Transparency News, 9/15/21

The Rockingham County School Board was able to get through a meeting for the first time in a month Monday. The meeting was held at the Rockingham County Administration Center, which is not a school building, therefore those in attendance could choose whether to be masked or unmasked. The crowd was also calm and behaved for the first time in months. Only three people chose to speak and did so in a respectful manner.
Daily News Record

 

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Criminal cases should be open to the public, including members of the news media, unless there is clear and compelling evidence that it would violate the constitutional rights of the accused. Yet, in the case involving a man charged with killing a Newport News police officer, those petitioning to bar reporters from the court appear to be doing so as a matter of convenience, not of necessity. That should alarm every citizen of Virginia who believes that justice should be administered in public — to protect the rights of the accused and make certain that judicial proceedings receive the scrutiny needed to ensure a fair and impartial application of the law. Prohibiting the news media should be the option of last resort. It is an extreme action, one that would violate the First Amendment, raise questions about the impartial application of the law and call the proceedings into question.
The Virginian-Pilot