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state & local news stories
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"...declined Sen. Tim Kaine's request for data on sexual harassment claims"
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Embattled Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas announced Monday that he has retired, effective immediately, after serving in the role for about 18 months. Thomas’ departure comes on the heels of an independent review of the city’s handling of a series of events this year, including the deadly Aug. 12 rally. The review, released Dec. 1, found several missteps on city officials’ part, Thomas included. The review also concluded that Thomas attempted to obstruct the review — by, among other things, creating fake planning documents and deleting relevant text messages — and that he intentionally allowed the fighting on the morning of the rally so that an unlawful assembly could be declared.
The Daily Progress
The secretive office that processes workplace misconduct complaints on Capitol Hill has declined Sen. Tim Kaine's request for data on sexual harassment claims filed in the upper chamber — data that Kaine had said he would make public. The Virginia Democrat sought details Dec. 6 on the taxpayer-funded settlements that the Hill's Office of Compliance approved for Senate employers, adding that he would release the broad outlines of the data in the interest of transparency as Congress considers an overhaul of its own harassment system. The compliance office's Monday decision to decline his request is particularly notable given that the office provided the House Administration Committee details on taxpayer-funded settlements processed in that chamber one day after they were requested.
Politico
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stories of national interest
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As she stood before local students in a federal courtroom in Washington, Mary Beth Tinker held aloft a replica of the black armband that had brought her notoriety — and students like them protections of their freedom of expression. Last week, nearly 50 years after Tinker wore an armband to her Iowa school to protest the Vietnam War — and was suspended — she appeared at a mock trial reenacting her case before students from the Washington area.
Washington Post
Legislative leaders in Maryland last week ordered officials to start collecting data on sexual misconduct complaints against state lawmakers or their staff members, the latest fallout from a tidal wave of harassment allegations that have toppled elected officials and industry leaders nationwide. The General Assembly’s human resources department will begin tallying harassment complaints and will brief the Legislative Policy Committee annually on the nature and outcomes of investigations. The identities of accused harassers will not be included in the report, regardless of whether the claims are found to have merit. The report will be considered a public record, though it is unclear whether people who want to see it will have to file a public-information request.
Washington Post
How much does it cost to keep a secret? Well, the U.S. government sort of has an answer: $16.89 billion. That's how much it spent in 2016 to classify information that it deems too sensitive to be released to the public. Some secrets are worth keeping, of course -- like how to cook up chemical weapons, for instance. But others, less so. Rodney McDaniel, a top National Security Council official during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, estimated that only 10 percent of classification was for the "legitimate protection of secrets." Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, a head of the 9/11 commission, said that "three quarters of what I read that was classified should not have been." In fact, he argued that overclassification had left the U.S. more vulnerable to the 9/11 attacks. And that's to say nothing of its everyday effects on government accountability and efficiency, congressional oversight and public awareness. Shortly after the government released a trove of documents on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I sat down with Tom Blanton, the director of the National Security Archive, to talk about America's dysfunctional mechanisms for classifying and declassifying information. Here, in an edited transcript, he weighs in on why historians should be extra-grateful for Hillary Clinton's private server; what really needs to be declassified; and how history is likely to judge Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.
Bloomberg
The FBI failed to perform an adequate search in response to Freedom of Information Act requests for documents related to its policy of having undercover agents pose as journalists to catch criminals, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday. The ruling reverses a federal judge’s finding that the agency had fulfilled its FOIA obligations. Two media groups brought the underlying challenge based on reports about how the FBI apprehended an individual who in 2007 made a series anonymous bomb threats to a Seattle high school, causing near-daily evacuations of students, teachers and administrators. Believing the threats were the handiwork of a narcissist, the FBI agents investigating the matter devised a plan: They would flatter the culprit into clicking a link that appeared to be press coverage suggesting he’d outsmarted the authorities. When he did, a specialized malware would be secretly delivered to his computer and it would reveal his location. The plan worked and the individual calling in the bomb threats was arrested.
Courthouse News Service
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