Transparency News 10/7/14

Tuesday, October 7, 2014  

VCOG's Annual Conference is November 14 in Roanoke. This is VCOG's main fundraising event of the year. In addition to registrations/attendance, we need friends and sponsors. Our goal is $7,500 and we have quite a ways to go. Every bit helps. Soplease donate today.


State and Local Stories

York County's Board of Supervisors is considering changing how it applies the state's Freedom of Information Act, including increasing fees for copies of the county's zoning ordinance and Yorktown design guidelines. FOIA gives residents access to public records and will be discussed during the board's work session at 6 p.m. Tuesday at York Hall, according to board's agenda. County Administrator James O. McReynolds and staff have recommended making permanent the county's current practice of not charging members of the public for the first 15 minutes of staff time to retrieve and copy materials or for copying the first five pages of public information. After that, under the changes being considered, copies will be 2 cents a page and staff members' time will be accounted for and charged separately. Proposed changes to the board's FOIA policy include providing the county's comprehensive plan in CD format only for $10 instead of in hard copy format for $50. The county administrator also proposes charging $80 instead of $20 for a hard copy of the county's zoning ordinance. A CD copy of the county's zoning ordinance would cost $10, according to the memorandum. Hard copies of the Yorktown design guidelines would cost $22 instead of $10 and CD copies would cost $10.
Daily Press

National Stories

A new policy established by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections will severly restrict the media’s ability to witness state executions. The new rules, which went into effect September 30, cut the number of media witnesses at any given execution from 12 to five, and give state officials discretion to close the viewing room or remove witnesses from the facility altogether if the condemned remains conscious five minutes into the lethal injection procedure. The department already is facing a federal lawsuit that alleges its previous policies were too restrictive. Two news organizations — The Oklahoma Observer and Guardian US — along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Oklahoma, sued the department in August following the mismanaged execution of Clayton Lockett, which took nearly two hours and during which officials closed the blinds to the viewing room.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
 

Editorials/Columns

Sure, some of those seeking reelection are talented officials who take the people's business seriously. But even these men and women would be served by conducting a campaign, being out with voters, defending their records and engaging in a debate of ideas and policies. That does not happen under our present system of redistricting in Virginia. The process is too partisan, too secretive and too protective of incumbents. Communities are routinely and randomly divided among districts based on voter demographics when they would be better served by speaking with a unified voice.
Daily Press