Transparency News 12/31/13

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

State and Local Stories

HB 258: Prohibits public institutions of higher education from imposing restrictions on the time, place, and manner of student speech that occurs in the outdoor areas of the institution's campus and is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution unless the restrictions (i) are reasonable, (ii) are justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech, (iii) are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and (iv) leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.
Virginia General Assembly

Accolades have poured in for retiring Del. Lacey Putney, whose 52 years in the House of Delegates set a mark that, in the words of Gov. Bob McDonnell, “will not likely be replicated.” Four former governors joined Putney and McDonnell on a Richmond stage in August to make similar remarks about the “lion of Bedford County,” who worked with 12 occupants of the state’s executive mansion and is The News & Advance’s 2013 Person of the Year.
News & Advance

With the constant evolution in technology, new developments are always on the horizon to help companies perform more efficiently, accurately and with the most productivity — and law enforcement is no exception. In the next 18 months, Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot is hopeful a few of the department’s patrol cars will be outfitted with a driver’s license scanner. When patrol officers initiate traffic stops, they ask the driver for all of their important information — license, registration and proof of insurance.
Register & Bee

The Federal Aviation Administration will authorize test sites for drone aircraft in upstate New York, New Jersey and at least eight other states, the agency said on Monday, preparing for a time when unmanned aircraft of various shapes and sizes cruise over the landscape. The agency picked six institutions to operate test locations, which will explore how to set safety standards, train and certify ground-based pilots, ensure that the aircraft will operate safely even if radio links are lost and, most important, how to replace the traditional method for avoiding collisions. Integrating the aircraft into the nation’s airspace, set by Congress for 2015, will be phased in gradually. The six winners, chosen from a field of 25, included Griffiss International Airport, a former Air Force base near Rome, N.Y., which will fly some tests from Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and Virginia Tech, which will fly in Virginia and has an agreement with Rutgers University in New Jersey for testing there as well. Virginia Tech plans to conduct “failure mode” testing — finding out what happens if the aircraft’s control link is lost.
New York Times

National Stories

The D.C. fire department unveiled a new highly restrictive social media policy Monday that bans department employees from taking photos or video of fire or accident scenes while on the job and from transmitting such images to the media or other organizations. The policy could also put the kibosh on the firefighter union’s Twitter account, which provides details about the department’s responses to the scenes of violent crimes, fires and accidents.
Washington Times

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Monday, seeking to force the U.S. government to disclose details of its foreign electronic surveillance program and what protections it provides to Americans whose communications are swept up. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, came three days after the ACLU lost a bid to block a separate program that collects the phone calls of millions of Americans. The latest lawsuit seeks information related to the use of Executive Order 12333, which was signed in 1981 and governs surveillance of foreign targets.
Reuters
 

Editorials/Columns

Free Lance-Star: THE Internal Revenue Service, always a dependable whipping boy, is doing something that is bound to elicit more accusations of Big Brother-like persecution. This time, the IRS is right. If anything, it needs to move faster. The service has been castigated for picking on tea party groups and others claiming 501(c)(4) nonprofit status for tax purposes. 501(c)(4) groups are, according to the IRS, supposed to be raising money for social welfare. (Could the IRS, by the way, possibly come up with clunkier names for its various designations?) The IRS is not moving at the speed of light on this. It is planning to define what qualifies as political spending, presumably to excise that from 501(c)(4) eligibility. It is unlikely that this will happen before the midterm elections.