Transparency News, 6/14/2022
Tuesday
June 14, 2022
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state & local news stories
"Chairman Musacchio has confirmed that each commissioner on the Board of NRHA is in agreement with Chairman Albert’s statement that HRV is not subject to FOIA, HRV will not voluntarily subject itself to all the implications of FOIA."
Hampton Roads Ventures, the subsidiary of Norfolk’s housing authority, has $43 million in tax credits that have not been assigned to projects, according to a federal report. A pandemic exception to the program’s stringent investment regulations means some of that money could go to a qualified Norfolk project, bypassing the hurdles to backing local projects that HRV representatives have detailed to city officials in recent months. Representatives of Hampton Roads Ventures have said they were willing to consider including a Norfolk project in their next application for tax credits in early 2023. But they failed to disclose the available allocations during extensive email exchanges with the City Attorney’s office and the Department of Economic Development. Those exchanges followed a series of stories by The Virginia Mercury that detailed how Hampton Roads Ventures has won $360 million of New Markets Tax Credits, but invested only a fraction of that in Norfolk. In another development, The Mercury asked the housing authority’s public relations head if the board of commissioners would subject HRV to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. The NRHA board is also the board of managers of Hampton Roads Ventures. They refused. “Chairman Musacchio has confirmed that each commissioner on the Board of NRHA is in agreement with Chairman Albert’s statement that HRV is not subject to FOIA, HRV will not voluntarily subject itself to all the implications of FOIA, and HRV and NRHA will both continue to cooperate with the City and provide relevant information and documentation to the City,” said the email reply from the authority. After last month’s City Council meeting, Mayor Kenneth Alexander said Hampton Roads Ventures records should be subject to the act.
Virginia Mercury
Virginia law enforcement agencies performed better than most of their counterparts across the country in reporting annual crime statistics to the FBI last year, according to data provided to Axios through a partnership with The Marshall Project. Nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies around the country, including departments in New York City and Los Angeles, did not submit any data in 2021. About 97% of police agencies in Virginia reported their crime data to the FBI last year, according to The Marshall Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. criminal justice watchdog. Reporting lapses elsewhere will still make it difficult to understand how crime rates in Virginia fit into nationwide patterns.
Axios Richmond
A genealogist in Fredericksburg has released the names of the families she will focus on for a research projecting identifying the oldest Black families in the city. Paula Royster’s “Reclaiming Our Time” project was launched in March and last week she announced the families who will receive extensive DNA testing and additional research support on their ancestry.Royster is the founder and CEO of the Center for African-American Genealogical Research. She’s also a published author who teaches coursework in humanities and social sciences. Fredericksburg City Council donated $5,000 to her project. She’s also received donations from churches and private citizens. She’s hopeful the final outcome is that the city will support an African-American Cultural Heritage Center, where Black people can conduct research on their lineage, watch documentaries on the places they originated and cultivate a community garden.
The Free Lance-Star
stories of national interest
"Families are beginning to fear that authorities will close the case and rely on the exception to the Texas Public Information law to block the release of any further information."
As public pressure mounts for more information on the deadly Uvalde school shooting, some are concerned that Texas officials will use a legal loophole to block records from being released — even to the victims' families — once the case is closed. In a letter received Thursday by The Associated Press and other media outlets, a law firm representing the City of Uvalde asked for the Texas attorney general's office to rule on records requested in relation to the shooting, citing 52 legal areas — including the section containing the loophole — that they believe exempt the records from being released. Amid the growing silence, lawyers and advocates for the victim's families are beginning to fear they may never get the answers, that authorities will close the case and rely on the exception to the Texas Public Information law to block the release of any further information. The law's exception protects information from being released in crimes for which no one has been convicted. The Texas Attorney General’s Office has ruled that it applies when a suspect is dead. Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old man who police say was responsible for the mass killing at Robb Elementary School, was fatally shot by law enforcement.
ABC News
