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Get your tickets to VCOG's Media Awards Luncheon, Nov. 18, in Richmond. Early-bird prices last until the end of this week!
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Durham School Services said a company representative will address the Roanoke School Board on Tuesday amid scrutiny of its performance. School board members had tasked the company last month with creating a plan to better communicate with parents and guardians affected by late buses. The company, in its first year as transportation provider for Roanoke City Public Schools, has faced public criticism for its performance. Meanwhile, Durham sent Roanoke its first invoices on Sept. 23 and Sept. 30. The bills — totaling approximately $545,000 — only cover August and include nine regular school days, midday runs, after-school activities and a day of summer school and orientation. The charges also include daily fees for bus aides and about $10,000 in startup costs. The Roanoke Times received a copy of the invoices through a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request.
The Roanoke Times
A Southwest Virginia family seeking answers in a fatal 2018 officer-involved shooting has asked a court to demand that the Washington County Sheriff’s Office turn over records. Phillip Cameron Gibson II, 37, of Castlewood, died on May 8, 2018, in Glade Spring, following a lengthy pursuit that began in Abingdon. After the shooting, the Virginia State Police began investigating and turned the findings over to Washington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Josh Cumbow, who cleared the officers of any wrongdoing within two weeks. Since then, the family has sought body-cam and dash-cam video footage of the shooting to try to clarify questions they have. Sheriff Fred Newman has refused to release the records, even after the family filed an official request under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. On Tuesday, Michelle Castle, Gibson’s sister, filed a petition for mandamus in Washington County Circuit Court. A mandamus is a court order to a government entity requiring it to take some specific act. In this case, Castle is asking the court to order the Sheriff’s Office to release the video in the shooting. The Sheriff’s Office “has failed to provide [Castle] records relating to the traffic stop and officer-involved shooting” of Gibson after Castle made a request under FOIA, the petition states.
Bristol Herald Courier
An understaffed clerk’s office in fast-growing Prince William County may have created a perfect storm for lawyers and others who had to navigate that courthouse in recent years. Multiple complaints about delays, errors and unhelpful staff suggest what can happen when clerks lack money to fill needed positions. Lawyers used an online forum to share complaints among themselves, according to attorneys Virginia Lawyers Weekly contacted. The forum, managed by the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, is not open to the public or media. But a few lawyers willingly spoke about the issues or provided copies of court records. Lawyers are not the only ones who noticed problems at the Prince William GDC clerk’s office. Clerks’ offices in Virginia are audited by the state Auditor of Public Accounts. In the most recent audit, reported on April 19, a repeated problem was discovered with voided transactions, which pose a risk for fraud. In four of 12 voided receipts tested, the clerk did not retain all copies. Two of the voided receipts lacked proper documentation about the reason for the voided transaction. The findings for voided transactions were precisely the same in an audit the year before.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Seven new defendants and $4 million were added Friday to the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority’s civil lawsuit that alleges a series of embezzlements and financial misappropriations during the tenure Jennifer McDonald, the authority’s former executive director. Two of McDonald’s family members, her husband Samuel D. North and her mother Linda Hassenplug, were added to the lawsuit. Little Rugratz Daycare LLC, which is registered to Hassenplug, was another new defendant, along with former EDA administrative assistant Michelle “Missy” Henry and former B&G Goods store owner William Lambert. The lawsuit states that Henry’s duties at the EDA included the “review and retention of” EDA records and she “breached her duty" by "either deliberately or negligently [failing] to detect and report the variety of frauds and schemes undertaken” by McDonald. It adds that Henry is believed to have “benefited from these acts.”
The Northern Virginia Daily
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