Transparency News, 8/18/21
Tuesday
August 17, 2021
August 17, 2021
There was no newsletter Tuesday, Aug. 17.
state & local news stories
The FOIA Council's subcommittee on meetings will meet Thursday, August 26 at 1:00 pm in Senate Room A of the Pocahontas Building in Richmond.
The FOIA Council's subcommittee on records will meet Thursday, September 2 at 1:00 pm in Senate Room A of the Pocahontas Building in Richmond.
Click here for agendas and supporting materials as they're added.
On July 1, the Virginia Department of Health stopped reporting the specific locations of COVID-19 outbreaks – including school districts. But that decision has been questioned as outbreaks crop up in schools, and a spokesperson for the governor says they’ll begin reporting that information again. Last year, a new law passed that required VDH to report the locations of COVID-19 outbreaks: not just in schools and summer camps, but in medical care and residential or day program facilities. This came after public outcry over VDH’s resistance to release the names of nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks last summer. Under pressure, Governor Ralph Northam ordered VDH to release the names. But because the legislation was tied to the Governor’s State of Emergency orders that expired on July 1, VDH is claiming they no longer have “the statutory authority to release this information, unless [Health] Commissioner Oliver makes an exception.” Megan Rhyne, executive director for the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, disagrees with VDH’s decision to stop reporting this information and especially now, as COVID cases increase. “Because, clearly, the legislature did make a policy call to say we think this kind of information is important,” Rhyne said. “So why not honor that spirit of the legislation and go ahead and release it?”
VPM
Faced with heeding an emergency order from the governor or leaning on the advice of their superintendent, the four remaining Craig County School Board members on Tuesday widened a legal loophole, making it easier for mask-averse parents to send their kids to school without wearing them. School Board members Gina Smith, George Foster, Trace Bellassai and Faye Powers had voted against a state-recommended student mask mandate during a work session last week, and that was the breaking point for chairwoman Susan Crenshaw, she said the next day, while tendering her resignation. “I cannot support this position, nor the direction this board seems to be taking,” Crenshaw said during an Aug. 10 board meeting, after the first day of school let out. “Partisan politics have no place in public education.”
The Roanoke Times
The most revealing moment of the Virginia Redistricting Commission’s meeting Tuesday may have come during a bathroom break. With microphones still on and broadcasting to a live stream, Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, huddled with Democratic citizen commissioner Brandon Hutchins, who seemed concerned the commission was setting itself up for public blowback by not living up to its promise of a fairer redistricting process. “They are going to bomb us for this,” Hutchins said. “Actually, they won’t,” said Barker. “It’s actually a fairly small segment of the public that is working on this issue. … There’ll be some complaints here and there. There always are.”
Virginia Mercury
The man who found himself splashed across TV screens and newspaper pages, being dragged from the Loudoun County School Board meeting with a bloody lip and in handcuffs, on Tuesday was found guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Scott Smith was dragged to the ground by county deputies as tempers flared at the June 22 School Board meeting, egged on by protests against new state-mandated protections for transgender students. According to testimony in the Aug. 17 District Court trial, Smith was arrested during an argument with a woman for whose daughter Smith’s wife had been a Girl Scout leader. Deputies dragged him to the ground, then outside, where he continued struggling and arguing with them, threatening to kick their teeth out. He was taken to the Adult Detention Center and charged with the two misdemeanors. “I look at that and I go, why would anybody want to be on a School Board?” said Judge Thomas J. Kelley, Jr., a retired judge who ruled on the case.
LoudounNow
A Frederick County Circuit Court judge has denied Florida-based L3Harris Technologies’ lawsuit against the Frederick County government over its decision to award a contract for a new public safety radio system to a different company. L3Harris was one of four vendors that responded to the county’s request for proposals (RFP) to replace its aging public safety radio system. The company's lawsuit stated that, under the terms of the RFP issued in March 2020, the contract was to be awarded to “the lowest responsive and responsible bidder” and that L3Harris offered the lowest price. The suit also states the committee scored the proposals on a 100-point scale, but solicitation documents failed to inform L3Harris that the county would use a numerical scoring system. EF Johnson received a score of 80, Motorola received 81 and 80 and L3Harris scored 78. L3Harris claimed the scoring system was “unlawful” under the Virginia Public Procurement Act because the county did not reveal it in the solicitation or publicly available documents. The company added that even if a numerical scoring system was permissible, the county’s application of it was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Winchester Star
The FOIA Council's subcommittee on records will meet Thursday, September 2 at 1:00 pm in Senate Room A of the Pocahontas Building in Richmond.
Click here for agendas and supporting materials as they're added.
On July 1, the Virginia Department of Health stopped reporting the specific locations of COVID-19 outbreaks – including school districts. But that decision has been questioned as outbreaks crop up in schools, and a spokesperson for the governor says they’ll begin reporting that information again. Last year, a new law passed that required VDH to report the locations of COVID-19 outbreaks: not just in schools and summer camps, but in medical care and residential or day program facilities. This came after public outcry over VDH’s resistance to release the names of nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks last summer. Under pressure, Governor Ralph Northam ordered VDH to release the names. But because the legislation was tied to the Governor’s State of Emergency orders that expired on July 1, VDH is claiming they no longer have “the statutory authority to release this information, unless [Health] Commissioner Oliver makes an exception.” Megan Rhyne, executive director for the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, disagrees with VDH’s decision to stop reporting this information and especially now, as COVID cases increase. “Because, clearly, the legislature did make a policy call to say we think this kind of information is important,” Rhyne said. “So why not honor that spirit of the legislation and go ahead and release it?”
VPM
Faced with heeding an emergency order from the governor or leaning on the advice of their superintendent, the four remaining Craig County School Board members on Tuesday widened a legal loophole, making it easier for mask-averse parents to send their kids to school without wearing them. School Board members Gina Smith, George Foster, Trace Bellassai and Faye Powers had voted against a state-recommended student mask mandate during a work session last week, and that was the breaking point for chairwoman Susan Crenshaw, she said the next day, while tendering her resignation. “I cannot support this position, nor the direction this board seems to be taking,” Crenshaw said during an Aug. 10 board meeting, after the first day of school let out. “Partisan politics have no place in public education.”
The Roanoke Times
The most revealing moment of the Virginia Redistricting Commission’s meeting Tuesday may have come during a bathroom break. With microphones still on and broadcasting to a live stream, Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, huddled with Democratic citizen commissioner Brandon Hutchins, who seemed concerned the commission was setting itself up for public blowback by not living up to its promise of a fairer redistricting process. “They are going to bomb us for this,” Hutchins said. “Actually, they won’t,” said Barker. “It’s actually a fairly small segment of the public that is working on this issue. … There’ll be some complaints here and there. There always are.”
Virginia Mercury
The man who found himself splashed across TV screens and newspaper pages, being dragged from the Loudoun County School Board meeting with a bloody lip and in handcuffs, on Tuesday was found guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Scott Smith was dragged to the ground by county deputies as tempers flared at the June 22 School Board meeting, egged on by protests against new state-mandated protections for transgender students. According to testimony in the Aug. 17 District Court trial, Smith was arrested during an argument with a woman for whose daughter Smith’s wife had been a Girl Scout leader. Deputies dragged him to the ground, then outside, where he continued struggling and arguing with them, threatening to kick their teeth out. He was taken to the Adult Detention Center and charged with the two misdemeanors. “I look at that and I go, why would anybody want to be on a School Board?” said Judge Thomas J. Kelley, Jr., a retired judge who ruled on the case.
LoudounNow
A Frederick County Circuit Court judge has denied Florida-based L3Harris Technologies’ lawsuit against the Frederick County government over its decision to award a contract for a new public safety radio system to a different company. L3Harris was one of four vendors that responded to the county’s request for proposals (RFP) to replace its aging public safety radio system. The company's lawsuit stated that, under the terms of the RFP issued in March 2020, the contract was to be awarded to “the lowest responsive and responsible bidder” and that L3Harris offered the lowest price. The suit also states the committee scored the proposals on a 100-point scale, but solicitation documents failed to inform L3Harris that the county would use a numerical scoring system. EF Johnson received a score of 80, Motorola received 81 and 80 and L3Harris scored 78. L3Harris claimed the scoring system was “unlawful” under the Virginia Public Procurement Act because the county did not reveal it in the solicitation or publicly available documents. The company added that even if a numerical scoring system was permissible, the county’s application of it was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Winchester Star
stories from around the country
The cost to produce Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.'s 2021 State of the City virtual broadcast was at least $10,000 more than the original sum reflected in records the city provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The quasi-independent Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission, which oversees the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau and downtown venues, billed the mayor's office roughly $10,446 for the production, records show. An invoice from the Advertising and Promotion Commission was omitted from the records provided to the newspaper this spring pursuant to a FOIA request. The invoice and related documents were initially obtained from the Advertising and Promotion Commission via a separate FOIA request. Expense records provided to the Democrat-Gazette this spring were detailed in an April 25 story about the 2021 State of the City broadcast. Those records showed that the city paid at least $3,225 for the virtual event.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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