Transparency News, 2/8/21

 

Gov. Ralph Northam acknowledged Jan. 27 that Virginia needed a statewide, centralized portal to get people connected to available doses, and a capable phone bank for Virginians who need language or computer assistance. More than a month since the state began to receive doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and many months since it began to plan for one, the only portal is still not publicly available and the promised phone bank is still at least a week away from staffing up to necessary levels. 
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The first information released to the public about an explosion in Abingdon that killed a 12-year-old boy two days before Christmas came that night at 7:16 p.m. Town officials tweeted a message on Alert Abingdon: “EXPLOSION at 269 KING ST ABINGDON. Please use caution in the area. December 23, 2020 at 07:11 PM.” It was nearly two weeks before anything else was released and it came Jan. 5 after inquiries by the local news media following the publication of an obituary penned by the boy’s father in the Bristol Herald Courier. More than a month after the tragedy, law enforcement officials have still released few details surrounding the explosion, refusing to even release the name of the victim or acknowledge that it was the explosion of a hand grenade that caused the boy’s death. “What we release is what we really had — basically,” the police chief said. “We had an explosion on King Street and we had a deceased 12-year-old child,” Abingdon Chief of Police Jon Holbrook said. “We’re still waiting on the lab results to come back; that all takes a while.”
Bristol Herald Courier

By law, financial-disclosure forms filed by County Board members, top staff and those appointed to Arlington government boards and commissions must be made accessible to the public. Exactly how accessible remains open to interpretation. The forms are available for inspection by the public, but at a recent meeting of the county government’s Audit Committee, one member said thought should be given to more transparency. “Has any consideration been given to post these forms on the Web?” asked John Vihstadt, a former County Board member who now serves as a citizen member of the panel.
Sun Gazette Newspapers

Disagreements continue over statistical data in a federal racial profiling lawsuit against the Albemarle County Police Department as dispositions from staff members involved in compiling the data claim ignorance. The case has languished since August 2019, in no small part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and, according to two recent filings, depositions with county police staff about the data provided little clarification. The county did not have documents that were responsive to plaintiffs’ request and took the position that the rules of civil procedure do not require it to prepare documents that do not exist. The arguments over the comparator table are anticipated to be a topic of discussion during a video status conference set for Monday.
The Daily Progress
 

 

At first, Andrea Gallo’s quest for sexual harassment complaints against a top state justice official seemed like a typical public records battle. The investigative reporter heard a common refrain from agencies withholding information: There was an “ongoing investigation.” “The records should be ready and released to you by early next week,” officials eventually told Gallo on Jan. 22, a few days after she reported the criminal division head of the Louisiana attorney general’s office had his pay docked for participating in “inappropriate” conversations. Then the attorney general’s office came back with new arguments — and a lawsuit. “You have demanded information which will compromise the rights of our employees and could lead to litigation over the violation of those rights,” staff for Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) wrote Friday in a letter to Gallo, a 28-year-old reporter at the Advocate and the Times-Picayune. The lawsuit against Gallo asks a judge to weigh in against disclosure and requests that the defendant pay any legal fees, alarming journalists and experts in press law who called the move a threat to government transparency and accountability. Peter Kovacs, the Advocate’s editor, said he fears a “chill” on ordinary citizens’ ability to get answers from those in power.
The Washington Post