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Friday
March 30, 2018
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VCOG's Access News will be on spring break next week, but I'll still be posting on Facebook and tweeting on Twitter. The newsletter will return April 9.
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state & local news stories
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 "The corruption still undermined faith in the system."
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The first meeting of the Freedom of Information Advisory Council for 2018 has been scheduled for 1 PM on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in House Room 3 in the Capitol Building, 1000 Bank Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. The meeting is expected to be organizational (setting subcommittees, future meeting dates, etc.).
For this investigation, The News Leader requested documents from the three local law enforcement agencies regarding the use of firearms and tasers on humans and domestic pets. The only shot fired last year by area law enforcement against a human or domestic pet was by Augusta County Sheriff's Office narcotics investigator Mike Roane. On Sept. 24, 2017, Roane fired a single shot at a dog approaching him aggressively when he parked in the yard of a subject being served an emergency protective order and investigated for possible drug charges.
The News Leader
In the incident described below, Staunton police locate a man who’d threatened to kill himself. His wife had called the police, concerned about his well-being. The account below is drawn from official use-of-force reports and body-worn-camera video provided by the Staunton Police Department.
The News Leader
The number of handgun permits issued last year in Tennessee was more than 218,536, according to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s annual report. That’s 250 percent higher than it was a decade ago. Since 2010, the population of Tennessee has grown 6 percent, while the number of permits issued has grown 112 percent. Permit growth outpaced population growth by 20 percentage points last year and 30 percentage points the year prior. The number of permits denied was just over 2,880 in 2017 — nearly 30 times higher than a decade ago. Additionally, 449 permits were revoked and 1,803 were suspended. In Virginia, a permit is required for concealed carry. The application is made through circuit court and also requires proof of competence. Last year, the number of concealed handgun permits issued was slightly lower than in 2008, according to data from the Virginia State Police. Statewide, the number of permits issued has been steadily declining since a peak just shy of 100,000 in 2013. Last year, 54,584 permits were issued — 44 percent lower than the figure five years ago.
Bristol Herald Courier
All seven defendants said in court that the corruption at the Virginia Department of Transportation is endemic to the culture and more extensive than the scheme that put them behind bars. The snowplow scheme did not hurt taxpayers, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema acknowledged. The contracts were handled at a higher level and subject to state rules that require the agency to choose the lowest bidder with the right equipment. During big snowstorms, every contractor was called. Willie and Adams had control over only which plowing contractors got called during smaller storms that required fewer trucks. But Brinkema agreed with prosecutors that the corruption still undermined faith in the system. Its pervasiveness, she said, was a reason to impose serious punishment.
The Washington Post
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stories of national interest
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What started as a routine school board meeting in Katy, Texas turned out to be anything but ordinary when a man stepped up to the microphone during the public comment portion and accused the school district’s superintendent of bullying him more than three decades ago. “My name is Greg Barrett,” he told the board. “I was bullied, unbelievably bullied.” Barrett told board members about an incident that took place in the late 1970s, when he was in junior high school, when his face was shoved into a urinal and his lip cut by bullies. He said the school did nothing so he went home, put a gun his mouth and thought about suicide. “Because at this point, I had nobody,” he said. As jarring as his statement was, Barrett ended his time at the lectern by accusing Katy ISD Superintendent Lance Hindt of being his tormentor. “Lance, you were the one that shoved my head in the urinal,” the man said.
WCMH
On Thursday, the Arkansas Supreme Court partially affirmed a circuit court ruling that ordered the state Department of Corrections to release package inserts and labels for its supply of potassium chloride, one of three drugs Arkansas uses in lethal injections. However, the court agreed with the state's assertion that it was still required to redact certain information from the labels that could identify who sold or supplied the drug to the state. The justices remanded the case back to Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen to determine which specific information must be redacted. The ruling mirrored a decision made by the court in November over another drug used in the execution protocol, the sedative midazolam. Attorney Steve Shultz filed almost identical Freedom of Information Act complaints against the state last year — one for midazolam, one for potassium chloride — over the prison system's unwillingness to release drug labels.
Arkansas Times
Just like the CIA, the New York City Police Department can now “neither confirm nor deny” the existence of documents, thanks to a ruling Thursday from the state’s highest court. By a razor-thin margin this morning, the New York Court of Appeals voted 4-3 against two men who have spent the last five years searching for records on the NYPD’s controversial Muslim surveillance program. In denying to confirm or deny the existence of any sought-after records, the NYPD issued what is known as a “Glomar response,” named for a CIA salvage ship called the Hughes Glomar that was used to rescue a Soviet submarine during the Cold War. The Court of Appeals endorsed that response Thursday, explicitly investing the NYPD with the need for spy-like secrecy in a 24-page opinion.
Courthouse News Service
Montana's government bodies and agencies must give some details about whose privacy rights they are protecting when justifying closing a meeting that would otherwise be open to the public, the state Supreme Court ruled. Justices in a 5-0 decision Tuesday said that the Wolf Point School District Board of Trustees' explanation for closing a four-hour meeting to the public before firing a schoolteacher in 2015 was insufficient. Teacher Kristine Raap had waived her right to privacy to keep the meeting open, but the board closed it anyway and prohibited her from recording it. The board cited the privacy rights of unnamed individuals who were not in attendance as justification for the closure.
Montana Standard
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 "The court endorsed the Glomar response Thursday, explicitly investing the NYPD with the need for spy-like secrecy in a 24-page opinion."
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editorials & columns
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 "The press and public have a right to access court records and proceedings, but many courts continue to shield this information from public view."
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In Virginia, a restaurant can post a Happy Hour advertisement offering drinks at half price. But it can’t offer “two-for-one” deals on drinks, even though that means exactly the same thing. In fact, restaurants can advertise Happy Hour only two ways: by saying either “Happy Hour” or “drink specials.” That means no “Wine Wednesday,” “Thirsty Thursday,” “Beer and wine specials,” “$3 Beer Night,” or anything else. There’s no evidence that controlling how happy hours may be advertised increases social welfare. On the other hand, there is clear and convincing evidence that such restrictions violate the Constitution. It’s right there in the Bill of Rights, under the First Amendment.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Earlier this month, in celebration of Sunshine Week, we turned our attention to highlighting the value of transparency and public information to our communities, both large and small. However, year-round we must continue to remember the importance of advocating for transparency and work to protect the rights of journalists who are shining a light into the darkest corners so the people can hold government accountable. That’s why, in addition to fighting for access to legislative and executive branch records under freedom of information laws, year-round the Reporters Committee pursues litigation in state and federal courts in a concentrated effort to improve access to information about the judicial system. Under the First Amendment and common law, the press and public have a right to access court records and proceedings, but many courts continue to shield this information from public view.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
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