Transparency News 2/10/16

Wednesday, February 10, 2016


State and Local Stories

 
Here are questions you can't get answers to if SB 202 and SB 552 pass.
YouTube

Megan Rhyne shares a General Assembly update on the Schilling Show. (Around the 9:55 mark)
WINA

On Tuesday, the Charlottesville City Council will consider a revision of procedures that are aimed at making council meetings more efficient and orderly. Based on measures considered by the council last week at its retreat, Mayor Mike Signer said the proposed policies are intended to make meetings “more open, efficient and professional, while creating more interest in, and access” to, the meetings. The measures being considered include: » Closer adherence to Robert’s Rules of Order in deliberations, including formal motions and discussion periods; » allotting a maximum of 20 minutes for presentation and discussion of most agenda items; » limiting most councilor comments to three minutes, the same limit as comments by members of the public; » expanding opportunities to speak during the first public comment period by allowing requests in advance by email and and/or telephone, which will be chosen through a random selection process for speaking slots and a wait list.
Daily Progress

National Stories

The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Minneapolis N.A.A.C.P. filed a lawsuit Tuesday in hopes of forcing the authorities to release video from the night a black man was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. Jamar Clark, 24, was shot Nov. 15 during what the authorities called a struggle. But others have said Mr. Clark was handcuffed at the time. His death prompted an 18-day occupation outside a police precinct where demonstrators demanded that video of the shooting be released. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said it had video from several sources, but none showed the entire episode. It has said it will not release video until the case is closed.
New York Times

At some Arizona schools, more than 30 percent of children haven't been vaccinated against such dangerous infectious diseases as whooping cough and measles. Parents, state Representative Juan Mendez says, have a right to know which ones.  The Arizona Department of Health lists vaccination rates for kindergarten and sixth-grade children online for most public, charter, and private schools. But, to find the data, you have to know where to look and then wade through a hefty spreadsheet. Mendez (D-Tempe) argues that the information should be prominently displayed — as easy to access as updates about attendance boundaries and parent-teacher conferences. So he's proposed a bill that would require individual schools to list vaccination rates on their websites. 
Phoenix New Times


Editorials/Columns

It is not our way to rush to the ramparts every time we — i.e., the collective media — feel we’ve been slighted, or our tail feathers ruffled. Wholesome introspection demands full realization that we, every bit as much as Tommy Norment, can be overbearing, even arrogant, in pursuit of what we deem our cherished prerogatives. But this time is different. Whether by frontal assault — the relegation of pressies to the Senate balcony, since rescinded — or through the back door (Senate Bill 560, more on that in a moment), Mr. Norment, in this session, has seemingly made the sordid principles of vendetta a driving force of governance. SB 560 is one such example. This little bullet — which we’d describe as mindless if not for the transparency of its ulterior motive — says that, “in lieu of newspaper advertisements, foreclosure sales shall be advertised at the courthouse and on the web site of the circuit court for the county or city in which the property to be sold is located.”
Winchester Star

IF SOME BANK wants to foreclose on a house in your neighborhood, shouldn’t you have every possible opportunity to find out about it? You should, for many reasons, starting with ensuring stability in your community and ending with the possibility that you could help. That would be harder under a perennial piece of legislation now making its way through the legislature. Over the years, a few members of the General Assembly have systematically tried to eliminate the requirement that foreclosure notices be printed in newspapers like this one. The version this year would instead “publish” foreclosure notices at the courthouse and on a governmental or judicial website. If you’re not a lawyer, or under indictment, chances are you haven’t visited either of those recently. It also doesn’t help that Virginia has one of the briefest foreclosure periods in America. Make no mistake. Foreclosure notices result in profits for this organization. But there’s a mission beyond profits that animates any self-respecting news enterprise: Ensuring the public knows what’s going on in their neighborhood, city, region, nation and world. This legislation would do material harm to that effort.
Virginian-Pilot