Transparency News 3/7/17
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
State and Local Stories
State and Local Stories
The Newport News City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday morning "for a discussion ... of the performance of a council appointee," and the Peninsula Airport Commission has called a special meeting for Wednesday, its second in a week. The City Council meeting is closed to the public. The airport commission will have open and closed sessions. The airport commission's special meeting will focus on change orders to its continuing security checkpoint project. The notice did not specify the subject of the closed meeting. The City Council did not say which of its appointees would be discussed, but there are only three.
Daily Press
Forms filed by Virginia lawmakers that show gifts they’ve received, what companies they own stock in and who employs them and their immediate family members are online for the public to view. The forms were traditionally kept on file at the offices of the House and Senate clerks. They’re online for the first time. A change in the law in 2015 mandated that the forms be maintained in a searchable database available to the public on the website of the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council. There’s one complication: The ethics council’s website doesn’t indicate that the lawmakers’ forms are now online. To find a lawmaker’s form, go to the ethics council’s website at http://ethics.dls.virginia.gov/ Then click “Public Information.” Under “State Officers and Employees” click the link for “Conflict of Interest Database.” Then select “conflict of interest search,” choose year 2017 and search for lawmakers by name.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Following a year of opposition by many in the public to its new meeting procedures, the Charlottesville City Council agreed Monday to tweak the rules, including expanding the number of permitted speakers in the public comment period at the start of their meetings from 12 to 15. As such, 10 of those speaking slots will be open to anyone wishing to sign up days in advance of a meeting while the other five slots will be reserved for anyone wishing to sign up immediately before the meeting on a first-come first served basis. The changes include lifting some prohibitions on speakers, providing the council more time to discuss agenda items and removing the mayor’s privilege to order public audio and video equipment off during the meetings.
Daily Progress
The Frederick County government is launching an open public records portal to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and help people find public records that might already be online. The portal goes live Wednesday “in an effort to simplify and enhance access to information,” a county news release states. It will be online at frederickcountyva.nextrequest.com, “allowing the county to restructure its processes and provide records to citizens, businesses and organizations more easily.” The portal was built by San Francisco-based NextRequest and will replace the county government’s current online system, which Karen Vacchio, the county’s public information and FOIA officer, described as “cumbersome for everybody involved.”
Winchester Star
Purcellville Town Council will discuss and potentially discipline a member of the town government this Friday for allegedly threatening a council member. Mayor Kwasi Fraser called a closed-session emergency meeting Monday night after the alleged threat occurred on Sunday. “When a council member is alleged with bodily harm, then we think that is an emergency,” Fraser said Monday. However, Monday’s closed session never started. The motion to go into executive session failed after several council members agreed that they were rushing in too hastily. “I think that any action tonight will taint whatever the results are,” Councilman Doug McCollum said in a prepared statement. “To me, this is an ordinary personnel matter.”
Loudoun Times-Mirror
Petersburg City Council member Treska Wilson-Smith announced the start a new program called, "Your Voice is My Voice," a discussion group about city issues to be held on Monday, March 6 and 20. The purpose is to establish a means for the citizens to come to meet with the counselor to review information for the upcoming council meetings scheduled for the following day. "It was an idea my husband had," said Wilson-Smith. "He explained to me that I needed to touch base with the citizens to get their input prior to the meeting. I thought he was exactly right so I contacted the library to set a meeting place for the Monday before every council meeting. It is a way to support the voices of the citizens."
Progress-Index
National Stories
A company that sued Martin County, Florida, for allegedly reneging on a contract to use land to clean polluted water from Lake Okeechobee has won a major public records lawsuit accusing county commissioners of denying they conducted public business on private email accounts, delaying producing the accounts once they were discovered and, in one case, destroying the record trail. The county has agreed to pay Lake Point LLC, a company that operates a rock mine in western Martin County, more than $371,800 in attorneys’ fees and establish a new policy for how to handle public business on private email accounts.
Miami Herald
The Arkansas House has approved a bill that would prohibit the release of video or audio that depicts the death of a police officer in the line of duty. Rep. Jimmy Gazaway proposed the bill, saying that the death of a Trumann police officer in 2011 continues to make the rounds on the internet. House members approved Gazaway's bill on a 94-0 vote. Gazaway told House members that the plan offers only narrow limits on the state's Freedom of Information Act. He said family members of the slain officer could see the material, but others would need to obtain a judge's permission. The judge, too, could order the material released if there is a compelling public interest.
McClatchy
For the country’s most prominent political spokesman, Sean Spicer is not spending a whole lot of time in front of the camera. Monday was the seventh straight day that Mr. Spicer, President Trump’s press secretary, declined to hold a televised White House press briefing, an unusually long drought for someone whose role is traditionally to be the most visible face of a presidential administration. Instead, Mr. Spicer — who since the inauguration had become a highly rated, if often-parodied, staple of daytime television — conducted a question-and-answer session with no cameras allowed, over the objections of the White House Correspondents’ Association. The public was not given a way to watch the briefing but was able to listen via an audio-only broadcast by PBS.
New York Times
A bill that would keep bids secret until the state government awards a contract is nearing final approval in the Michigan Legislature. Supporters say the legislation up for a vote in the House Tuesday would prevent firms from using the Freedom of Information Act to access the bid information of competitors in order to win a state contract. Companies' trade secrets and other financial and propriety information would be fully exempt from disclosure.
McClatchy
All week long we've been bringing you investigative reports into discipline issues at local schools. We're able to do that because of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guaranteeing that the public -- not just journalists -- can access public information. It's how we've reported on stories like the Marshall Square fire, the dashcam video in the North Augusta officer-involved shooting that took the life of Ernest Satterwhite. Now, a lawsuit in South Carolina could change who can access public information, and it's already affecting a high-profile case centered around the Godfather of Soul. The biggest thing in question here is can you, a private citizen, be stripped of your FOIA rights if you're being sued by a public body? That would change the game. It would mean a lot of time and money that people probably don't have. Right now that question is playing out in a lawsuit over one of James Brown's former trustees, Adele Pope. She requested some public documents, but once the Attorney General sued her, the court ruled she could only get those documents through discovery, a lengthy process of a lawsuit.
WRDW
Daily Press
Forms filed by Virginia lawmakers that show gifts they’ve received, what companies they own stock in and who employs them and their immediate family members are online for the public to view. The forms were traditionally kept on file at the offices of the House and Senate clerks. They’re online for the first time. A change in the law in 2015 mandated that the forms be maintained in a searchable database available to the public on the website of the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council. There’s one complication: The ethics council’s website doesn’t indicate that the lawmakers’ forms are now online. To find a lawmaker’s form, go to the ethics council’s website at http://ethics.dls.virginia.gov/ Then click “Public Information.” Under “State Officers and Employees” click the link for “Conflict of Interest Database.” Then select “conflict of interest search,” choose year 2017 and search for lawmakers by name.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Following a year of opposition by many in the public to its new meeting procedures, the Charlottesville City Council agreed Monday to tweak the rules, including expanding the number of permitted speakers in the public comment period at the start of their meetings from 12 to 15. As such, 10 of those speaking slots will be open to anyone wishing to sign up days in advance of a meeting while the other five slots will be reserved for anyone wishing to sign up immediately before the meeting on a first-come first served basis. The changes include lifting some prohibitions on speakers, providing the council more time to discuss agenda items and removing the mayor’s privilege to order public audio and video equipment off during the meetings.
Daily Progress
The Frederick County government is launching an open public records portal to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and help people find public records that might already be online. The portal goes live Wednesday “in an effort to simplify and enhance access to information,” a county news release states. It will be online at frederickcountyva.nextrequest.com, “allowing the county to restructure its processes and provide records to citizens, businesses and organizations more easily.” The portal was built by San Francisco-based NextRequest and will replace the county government’s current online system, which Karen Vacchio, the county’s public information and FOIA officer, described as “cumbersome for everybody involved.”
Winchester Star
Purcellville Town Council will discuss and potentially discipline a member of the town government this Friday for allegedly threatening a council member. Mayor Kwasi Fraser called a closed-session emergency meeting Monday night after the alleged threat occurred on Sunday. “When a council member is alleged with bodily harm, then we think that is an emergency,” Fraser said Monday. However, Monday’s closed session never started. The motion to go into executive session failed after several council members agreed that they were rushing in too hastily. “I think that any action tonight will taint whatever the results are,” Councilman Doug McCollum said in a prepared statement. “To me, this is an ordinary personnel matter.”
Loudoun Times-Mirror
Petersburg City Council member Treska Wilson-Smith announced the start a new program called, "Your Voice is My Voice," a discussion group about city issues to be held on Monday, March 6 and 20. The purpose is to establish a means for the citizens to come to meet with the counselor to review information for the upcoming council meetings scheduled for the following day. "It was an idea my husband had," said Wilson-Smith. "He explained to me that I needed to touch base with the citizens to get their input prior to the meeting. I thought he was exactly right so I contacted the library to set a meeting place for the Monday before every council meeting. It is a way to support the voices of the citizens."
Progress-Index
National Stories
A company that sued Martin County, Florida, for allegedly reneging on a contract to use land to clean polluted water from Lake Okeechobee has won a major public records lawsuit accusing county commissioners of denying they conducted public business on private email accounts, delaying producing the accounts once they were discovered and, in one case, destroying the record trail. The county has agreed to pay Lake Point LLC, a company that operates a rock mine in western Martin County, more than $371,800 in attorneys’ fees and establish a new policy for how to handle public business on private email accounts.
Miami Herald
The Arkansas House has approved a bill that would prohibit the release of video or audio that depicts the death of a police officer in the line of duty. Rep. Jimmy Gazaway proposed the bill, saying that the death of a Trumann police officer in 2011 continues to make the rounds on the internet. House members approved Gazaway's bill on a 94-0 vote. Gazaway told House members that the plan offers only narrow limits on the state's Freedom of Information Act. He said family members of the slain officer could see the material, but others would need to obtain a judge's permission. The judge, too, could order the material released if there is a compelling public interest.
McClatchy
For the country’s most prominent political spokesman, Sean Spicer is not spending a whole lot of time in front of the camera. Monday was the seventh straight day that Mr. Spicer, President Trump’s press secretary, declined to hold a televised White House press briefing, an unusually long drought for someone whose role is traditionally to be the most visible face of a presidential administration. Instead, Mr. Spicer — who since the inauguration had become a highly rated, if often-parodied, staple of daytime television — conducted a question-and-answer session with no cameras allowed, over the objections of the White House Correspondents’ Association. The public was not given a way to watch the briefing but was able to listen via an audio-only broadcast by PBS.
New York Times
A bill that would keep bids secret until the state government awards a contract is nearing final approval in the Michigan Legislature. Supporters say the legislation up for a vote in the House Tuesday would prevent firms from using the Freedom of Information Act to access the bid information of competitors in order to win a state contract. Companies' trade secrets and other financial and propriety information would be fully exempt from disclosure.
McClatchy
All week long we've been bringing you investigative reports into discipline issues at local schools. We're able to do that because of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guaranteeing that the public -- not just journalists -- can access public information. It's how we've reported on stories like the Marshall Square fire, the dashcam video in the North Augusta officer-involved shooting that took the life of Ernest Satterwhite. Now, a lawsuit in South Carolina could change who can access public information, and it's already affecting a high-profile case centered around the Godfather of Soul. The biggest thing in question here is can you, a private citizen, be stripped of your FOIA rights if you're being sued by a public body? That would change the game. It would mean a lot of time and money that people probably don't have. Right now that question is playing out in a lawsuit over one of James Brown's former trustees, Adele Pope. She requested some public documents, but once the Attorney General sued her, the court ruled she could only get those documents through discovery, a lengthy process of a lawsuit.
WRDW
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