Transparency News, 12/23/20

Beaver Hills Golf Course in Collinsville will not be transformed into a solar farm. That was the final word from the Henry County Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday when its members unanimously denied a special-use permit requested by the owners and prospective developers who were seeking to convert the 75-year-old golf course into a 120-acre solar facility that would have produced enough power to supply 4,000 homes. Lee Clark, the county’s director of planning, zoning and inspection, began the meeting by asking James Trull Jr., a supporter for the Beaver Hills Golf Course, to leave. “Sir, since you’re not actually the applicant or the party that’s the tenant or leasee, according to the governor’s order, we can only have 10 people, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Clark said. “I’ve got your comments and will be reading them.” Clark already had issued notice that no public comments would be taken during the meeting because of the COVID-19 requirements and anyone wishing to make comment would need to either leave a voicemail with his office or send an email.
Martinsville Bulletin

Southampton County Supervisor Christopher D. Cornwell Sr. and Southampton County Public Schools (SCPS) Superintendent Dr. Gwendolyn Shannon were scheduled to meet in county district court Dec. 18. He had her served with a writ of mandamus, exasperated by what he perceives as a continued lack of response from the SCPS board regarding fellow supervisors’ questions on the school roof restoration project. He said that by the end of five business days later, sans holiday, he had not on Dec. 4 gotten any response as required by Virginia Code 2.2-3704(B).
The Tidewater News

Norfolk officials are congratulating Emily Uselton, Pete Buryk, and Megan Erwin in the Office of Budget and Strategic Planning. The three have been named to the Traeger List by the group Engaging Local Government Leaders, which works to amplify the good in local government.  The award is named for Chris Traeger, the city manager for the fictional City of Pawnee, Indiana on the show “Parks and Recreation,” and recognizes the top 100 influencers in local government. 
WAVY
 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is requiring the state Department of Corrections to pay legal fees to the (Uniontown) Herald-Standard after the justices found the agency acted in “bad faith and willful and wanton behavior” in its response to the newspaper’s open records requests several years ago. The decision Tuesday upholds a previous lower court ruling from 2018 that the DOC should pay $118,458 in legal fees to Uniontown Newspapers Inc., the newspaper’s parent company, for costs associated with procuring documents associated with the open records request. The 6-1 ruling by the justices found that the DOC acted in bad faith in responding to the newspaper’s open record requests, while a narrower 4-3 decision ruled that the newspaper was entitled to the legal fees.
The Weirton Daily Times

The Texas Attorney General’s office spent nearly twice as much time working on voter fraud cases this year as it did in 2018 — logging more than 22,000 staff hours — yet resolved just 16 prosecutions, half as many as two years ago, records show. All 16 cases involved Harris County residents who gave false addresses on their voter registration forms. None of them received any jail time. Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has made the hunt for voter fraud a top priority of his office, between January and October gave the election integrity unit access to eight additional law enforcement sergeants on top of the nine already assigned to it, and doubled the number of prosecutors to four, according to records obtained from the agency by nonprofit government watchdog American Oversight and shared with Hearst Newspapers.
Governing