Amid the latest spending frenzy for top college football talent, a Northern Virginia legislator is calling for a study to determine how Virginia could bring transparency to student-athlete endorsement deals. The bill’s sponsor, Del. JJ Singh, D-Loudoun County, said that as a University of Virginia grad and a big Wahoo fan, he sees the benefits of name, image and likeness deals that give players a slice of the multimillion-dollar market for college sports. But Singh said the current NIL system has sown “confusion and instability.” “My bill simply creates a work group to help increase transparency and socialize best practices for all stakeholders,” he said in a statement texted to Cardinal News. … The schools say a “scholastic records” exemption in the state’s Freedom of Information Act allows them to withhold any record revenue-sharing agreements — even if names and other personal identifiable information are redacted. … The school’s unwillingness to provide more detailed information has led a sportswriter — acting without an attorney — to challenge Virginia Commonwealth University’s denial of a FOIA request. A hearing in the case is set for Jan. 27 in Richmond Circuit Court.

A court ordered the city of Williamsburg to turn over all documents between the city and a local developer for the termination of a controversial agreement to build townhouses on Strawberry Plains Road. … [Local resident Robert] Wilson asked for a copy of the termination agreement under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act last month, but was turned down by the city. City attorneys said it was exempt from the FOIA law under a clause that protects attorney work compiled specifically for use in litigation. … Judge Matthew D. Danielson, a 9th circuit judge sitting in on the case, ruled the city was unable to provide any case law to support its refusal to provide Wilson with the termination agreement. “It is a contract between the parties, and as such is not entitled to the disclosure exemption” in the FOIA law, the judge ruled.

The legal bills for Richmond’s efforts to fight a lawsuit filed by former city FOIA officer Connie Clay have risen to more than $633,000 after the private law firm handling the case filed seven months’ worth of invoices at the end of 2025. The lawsuit is broadly about transparency at City Hall, but the legal expenses in the Clay case have become a mini-controversy in their own right. Clay — who claims she was wrongfully fired in early 2024 in retaliation for speaking up about City Hall’s alleged failures to follow Virginia transparency laws — had been using the Freedom of Information Act to get copies of invoices filed by Ogletree Deakins, the outside law firm the city brought in to try to beat back her lawsuit. Ogletree attorney Jimmy F. Robinson Jr. objected to Clay’s use of public-records laws to gain insight into the city’s side of the case, and his firm stopped filing invoices with the city after May 31 of last year. In addition to preventing Clay and her attorneys from getting documents through FOIA, the invoice stoppage made it impossible for the press and the public to get real-time information on how much the litigation was costing taxpayers.

Smithfield’s Town Council postponed voting Jan. 6 on a draft policies and procedures manual after a member raised concerns about a provision pertaining to closed sessions. Town Manager Michael Stallings first presented the 43-page draft to the council in December. It spells out the date and time of the council’s regular meetings and work sessions, names Robert’s Rules of Order as the parliamentary procedure to be used during meetings and includes a code of ethics for council members. One provision of the code of ethics would require that members not disclose or use “confidential information without appropriate authorization,” including “discussions during executive or closed sessions and certain economic development information.” Councilman Darren Cutler questioned whether that provision conflicts with Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, which governs when government bodies are allowed to discuss business outside the view of the public.

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors on Thursday night approved rezoning the 3,500-acre Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill to its own designation, a move economic leaders say is necessary to lure industries bringing thousands of jobs. During the 2.5-hour joint session with the county’s planning commission, nearly two dozen residents voiced either worry about the process or support for it. … Ordinarily, things like this appear before the planning commission, allowing residents a chance to weigh in on the topic before that group makes a recommendation and then sends it to supervisors. The supervisors will get the matter a month later, offering another hearing before deciding the matter. This time, it was one meeting for all of that to happen.

Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett this week filed a motion to strike the recall petition filed against him by the town’s residents. The petition, filed against Nett as well as Mayor Christopher Bertaut, Council Member Carol Luke and Council Member Susan Khalil, was submitted in April 2025 amid concerns that the council majority was meeting privately and making decisions in private without public access or input from the remaining three members of council, and following the firing of former Town Manager Rick Bremseth without a stated cause. … In a Jan. 12 filing, Nett’s attorney, Jennifer McGovern, filed a motion to strike Olsen’s submission listing the details of his case as well as the petition itself. McGovern argues that State Code requires that the grounds for removal must be present in the petition signed by voters and that Olsen’s allegations, filed in a bill of particulars, ignore allegations listed in the petition and assert new grounds for removal. The removal petition stated four grounds for removal: violation of the Freedom of Information Act, incompetence and routinely neglecting to seek expert advice from town staff, misuse of office by conspiring with other council members to fire Bremseth and appoint Fraser and holding discussion not properly announced to the public beforehand, and neglect of duty and conflicts of interest regarding Nett’s actions as a council member and police officer. In turn, the Bill of Particulars lists seven grounds for removal. … In her filing, McGovern said those allegations were “vague, conclusory, and fail to put Mr. Nett on notice of the claims against him.”