Transparency News, 4/27/2022

Wednesday
April 27, 2022

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state & local news stories

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The Town of Front Royal has been directed by a magistrate judge to disclose its communications with its retained attorney on an investigation into harassment claims made by a former town clerk after the former clerk’s motion to compel was granted in part. Additional communications from the attorney regarding advice on the clerk’s termination was deemed to be protected by attorney-client privilege and is not part of the information ordered to be disclosed. The case stemmed from a discrimination, retaliation and harassment case brought by Jennifer Berry Brown. She alleged that, while employed as clerk to the town council, a council member repeatedly sexually harassed her beginning in early 2017. It continued unabated into 2018 and 2019.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly

The judge assigned to preside over a pair of recall cases involving Loudoun County School Board members has appointed a special prosecutor in one of the cases, according to court records. Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. appointed City of Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joseph Platania, D, or his designee, shortly after being designated to hear the recall petitions against School Board members Brenda Sheridan, Sterling District, and Atoosa Reaser, Algonkian District, records state. Platania will serve as the prosecutor in the Reaser case after Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, D, advised the court during a telephone conference that she would be recusing herself from t

he Reaser case, according to an April 19 court order.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

Keeping children safe at school is at the top of most parents’ priority lists — Virginia is taking steps to help first responders quickly defuse a major emergency at a school. A newly signed Virginia law, House Bill 741, introduced by Del. Robert Bell, a Republican, requires school boards to create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building. The floor plan would be part of the annual public elementary and secondary school safety audit, which is an internal document developed by a school system with local law enforcement. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has announced more than $6.5 million in funding is available for school systems to create digital maps that can be easily shared between school administrators and first responders on a cellphone or laptop.
WTOP

stories of national interest

Irvington Township (New Jersey) has dropped its lawsuit against a senior citizen who had been accused of harassing town employees by filing too many requests under the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The I-Team was first to report on the unusual legal complaint, in which Irvington’s municipal government accused Elouise McDaniel, 82, of seeking a “burdensome” number of records and writing “frivolous letters and complaints” to state and federal agencies.  In court documents, Irvington argued McDaniel’s requests and letters were sent “without reasonable basis or cause, were otherwise meritless or frivolous and were done maliciously and with the sole purpose and intent to harass, abuse and harm Plaintiffs and the employees of the Township, including its Mayor.” Though Mayor Tony Vauss said he was unaware of the lawsuit’s origin, he did express agreement with the complaint’s contention that McDaniel’s record requests and complaints to state agencies have been malicious in nature.  Now that the lawsuit has been dropped, McDaniel said she plans to continue using New Jersey’s OPRA law to keep tabs on Vauss and other Irvington leaders.
NBC4
 

editorials & columns

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Public access goes by many names: community television and media, PEG (public, educational and government access), access television and more. It refers to a type of grassroots medium of free speech that traces its roots back to the civil rights movement and beyond. It is typically a media operation consisting of television production facilities, channels and equipment mandated by local governments as part of cable franchise agreements. The public’s access to these facilities is usually free or for a nominal fee. The programming mainly reaches narrow audiences, and the content ranges from neighborhood-based news to zany vanity video shows. But at its best, it animates the community and provides programming diversity. Down through the years, cable companies have waged a fierce battle to eliminate public access funding requirements, even though they have always passed the costs on to subscribers. All this turmoil raises important questions: Is the public interest protected when cities take over or close public access operations and channels? Do public access channels still add value for program diversity and freedom of speech? And is public access to cable even needed in today’s digital times?
Jabari Simama, Governing