Transparency News 12/20/16
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
State and Local Stories
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VCOG website
The Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot are continuing to press for a hearing in Suffolk Circuit Court to reverse a juvenile court judge's decision last week to bar the media from attending a hearing in a state lawmaker's criminal case. One of the key goals of the court challenge, the Daily Press' lawyer said Monday, is to get the transcript of the proceeding to determine exactly what happened during those seven hours behind closed doors. At Thursday's hearing against Del. Rick Morris, R-Carrollton, six of the seven felony charges against him were dismissed — with one child cruelty case going forward to a grand jury — while seven misdemeanor charges were dropped. "On the one hand, the hearing is over," said Johan Conrod, the Daily Press' lawyer, with the firm of Kaufman and Canoles. "But one of the points is to make sure it doesn't happen again. And one way to make up for the fact that they closed the hearing is to release the transcript, so we can see the salient facts ... and see why he got six of the seven charges against him dismissed." That Morris issued a news release on Monday quoting from the closed hearing's transcript, Conrad said, reveals the issue.
Daily Press
State Del. Rick Morris emailed supporters Monday, defending himself and detailing his domestic and child abuse hearing last week. The Pilot cannot confirm his description because reporters were prohibited from the hearing.
Virginian-Pilot
Tough to see and tough to prosecute, the financial fraud and abuse that hits Virginia's elderly and incapacitated adults amounts to more than $28 million a year but could exceed $1 billion, a new state report estimates. Social workers assigned to adult protective services work are finding more than 1,000 cases of financial exploitation a year, the state Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services reported. Hardly any are prosecuted.
Daily Press
Officials had mixed reactions to Sunday’s Herald Courier package that explored where people in Bristol buy the most lottery tickets, how Virginia’s lottery revenue is distributed and why the area lacks gambling addiction treatment. Specifically, lawmakers’ views differed about the revelations that state funding for gambling addiction services is limited and that no local Gamblers Anonymous meeting exists.
Herald Courier
Before land use applications are presented to the Loudoun Board of Supervisors, they are first vetted by a nine-member, board-appointed Planning Commission that consider the proposals and either denies or forwards them to supervisors for final approval. At a recent Board of Supervisors public hearing, one supervisor questioned the amount of time the commission is putting in to vetting applications they forward to supervisors. “Part of my gripe with [the Planning Commission] overall is that they just forward applications without doing the work, and then they sometimes are upset when we change them,” Supervisor Ron Meyer (R-Broad Run) said from the dais at the Dec. 14 public hearing. “That’s because not enough work has been done.” Meyer’s criticism of the Planning Commission comes after the commission sent a letter to supervisors in September warning them about making “unsolicited changes” to applications after the the commission passes them on to the board.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
VCOG website
The Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot are continuing to press for a hearing in Suffolk Circuit Court to reverse a juvenile court judge's decision last week to bar the media from attending a hearing in a state lawmaker's criminal case. One of the key goals of the court challenge, the Daily Press' lawyer said Monday, is to get the transcript of the proceeding to determine exactly what happened during those seven hours behind closed doors. At Thursday's hearing against Del. Rick Morris, R-Carrollton, six of the seven felony charges against him were dismissed — with one child cruelty case going forward to a grand jury — while seven misdemeanor charges were dropped. "On the one hand, the hearing is over," said Johan Conrod, the Daily Press' lawyer, with the firm of Kaufman and Canoles. "But one of the points is to make sure it doesn't happen again. And one way to make up for the fact that they closed the hearing is to release the transcript, so we can see the salient facts ... and see why he got six of the seven charges against him dismissed." That Morris issued a news release on Monday quoting from the closed hearing's transcript, Conrad said, reveals the issue.
Daily Press
State Del. Rick Morris emailed supporters Monday, defending himself and detailing his domestic and child abuse hearing last week. The Pilot cannot confirm his description because reporters were prohibited from the hearing.
Virginian-Pilot
Tough to see and tough to prosecute, the financial fraud and abuse that hits Virginia's elderly and incapacitated adults amounts to more than $28 million a year but could exceed $1 billion, a new state report estimates. Social workers assigned to adult protective services work are finding more than 1,000 cases of financial exploitation a year, the state Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services reported. Hardly any are prosecuted.
Daily Press
Officials had mixed reactions to Sunday’s Herald Courier package that explored where people in Bristol buy the most lottery tickets, how Virginia’s lottery revenue is distributed and why the area lacks gambling addiction treatment. Specifically, lawmakers’ views differed about the revelations that state funding for gambling addiction services is limited and that no local Gamblers Anonymous meeting exists.
Herald Courier
Before land use applications are presented to the Loudoun Board of Supervisors, they are first vetted by a nine-member, board-appointed Planning Commission that consider the proposals and either denies or forwards them to supervisors for final approval. At a recent Board of Supervisors public hearing, one supervisor questioned the amount of time the commission is putting in to vetting applications they forward to supervisors. “Part of my gripe with [the Planning Commission] overall is that they just forward applications without doing the work, and then they sometimes are upset when we change them,” Supervisor Ron Meyer (R-Broad Run) said from the dais at the Dec. 14 public hearing. “That’s because not enough work has been done.” Meyer’s criticism of the Planning Commission comes after the commission sent a letter to supervisors in September warning them about making “unsolicited changes” to applications after the the commission passes them on to the board.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
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