Transparency News, 6/29/21

A new assistant administrator in Pittsylvania County will spearhead the implementation of a geographic information system program aimed to put more data in the hands of residents. Specifically Arnold will be tasked to launch the geographic information system. That program should come online by late summer or early fall to allow residents an online way to find things like the nearest convenience centers or which fire and EMS district they live in. “Geography is at the heart of just about every single dataset maintained by government agencies,” Arnold said in a news releases. “That’s why it’s helpful to have a geographic mindset when looking at the county, both in terms of how the county relates to other localities as well as how different areas within the County relate to each other.”
Register & Bee

From Clarendon bars to crowded gyms, unmasked store clerks to house parties, Arlingtonians asked the county to investigate more than 1,000 reported cases of COVID-19 non-compliance. The reports came in through a form that Arlington County launched last year to report lax social distancing and masking. ARLnow obtained the full list of reported instances from a resident who acquired the list with a Freedom of Information request. After removing incomplete or abusive requests, about 1,175 remained. Of those, around 200 were filed in 2021, with the rest — just shy of 1,000 — filed in 2020. Some used the hotline to complain that their liberties were being violated. A few dozen comments accused the county government of being “Nazis,” “the Gestapo” and “snitches.” “Stop encouraging people to turn on each other,” one person wrote. “God forbid people live their life,” wrote another.
ARLnow

 

 

 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa cities and other local governments had to find new ways for citizens to participate in public meetings that were largely held electronically. As many Iowa cities prepare to return to in-person public meetings, public access is evolving again. In Des Moines, officials are looking at curtailing in-person public participation in the wake of volatile response to controversial issues. Other Iowa cities are exploring several options, Iowa League of Cities Executive Director Alan Kemp said. Because different communities have different needs, he said some cities are eliminating online options, while others are trying to utilize what they’ve learned from the pandemic.
Iowa Capital Dispatch

In interview, outgoing member of the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission: "It’s the old saying, 'Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Generally, people in power don’t like transparency and disclosure about things they’re involved in. I think that’s more human than it is political. They don’t want the public to know about their financial matters. They don’t want the public to know about where potential conflicts might arise. Sometimes there are not conflicts, but they don’t want to have to explain that to the public. And I get that. But that’s the price you pay, I believe, for serving the public. Because to have an informed public, which is the basis of our democracy, we need to have transparency and disclosure. And there is no compromise on that, as far as I’m concerned."
Wild West newsletter, on Substack
 

These are harrowing times for journalists. It’s not simply the financial pressure squeezing and rearranging numerous aspects of the industry, but acts of violence, threats and intimidation, arrests and criminal charges that American journalists face for merely doing their jobs. Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists indicates, “at least 110 journalists were arrested or criminally charged in relation to their reporting, and around 300 journalists were assaulted in 2020, the majority by law enforcement.” Already in 2021, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has identified 49 journalist arrests, 73 assaults, 22 who had equipment damaged and seven journalists or news organizations subpoenaed, a pressure tactic used to force journalists to reveal sources. While politics has ratcheted up the rhetoric and prominent figures — former President Donald Trump, in particular — have fomented violence against the journalists, understand that these attacks come from across the political spectrum.
The Virginian-Pilot