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SB727, which would remove the court system and its administrative arm entirely from FOIA, was moved from the Senate committee that hears FOIA bills to the committee overseeing the courts: Senate Courts of Justice, which meets Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. Since Senate subcommittees can't make final determinations on whether a bill advances or dies -- it makes recommendations to the full committee -- the fate of the other bills heard yesterday will likely be decided at the Senate General Laws & Technology Committee on Monday afternoon.
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Virginia’s Supreme Court, in a rare news release, said it will write rules for access to judicial records by the start of December. It said a proposal for it to develop such rules is consistent with what other states do and with the federal Freedom of Information Act. The court’s six-paragraph statement did not identify that proposal, but a requirement for it to write such rules by Dec. 1 is part of legislation proposed by state Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Montross, to exempt all records of the judiciary from the Freedom of Information Act, the state law that requires public bodies to make their meetings and records available to Virginians.
Daily Press
A bill to restrict access to personal student information crossed its first hurdle Wednesday. Legislation by Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, that would exempt college student cellphone numbers and private email addresses from publicly available data passed out of a Senate subcommittee with no objections. Suetterlein’s bill is not the only legislation addressing student privacy concerns at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. Del. Chris Hurst, D-Blacksburg, submitted a similar bill.
The Roanoke Times
Sherry Fulk remembers the sounds and the flashing lights from the wreck where police say an officer fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into a parked vehicle early Monday. The police officer, 24-year-old James Henry Newby, will be charged with failure to maintain proper control after dozing off and hitting the parked 2005 Jeep at 833 Main St. at about 3:30 a.m. Monday, Danville Police Department Maj. Edward Burke said. Burke would not comment on whether there would be additional disciplinary action against Newby. “We wouldn’t release information like that,” he said, adding that it would be a personnel matter. Police also would not release the name of the Jeep’s owner to give the Register & Bee a chance to interview the person about the wreck. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act gives police departments the discretion to redact the names of victims from incident reports.
Register & Bee
Henrico Deputy County Manager Doug Middleton has posted an interesting new sign on his office door. It reads: "HUD FOIA REQUEST," then the current date, as well as the current number of days since he submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for more information about the recent sale of the beleaguered Essex Village apartment complex. The request was submitted November 16, 2017, and included six specific requests, including all documents, drawings, and plans related to the scope of work proposed by the new owner of Essex Village, Ernst Valery, and his company which have been submitted to HUD. HUD spokeswoman Lisa Wolfe refused to get specific about why it has taken so long to fulfill Henrico's request. "I don’t believe we are in the position to comment since the County is the requester," she said.
WTVR
The Virginia Beach Development Authority approved $99,894.41 in taxpayer money toward the city’s attempt to lure Amazon’s second North American headquarters, according to city officials. Virginia Beach was part of an overall proposal submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The development authority unanimously approved the allocation during its October 2017 meeting, according to the authority’s meeting minutes. During the same meeting, the development authority approved up to $200,000 to fund the Amazon pitch. Any tax breaks or other economic incentives that were offered to Amazon as part of the proposal have not been disclosed by the city. “This remains an active, unannounced project,” said Julie Hill, spokesperson for the city. “As Virginia Beach was just one part of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s proposal, and Virginia remains under consideration, we’re unable to comment at this time.”
Southside Daily
At the January 9, 2018 Charlotte County Board of Supervisors meeting The Southside Messenger editor Averett Jones addressed the board and presented a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request to the board and to Supervisor Kay Pierantoni. Both the Board and Super-visor Pierantoni are required to respond. The Board promptly responded stating they did not have the document requested. Since July 2016 Pierantoni has repeatedly stated, “I presented a petition to the board…” Had this been true that petition Supervisor Kay Pierantoni would have been in board records. Pierantoni responded to our FOIA request stating: “The following is in response to your FOIA request dated January 8, 2018 and delivered by hand to me on January 9, 2018 during the Board of Supervisors 1:30 meeting: The records you have requested are not public records under the definition of ‘public records’ as defined in Code § 2.2-3701. These petitions of which you speak were prepared as a citizen approximately seventeen months before I took public office. The reading of the petition before the Board of Supervisors in July 2016 was also in my role as a private citizen before taking office.
Southside Messenger
Police have released video of a fatal shooting at the end of a car chase on a northern Virginia highway. Twenty-five-year-old Bijan Ghaisar of McLean died after the Nov. 17 chase, in which he was shot by U.S. Park Police. Authorities say Ghaisar fled after being involved in a crash on the George Washington Parkway. The FBI is now investigating the shooting. Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said Wednesday he released the video Wednesday in an effort at transparency. Roessler said in December that his department, which played a backup role in the chase, had in-car video of the shooting. He urged the FBI at the time to release video as soon as possible. But he was reluctant to immediately release the video himself out of deference to the FBI’s investigation.
The Washington Times
The majority of Supervisors in Rappahannock County failed to show up for another special-called meeting Monday. For the second time this month only two board members showed up for a meeting in the county courtroom. The special meeting, called by Jackson District Supervisor Ron Frazier and Piedmont District Supervisor Christine Smith, was to discuss options available to the board concerning several pending Freedom of Information Act lawsuits and a conflict-of-interest suit against one of its members. Smith, who didn’t take office until this month, is not named in any of the lawsuits.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
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Findings from a collection of hundreds of Rumsfeld’s communications released Wednesday by the National Security Archive
"Now, voters will be able to better understand their representative’s positions on legislation."