Transparency News 11/19/19

 

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Tuesday
November 19, 2019

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state & local news stories

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"Requestors can read correspondence or notes about specific requests and download electronic records deliverables."

Virginia Beach’s former economic development director who resigned abruptly more than a year ago was indicted Monday on 14 counts of felony embezzlement. A Virginia Beach Circuit Court grand jury returned the indictments against Warren Harris. The Chesapeake resident is charged with misusing city funds for personal use from July 2016 to August 2018. Harris, 62, abruptly resigned from his position last October during a city audit of his credit card spending after 11 years as head of the economic development department.
The Virginian-Pilot

Loudoun County Public Schools has launched an online portal for citizens to request public records under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Illinois-based company GovQA provided the software for the platform, which tracks requests across multiple departments, standardizes and expedites records processing. Users can submit a new public records request and track its progress using the portal. Updates can also be provided by email. Requestors can read correspondence or notes about specific requests and download electronic records deliverables.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

Late last week, attorneys presented a bill to the Circuit Court that taxpayers may end up paying after a failed petition to remove Strasburg Mayor Richard Orndorff Jr. from office was halted earlier this month. Court documents show Phillip S. Griffin II, Orndorff’s attorney, has billed his client $15,142 between Sept. 16  and Nov. 15, including $577 in expenses for traveling to Charlottesville to research his defense. Any fees Orndorff accrues in this case moving forward will be determined based on Griffin’s hourly rate of $350, according to court documents. The final bill will be handed down by Judge Iden in December after Wiseley has had time to offer the commonwealth’s objections. Who will be left with the bill is unclear, Griffin said. The statute ensures that the individual petitioners will not be charged for attorney fees but that Judge Iden has the leeway to either dismiss Griffin’s motion and force Orndorff to pay them or tell the commonwealth's attorney’s office it is responsible. If that office is responsible, Griffin said, it will determine who pays the bill — either the town of Strasburg or Shenandoah County.
The Northern Virginia Daily

Following a closed session Nov. 15, Middleburg Town Council voted unanimously to appoint Morris “Bud” Jacobs to fill on an interim basis the council seat vacated by longtime Councilman Kevin Hazard. Hazard resigned in September after announcing plans to move out of town.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

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stories of national interest

City of Detroit officials have been sitting on a Free Press open records request for nearly six months regarding some of the emails seized by the Michigan Attorney General's Office last week as part of its criminal investigation involving deleted emails about the Make Your Date nonprofit. The Free Press originally requested the emails in May as part of its long-running investigation of potential conflict of interest involving the city administration and leadership of the nonprofit. In recent weeks, the records have become more infamous.
Detroit Free Press

The Federal Bureau of Investigation cannot hide whether it uses powerful surveillance tools to monitor the social media activity of millions of Americans and non-U.S. citizens, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen rejected the government’s argument that acknowledging such surveillance capabilities, or the lack thereof, could reveal sensitive law enforcement techniques that would help criminals evade justice.
Courthouse News
 

 

quote_2.jpg"[The judge] rejected the government’s argument that acknowledging such surveillance capabilities, or the lack thereof, could reveal sensitive law enforcement techniques."

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