“Richmond City Council is on notice,” Gabe Walters said. “Its public comment policy violates the First Amendment.” On Thursday afternoon, Walters, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, confirmed that the civil liberties nonprofit has taken an interest in the case of Aurora Britt, who on Sept. 14 was ejected from a City Council meeting for clapping. Britt was attending the meeting to speak against Flock, the controversial automatic license plate reader cameras that have dominated headlines in recent months. After another speaker similarly opposed the devices, she “clapped like four times” to show support — and was subsequently “escorted out by a cop and the head of City Hall’s security,” she later told the Times-Dispatch. “I believe that you have been advised that clapping is not an acceptable component of the public comment uhhh speaker, okay?” City Council President Cynthia Newbille said at the time of Britt’s ejection. Newbille has not responded to any of the Times-Dispatch’s several inquiries on the body’s public comment policies.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors pick for a Planning Commission seat raised some questions over the two candidates’ qualifications. Supervisors voted 3-2 on Sept. 22 in favor of appointing David Harrison to the Fork District seat on the Planning Commission. Amber Martin also applied and interviewed for the appointment. Supervisors were poised to appoint Harrison, the sole applicant at the time, at their Sept. 15 meeting. Martin submitted her application on Sept. 14, according to the document recently made public. … Paul Barnhart Jr.’s resignation came as a surprise to some members of the community who said they were neither made aware of the vacancy nor the opportunity to apply for the appointment, Supervisor John W. Stanmeyer said at the Sept. 15 meeting. Events after Barnhart’s resignation prompted county staff to review the process by which the board fills committee vacancies to increase communication with the public. … Former Fork District Supervisor Vicky L. Cook states in a post on a Front Royal community Facebook group on Monday that she received the applications from each person through a Freedom of Information Act request. Cook provided links to the applications available to the public on the county’s FOIA request database. Cook also advised viewers to consider the applicants’ experience, qualifications, volunteer work and community involvement. “Decide for yourself if the board’s 3-2 vote truly reflected the most qualified choice for the Fork District,” Cook states in her post.

The Winchester Gazette, a news website covering this city of 28,000 people in the Shenandoah Valley, calls itself “a publication committed to reporting the truth.” But city leaders, residents, newsmakers and a former reporter say the truth about the Gazette is a mystery. The Gazette launched in August 2023, after Winchester had been losing local news resources for years. It immediately announced that it would follow a “no byline policy,” claiming that this would give its reporters protection from undue influence. For three years, the Gazette has appeared to be a local news outlet. It files stories online about crime, government meetings and community events. But the website has never publicly identified its writers, staff, owners or source of funding. City officials say they’ve never met a person identified as a Gazette reporter at a public event. … An investigation by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO has uncovered details about the Gazette’s operations and management. Public records requests and interviews with more than 30 people about the Gazette’s reporting and business practices have revealed measures making it difficult to identify the site’s ownership, employees, and its editorial decision-making.