Transparency News, 4/21/20
Tuesday
April 21, 2020
April 21, 2020
state & local news stories
"The decision to provide the additional data is in response to what the governor said was 'the desire of the public' to see more of the data."
Virginia lawmakers are set to hold a one-day legislative session unlike any other in the state’s 400 year history as they grapple with how to handle fallout of the coronavirus. The House Delegates plan to meet under a canopy outside the Capitol while the Senate is meeting at a giant event space at the Virginia Science Museum a couple of miles away. Lawmakers will be seated far apart and are asked to wear masks instead of germ-carrying ties to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Associated Press
The General Assembly will reconvene Wednesday in Richmond to consider Gov. Ralph Northam’s legislative recommendations, including proposals to move the date of the May municipal elections and changes to the budget. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the session will be unorthodox. Instead of meeting in the Capitol, the House of Delegates and Senate will meet nearly three miles apartin locations that will allow legislators to maintain distance between one another. The House will meet outside the Capitol building, and the Senate will gather at the Science Museum of Virginia.
The Roanoke Times
The Virginia Department of Health will release more granular information about confirmed coronavirus cases, including deaths, by locality instead of just by health district. Gov. Ralph S. Northam said in a briefing with reporters Monday that the decision to provide the additional data is in response to what he said was “the desire of the public” to see more of the data Virginia is using to track COVID-19 across the commonwealth. “Ensuring the public gets this type of information is a critical part of the VDH’s job as a public health department,” Northam said. umbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths by locality and by health district. Northam said the health district data will include information related to race and ethnicity of the patients.
The Progress-Index
The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in Virginia law are forcing local governments to change the way they normally prepare for a presidential election. And with restrictions on gatherings, required public meetings are becoming difficult to manage.
Virginia Public Radio
In a marathon four-hour meeting April 13, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors heard from more than 60 speakers Monday night as it held a pair of controversial public hearings on the repeal of land use and a proposed 12.5-cent real estate tax hike. After it was all said and done, the board voted to adjourn the public hearing on land use until July 13. But first, the board heard from four citizens that had already requested to be called during Monday’s public hearing. Due to Governor Ralph Northam’s order of no public gatherings of more than 10 people because of the COVID-19 pandemic, both public hearings were held electronically Monday night and the meeting was livestreamed on the county’s YouTube channel. Before the land use public hearing, Supervisor Dr. Tom Littrell made a motion to continue that particular public hearing until July 13 when people could actually attend.
The Carroll News
Associated Press
The General Assembly will reconvene Wednesday in Richmond to consider Gov. Ralph Northam’s legislative recommendations, including proposals to move the date of the May municipal elections and changes to the budget. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the session will be unorthodox. Instead of meeting in the Capitol, the House of Delegates and Senate will meet nearly three miles apartin locations that will allow legislators to maintain distance between one another. The House will meet outside the Capitol building, and the Senate will gather at the Science Museum of Virginia.
The Roanoke Times
The Virginia Department of Health will release more granular information about confirmed coronavirus cases, including deaths, by locality instead of just by health district. Gov. Ralph S. Northam said in a briefing with reporters Monday that the decision to provide the additional data is in response to what he said was “the desire of the public” to see more of the data Virginia is using to track COVID-19 across the commonwealth. “Ensuring the public gets this type of information is a critical part of the VDH’s job as a public health department,” Northam said. umbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths by locality and by health district. Northam said the health district data will include information related to race and ethnicity of the patients.
The Progress-Index
The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in Virginia law are forcing local governments to change the way they normally prepare for a presidential election. And with restrictions on gatherings, required public meetings are becoming difficult to manage.
Virginia Public Radio
In a marathon four-hour meeting April 13, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors heard from more than 60 speakers Monday night as it held a pair of controversial public hearings on the repeal of land use and a proposed 12.5-cent real estate tax hike. After it was all said and done, the board voted to adjourn the public hearing on land use until July 13. But first, the board heard from four citizens that had already requested to be called during Monday’s public hearing. Due to Governor Ralph Northam’s order of no public gatherings of more than 10 people because of the COVID-19 pandemic, both public hearings were held electronically Monday night and the meeting was livestreamed on the county’s YouTube channel. Before the land use public hearing, Supervisor Dr. Tom Littrell made a motion to continue that particular public hearing until July 13 when people could actually attend.
The Carroll News
stories of national interest
Communities across the country are finding themselves in a bind as they try to pass urgent legislation to combat the coronavirus pandemic at the same time public meetings are impossible. Open-government advocates say many city councils, school boards and other governing bodies are failing at the task, holding meetings that are inaccessible to the public, rushing actions without proper deliberation and impeding access to public records.
Wall Street Journal
Even after the information was made public earlier this month by a science and technology magazine, a debate continues in the West Virginia Public Service Commission as to whether commissioners should make fully public a lengthy audit into state’s main landline provider. A third-party auditing firm completed its investigation into Frontier Communications and its two West Virginia subsidiaries in March, regarding the quality and management of the private company’s publicly regulated copper cable network for landline phones. Frontier also offers internet services using its copper network, a service that's not regulated by the state. Frontier attorneys submitted the audit confidentially to the PSC on March 18 and filed a redacted version for the public a week later.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
People asked to work during the pandemic have filed thousands of complaints regarding their exposure to the novel coronavirus and a lack of safeguards at their places of employment, according to records obtained under a Freedom of Information request. The employee complaints offer a snapshot of the fear experienced by the Americans compelled to work while the majority have been urged to stay at home, and they come from an array of workplaces: hospitals, construction, grocery stores, pharmacies, and shipping companies, among others. Collectively, the records depict the desperation of the employees as well as their frustrations with employers, who in the view of workers were at best simply unprepared for a pandemic and at worst unconcerned with worker safety.
The Boston Globe
Smugglers tried to breach President Trump’s border wall 18 times in the span of one month late last year, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post via a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showed the breaches were attempted between Sept. 27 and Oct. 27 in the San Diego area. Five of the 18 incidents occurred on a single day, Oct. 10, and the average cost of repair per breach attempt amounted to $620.
The Hill
Wall Street Journal
Even after the information was made public earlier this month by a science and technology magazine, a debate continues in the West Virginia Public Service Commission as to whether commissioners should make fully public a lengthy audit into state’s main landline provider. A third-party auditing firm completed its investigation into Frontier Communications and its two West Virginia subsidiaries in March, regarding the quality and management of the private company’s publicly regulated copper cable network for landline phones. Frontier also offers internet services using its copper network, a service that's not regulated by the state. Frontier attorneys submitted the audit confidentially to the PSC on March 18 and filed a redacted version for the public a week later.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
People asked to work during the pandemic have filed thousands of complaints regarding their exposure to the novel coronavirus and a lack of safeguards at their places of employment, according to records obtained under a Freedom of Information request. The employee complaints offer a snapshot of the fear experienced by the Americans compelled to work while the majority have been urged to stay at home, and they come from an array of workplaces: hospitals, construction, grocery stores, pharmacies, and shipping companies, among others. Collectively, the records depict the desperation of the employees as well as their frustrations with employers, who in the view of workers were at best simply unprepared for a pandemic and at worst unconcerned with worker safety.
The Boston Globe
Smugglers tried to breach President Trump’s border wall 18 times in the span of one month late last year, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post via a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showed the breaches were attempted between Sept. 27 and Oct. 27 in the San Diego area. Five of the 18 incidents occurred on a single day, Oct. 10, and the average cost of repair per breach attempt amounted to $620.
The Hill
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