Transparency News 8/30/16

 

State government spends more than $200 million a year on travel, according to a new state auditor's report, and its various arms don't always leverage their purchasing power for savings. Public universities are the biggest spenders, accounting for some 73 percent of costs, which the Auditor of Public Accounts tracked from three recent fiscal years. They found an uptick each year, from $193.8 million in 2012 to $201.5 million in fiscal 2014. University figures were boosted by big ticket costs generally funded by student fees and other revenue lines that don't track back to taxpayers. Millions in athletic team travel costs, for example, and funding for study abroad trips.
Daily Press


National Stories
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A Georgia judge ruled that sexual abuse complaint files that USA Gymnastics compiled should be released to the public, offering a look into the Olympic organization’s policies for handling child abuse. Some former gymnasts who were victims of coaches' sexual abuse celebrated the Monday ruling from Judge Ronald K. Thompson in Effingham County State Court. USA Gymnastics opposed release of the documents. USA Gymnastics said it plans to appeal the ruling, which came in response to a motion filed by The Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. A former gymnast who accused USA Gymnastics of negligence for not reporting four allegations against a coach filed the original lawsuit that the motion became a part of.
USA Today


Editorials/Columns

Norfolk’s decision to allow selected people – including family members and journalists – to see video footage last week in the fatal police shooting of Willie James leaves me, initially, with a spate of questions: Will this usher in a permanent shift from the current knee-jerk practice, in which city officials never allowed reporters to view what police cameras showed? What will happen when officers apparently break the law? Will the default position become openness, instead of concealment? And why not let the entire public – and not just a privileged few – watch what my Virginian-Pilot colleagues observed? Answers will come when, invariably, a new police shooting occurs. The city should go one step forward: Post the video, at normal speed and frame by frame, so citizens can judge for themselves what officers faced. Neither the NAACP, the family nor even my newspaper should filter what residents can scrutinize themselves.
Roger Chesley, Virginian-Pilot