Transparency News 10/1/19

Tuesday
October 1, 2019

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state & local news stories

It turns out that a press conference held by Republican sheriff nominee Neil Kester on Monday in a public meeting room at the Augusta County Government Center was actually closed to the public. He said the closed-door decision was made to limit the event to media and invited guests after his campaign received word that Sheriff Donald Smith supporters were going to disrupt the event. Invited guests were close friends and family, he said. It is highly unusual for a campaign announcement in the Valley to be closed to the public. Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Garber said he wasn't sure whether county policy allowed groups to schedule the board room for events that kept the public out and would look into the matter.
News Leader

The Board of Supervisors at its 9 a.m. meeting today will discuss whether to use taxpayer money to fund legal expenses related the recent misdemeanor charges of misfeasance and nonfeasance levied against county officials. The meeting comes one week after all five supervisors, County Administrator Doug Stanley, and former County Attorney Dan Whitten turned themselves into the Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren Regional jail. Each was indicted on two misdemeanor counts of misfeasance and one misdemeanor count of nonfeasance by the special grand jury investigating financial wrongdoings within the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority. The agenda for the meeting states that the supervisors will discuss: “Hiring of Legal Counsel for the Warren County Board of Supervisors, County Administrator, and Former County Attorney.”
The Northern Virginia Daily

stories of national interest

It took seven journalists, 100 FOIA requests, 1,600 documents and 3,000 hours of work. In August, Hearst Connecticut published a project that detailed 95 cases of alleged sex abuse at Boys & Girls Clubs in 30 states. “Boys & Girls Club of America does not publicly keep track of perpetrators or abuse allegations against staff or volunteers,” Hearst Connecticut’s Lisa Yanick Litwiller wrote in a companion piece to the project. “Until now, there was no comprehensive list of accused abusers, dates and affiliate clubs. Our project created that public database.”
Poynter
 

editorials & columns

There’s consternation at Radford University over the apparent theft of student newspaper copies. The circumstances raise suspicions of an assault on free speech. The Tartan carried two stories on its front page that some people might have seen as either unflattering to the university or negative in general.
The Daily Progress