Transparency News, 10/28/21

A 10-year-old girl who died of coronavirus complications was not accompanying classmates with COVID-19 symptoms to the nurse before she got sick, a school division representative said. But Teresa’s parents, Jeff and Nicole Sperry, question how thoroughly school officials looked into it. Jeff Sperry said the day his daughter told him about her classroom job, she had mentioned she took two children to the nurse that day — not one. Where Teresa got the virus is still unclear. Citing privacy reasons, Brookie Crawford, a health department spokeswoman, declined to confirm that a contact-tracing investigation had been conducted or if the agency knew where she had been exposed.
The Virginian-Pilot

The federal agency that oversees public housing rejected the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s annual plan submission for the second time in three years. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cited fair housing concerns, complaints from RRHA residents with disabilities and its redevelopment plans, according to a Sept. 30 letter HUD sent RRHA, which the Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained this month through a Freedom of Information Act request. As a result of the rejection, RRHA must hold another round of public comment on its amended plan before resubmitting it.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Secrecy was the watchword in 1926-1927 in the early days of the relationship between philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Bruton Parish Church, as they worked on the concept of the restoration of 18th century Williamsburg. Not only was Rockefeller’s involvement kept a secret from the citizens of Williamsburg, but it was also a secret even from his staff in New York City, according to Francis T. Christy, a young New York attorney hired to come to Williamsburg to find out for Rockefeller exactly what had been purchased.
The Virginia Gazette

Seven people shared their opinions and asked questions about a process that would change the independent City of Martinsville into a town within Henry County during a public hearing regarding the voluntary settlement agreement (VSA) between Martinsville and Henry County, Tuesday in council chambers before a half-filled room. Earlier that day the Henry County Board of Supervisors held a meeting where they planned a similar public hearing for next month. “It’s never enough for a Christian to do the right thing. It must also be done the right way,” said J.C. Richardson Jr., the pastor of Mt. Sinai Church in Martinsville. “This was way too exclusive and way too private. Because you can doesn’t mean that you should. Would we be here if not mandated to do so?”
Martinsville Bulletin

A Culpeper town councilman resigned Wednesday, effective immediately, from his post after sexually vulgar comments linked to him surfaced online about a fellow council member. Councilman Keith Brown, a state probation officer elected in 2019, denied he made the post on the Facebook page of Councilwoman Jamie Clancey in which she was called a “hooker” and stated she didn’t wear undergarments to council meetings. In an email to the Star-Exponent and Mayor Mike Olinger, Brown said his social media accounts were infected with a virus, rendering them inoperable due to “relentless attacks” against him due to his membership in the Culpeper County Republican Committee. The Star-Exponent confronted the councilman about the post earlier Wednesday outside of a committee meeting in the Economic Development Center. Brown refused comment and walked away, but did not deny making the post at that time. Clancey, a local mom to school-age children and board president of Services to Abused Families, filed a written complaint against Brown earlier this week alleging a violation of the council code of ethics for the post that was published Monday.
Culpeper Star-Exponent

Newly obtained images of deteriorating conditions inside a Richmond apartment complex that prompted city officials to shut it down. Residents at Grace Place Apartments were told last Friday to leave because it’s no longer safe to live there. It turns out these problems didn’t happen overnight. City documents show apartment managers were told back in August there were a series of violations that needed to be resolved right away. When they weren’t, some two months later, inspectors took quick action. City inspection records show that inspectors found rooms and stairwells damaged by water leaking from the roof back in August. In fact, the entire 11th floor has been declared unsafe due to severe leaking. Authorities say they even found standing water on the floor.
WWBT

 

 

 

The identities of two police officers who shot and killed a 17-year-old boy over the weekend are being withheld under a law intended to protect crime victims. The officers, as well as five others who were at the scene but didn’t fire their guns, invoked their right to remain anonymous under Marsy’s Law, an amendment to the state constitution, Tarpon Springs, Florida, police Maj. Frank Ruggiero said Friday. Marsy’s Law was approved by Florida voters in 2018 with the intent to protect the identity of crime victims, among other rights. Some law enforcement agencies began using it to withhold names of officers who used force on the job, saying the events leading up to the force, such as someone pointing a gun, made the officer a crime victim. Proponents of the interpretation said that police officers should be treated like any other victim. But critics, including some law enforcement leaders, said it erodes transparency and trust in the police.
Tampa Bay Times

U.S. Senate Republicans grilled Attorney General Merrick Garland for more than four hours on Wednesday about a Justice Department investigation into threats made to local school board members in multiple states. Garland at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing declined to revoke a memo he wrote asking the FBI to meet with local law enforcement to look into threats, intimidation and harassment directed at school officials, teachers, administrators and staff. He told the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, that the Oct. 4 DOJ memo — which followed an appeal for help from the National School Boards Association—only responds to “concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct.” “All it asks is for federal law enforcement to consult with, meet with local law enforcement to assess the circumstances, strategize about what may or may not be necessary to provide federal assistance,” he said. But Grassley and other senators during the oversight hearing repeatedly pressed Garland to renounce the memo and accused DOJ of relying on the school boards group to characterize parents as domestic terrorists, although his memo did not mention terrorism.
Virginia Mercury

Parents in one Kentucky school district must communicate with their school board via email after a meeting devolved into a shouting match. In northern Virginia, school officials restricted who is eligible to speak at their meetings. A Florida school board is considering shortening public comment to one minute per person. School leaders nationwide are beginning to eye ways to rein in public commentary at local meetings in an effort to quell raucous crowds over hot-button issues like mask mandates and critical race theory. The potential changes could add more strain between school boards and the public they serve, a domain that has emerged as a fierce culture war battleground amid the coronavirus. School boards in Florida counties like Brevard, Orange and Sarasota are also floating ideas to tinker with public comment as a way to lower the tensions and shorten the length of contentious meetings.
Politico