama administration officials that their review before the declassification would be finished by the end of the month. Now lawmakers are worried the effort to win disclosure of the pages has again stalled. To keep the pressure on, they are scheduled on Wednesday to join some relatives of those killed in the attacks to push the House Intelligence Committee to release the report on its own. They will gather for an early afternoon event outside the Capitol.
New York Times
Kim Davis, the county clerk who went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, violated the state’s Open Records Act, the Kentucky attorney general’s office said Tuesday. The Rowan County clerk violated the act by refusing to produce documents related to the gay marriage battle, the attorney general’s office said in an opinion. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit group, requested records between Davis and her attorneys, the religious advocacy group Liberty Counsel, on March 1. Liberty Counsel refused to provide the documents, saying they are preliminary and private. Liberty Counsel represented Davis after she was sued for refusing to issue marriage licenses.
Fox News
A Ku Klux Klan group's legal battle to pick up highway trash continues after Georgia's highest court unanimously ruled in the group's favor on Tuesday. The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Georgia Department of Transportation. A lower court had ruled the agency violated the Klan group's free speech rights when it denied the group's application to participate in an "Adopt-A-Highway" program.
CNN
Editorials/Columns
Hillary Clinton and her supporters have breathed a sigh of relief. Their foes have emitted a groan of despair. FBI Director James Comey says the agency will not recommend criminal charges against Clinton in the email investigation. The decision commands respect, even from those who doubt Clinton’s character.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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