Transparency News, 12/10/21

The city of Richmond has paid nearly $300,000 to people who filed lawsuits alleging police misconduct during civil unrest in the summer of 2020, a figure that could increase as settlement negotiations continue. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by 8News, Richmond's senior assistant city attorney confirmed on Dec. 7 that the city "has to date paid a total of $297,627.92 to claimants" who filed civil lawsuits stemming from encounters between protesters and Richmond police officers.
WRIC

Ongoing tensions at King William County Public School Board meetings over wearing masks have resulted in no trespassing notices being issued against two members of the public, banning them from school property. Schools Superintendent David White confirmed two unnamed members of the public were issued “no trespassing” notices that keep them away from monthly School Board meetings in the Hamilton-Holmes Middle School Atrium and other school properties. One member of the public called for the School Board to resign over the no trespassing orders at the Nov. 16 school board meeting. She branded the action “immoral and unAmerican.”
Tidewater Review

 

A federal appeals court has denied former President Donald Trump's bid to block the release of some of his White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The unanimous ruling from the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court's decision that a tranche of Trump White House records can be provided to the Democratic-led committee. "On the record before us, former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden's judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents," Judge Patricia Millett wrote in the ruling. "Both Branches agree that there is a unique legislative need for these documents and that they are directly relevant to the Committee's inquiry into an attack on the Legislative Branch and its constitutional role in the peaceful transfer of power." The court said it will leave in place its temporary block on releasing the documents for 14 days to allow Trump time to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, as the former president's attorneys have signaled they intend to do.
NPR

UNC-Chapel Hill trustees selected astronomy professor Christopher Clemens on Thursday as the new executive vice chancellor and provost for the university, starting Feb. 1. He will be the university’s second in command behind the chancellor. In the meeting, which was held mostly in closed session, trustees voted on three action items related to personnel that were not publicly disclosed at the time. Each trustee voted yes on the items, with the exception of Student Body President Lamar Richards. He voted no on the first item, which was the provost hire, and abstained from voting on the other two items, which were administrative salary changes.
The News & Observer

A California judge gave the initial green light to a settlement requiring the Oakland Police Department to comply with the California Public Records Act (PRA) and release documents to a class of journalists and activists whose public records requests languished for years in a colossal backlog. The settlement requires it to clear its backlog of California Public Records Act requests within six months and release all records related to police shootings and misconduct within 15 months, with disclosures on a rolling basis every two weeks. The misconduct records fall under Senate Bill 1421, a law that mandates the disclosure of public records on police shootings, use of excessive force and confirmed cases of lying and sexual assault by on-duty officers under the California Public Records Act.
Courthouse News

 

 

When Stephanie Minor’s autistic 9-year-old daughter was involved in an incident on a Prince William County school bus, Minor – as any mom would – tried to obtain a copy of the video so she could see for herself what happened. She filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the school system – and was told she would have to pay over $8,000 for the two-minute snippet. The school system finally lowered the cost to $2,500, which an advocate paid on Minor’s behalf. But the outrageous fee demand – along with other, similar cases across Virginia – prompted Prince William Del. Danica Roem, D-13th, to seek legislation that partly restricts what local and state governments can charge the public to fulfill FOIA requests. Let’s keep in mind what we are talking about. The salary of the school bus driver involved in the incident is paid by Prince William taxpayers. The school bus itself – purchased by Prince William taxpayers. The video camera installed in the bus – yep, that, too, was bought and paid for by county taxpayers. Every official who reviewed the video has his or her salary paid by county taxpayers. In short, taxpayers have already paid for the information. Accessing it shouldn’t cost us more money. By the way, it seems the most expensive part of fulfilling many FOIA requests is the time spent reviewing material to determine whether any of Virginia’s more than 200 (yes, 200!) exclusions and exemptions can be used to withhold all or part of the information. Local and state governments successfully lobbied for many of those exemptions – and now they want to charge for applying them.
InsideNoVa