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state & local news stories
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Chesterfield County officials asked their state senator to oppose a budget amendment that would require the county to pay for more prosecutors to assist with reviewing police body camera videos. The request came as the county’s top prosecutor warned that he needs to hire more attorneys or will have to slash services in the courtroom.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia’s Senate and House have written their versions of the two-year state budget. But there’s a problem. The two budgets are about $400 million apart. A handful of lawmakers are now tasked with hammering out the difference, and all the wrangling happens behind closed doors. Even though it's called the budget conference committee, it’s not really a formal committee at all. Because the conference is a tool created by state lawmakers, not by state code, it is informal and temporary. “In some ways this conference committee makes compromise more likely than if this negotiation were to be happening in the open," Quentin Kidd at Christopher Newport University says.
WVTF
Danville City Council will consider whether to reduce the number of meetings and work sessions it holds each month. Mayor John Gilstrap said council’s current practice of having two business meetings per month, with each one immediately followed by a work session, leaves members with less time to discuss items during those sessions. The alternative could be to hold a work session once a month on a separate day from the meeting.
Danville Register & Bee
The town of Purcellville has paid approximately $250,000 related to the ongoing investigations into the police chief, town management and an audit of the original investigation into the police chief, according to an accounting statement released by the town. It is unknown whether the audit of the original investigation is complete. All members of Town Council declined to answer questions about the investigations prior to Tuesday night's meeting. When asked whether they believed the investigation, once or if complete, should be released to the public, no council member gave a definitive answer. Several council members said it depends on the advice of counsel.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
Arlington Republicans are calling for greater transparency with regards to the county’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters. Jim Presswood, Chair of the Arlington GOP, issued a statement Wednesday calling for the county to release “the basic framework” of its offer, arguing that “backroom deals are not the Arlington Way.”
ARLnow
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national stories of interest
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With U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts saying it was "chilling" to watch a video of Fane Lozman being led out of a 2006 Riviera Beach city council meeting in handcuffs, the high court on Tuesday may have signalled a willingness to make sure Americans' right to speak freely at public meetings isn't compromised. But while Roberts and other justices voiced dismay at the way Riviera officials dealt with one of its harshest critics, some also voiced reluctance to hamstring police officers who too often have to deal with unruly people who spew constitutionally-protected invectives -- such as calling cops "pigs" -- as part of a lawful arrest. Justices knew about a transcript of a closed-door meeting that city council members had to discuss a lawsuit Lozman filed against them. They knew that during that meeting City Councilman Liz Wade suggested intimidating Lozman to shut him up. They also knew that it was Wade who summoned a police officer to arrest Lozman in 2006 after he refused to quit talking at a city council meeting, even when he was told his comments about Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach officials arrested on corruption charges were irrelevant to the Riviera Beach meeting. Even knowing that history, Roberts said the Riviera Beach Council's strong measures were unnecessary.
Governing
A federal judge has opened the door for the public to access certain sealed government documents related to surveillance in closed criminal cases. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press brought their lawsuit to access such information in 2013 with Jason Leopold, an investigative journalist who earned the nickname “FOIA terrorist” for his frequent invocation of the Freedom of Information Act. Though Leopold and the RCFP had initially requested access to some 20 years of sealed government documents regarding now-closed criminal investigation, the Department of Justice reported back even the details of closed investigations could jeopardize national security and witness safety, among other issues.
Courthouse News Service
A public records administrator Cleveland, Ohio, claims in a sworn statement that information about how the city handles record requests and about how long it takes to turn over records is confidential - an assertion that an expert in public-records law describes as "laughable." The statement by Kimberly Roberson, who has served as a public records administrator for nearly two decades, is included in a motion arguing that some information gathered in a lawsuit against the city was gathered unethically and should be suppressed. Roberson, who is not a lawyer, contends in her sworn statement that the "confidential information" includes "how long it typically takes the City to respond to public records requests, the Department of Law's involvement with the requests, and the manner in which the City processes requests."
Cleveland.com
A proposed policy aimed at ensuring government transparency and standardizing the process of releasing Newark (New Jersey) City Council members' emails under the Freedom of Information Act was met with fierce resistance from several council members Monday. “I have so much to say about this,” Councilman Stu Markham said, adding he has several concerns, including privacy issues for constituents who email him. “I could probably talk for an hour about issues I have with how this was presented." Under the policy, proposed by City Secretary and FOIA coordinator Renee Bensley, each council member and the mayor would be provided with a city-maintained email address – firstname.lastname@newark.de.us – to use for all city business. Currently, council members use private email providers such as Gmail or AOL. If a city business-related email is received on a private account, the council member would be required to forward it to his or her government account. All emails would be retained based on state record retention guidelines. Councilman Chris Hamilton said the proposal amounts to a “mass exposure of our residents.”
Newark Post
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