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Thursday
April 19, 2018
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state & local news stories
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Two FOIA cases being heard in the Richmond area today.
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Today, two FOIA cases are being heard in the Richmond area. Bragg v. Baord of Supervisors of Rappahannock County will be heard at the Virginia Supreme Court. The case involves the standard required for an affidavit of good cause to support a meetings violation. The second is in Chesterfield general district court and has to do with access to the police body cam footage that showed police drawing guns on a college student who was stopped for a traffic violation.
Want to get bills passed through the Virginia General Assembly? Some hints: if you’re after big numbers, seniority, a committee chairmanship, and expertise in the often arcane legal issues that come before the Courts of Justice Committee all help. Just ask state Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, sponsor of 22 successful bills this year. That’s the most of any legislator. It adds up to a pretty impressive batting average of 69 percent of the 32 bills Obenshain sponsored, double the average for legislators calculated by the Virginia Public Access Project.
Daily Press
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stories of national interest
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The City-Parish of Baton Rouge, Louisiana wants to make sure residents know about new open datasets as soon as they’re available. Leaders see this as a way to keep residents in the know about new resources, as well as an important part of how governments can and should be transparent in a digital era. A new website brings together all this work in one place. Baton Rouge began publishing open data in 2015 when it launched Open Data BR. The city-parish solidified its commitment to the effort in December 2017 by passing its first open data policy — Sunlight is proud to have worked with Baton Rouge in creating this policy, as part of What Works Cities. The city-parish was publishing a lot of data, but it didn’t have a unified home online. So in March, the city-parish brought all these efforts together at BRLA.gov, a new online home for the entire city-parish which replaced a 20-year old website that had gotten sorely out of date. The new site brings together all the resources residents need to understand the city-parish’s work on transparency and accountability, including direct access to open information. By presenting a united front to residents that links the city-parish’s various work around smart cities, new technologies, and open data, they’ve demonstrated their commitment to transparency and accountability, and keeping residents in the loop.
Sunlight Foundation
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 "By presenting a united front to residents that links new technologies, and open data, they’ve demonstrated their commitment to keeping residents in the loop."
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editorials & columns
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 "Both make clear that public agencies have a responsibility to do everything possible to share as much information as possible with the public."
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Should police release their operational plans for their handling of the Aug. 12, 2017, white-supremacist rally? Hell, yeah. The Charlottesville Police Department is a public entity, and its records — with a few exceptions — are public property. The Virginia State Police Department is a public entity, and its records — with a few exceptions — are public property. The exceptions are governed by state and federal laws, and by the court rulings that interpret those laws. And both make clear that public agencies have a responsibility to do everything possible to share as much information as possible with the public. When portions of a report, for instance, are sensitive and are legally subject to being withheld, agencies still must release those portions that are not protected by law.
The Daily Progress
Are you making the trek to Richmond this summer to watch the Washington Redskins training camp? Then consider yourself a member of a dwindling contingent. What was hailed as a great moneymaker by folks in the state capital has been anything but. Crowds flocking to the three-week camp have thinned over the years. Current council members are angry, because much of the lofty predictions of economic nirvana just haven’t come true. Richmond’s taxpayers are still paying off much of the debt for the $11 million facility. Building the site was part of the 2012 deal luring the NFL team there. The Washington Post, in a story The Pilot published this week, reported on the dismal situation. It’s an abject lesson for officials – including those in Hampton Roads – who rely too heavily on rosy financial estimates involving major-league arenas and stadiums. In other words: Don’t believe the hype.
Roger Chesley, The Virginian-Pilot
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