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All Access
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Local
A dispute between a Warren County supervisor and the county attorney reached a head again last week over confidentiality and communications with legal counsel. … Supervisor Richard A. Jamieson … reiterated his concerns about a proposed policy prohibiting board members from disclosing matters discussed in closed meetings, or communications from the county attorney other than those stated by the attorney in a public meeting, without the consent of the board. Jamieson argued that this prohibition was a broad policy that goes beyond communications protected by attorney-client privilege. Jamieson also opined that a difference exists between discussions in closed sessions governed by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and communications with the county attorney. … Vice Chairman Tony F. Carter noted that members can disclose to the public whatever they want as to what came up in a closed session. “But what you do end up losing is that amount of trust and that’s what we don’t want to have, ’cause I want to work with all you guys together,” Carter said. … Carter warned that without the policy, one member could divulge information that opens the board, the county and other individuals to potential lawsuits. Jamieson said he and County Attorney Jason J. Ham have had disagreements over what constituted attorney-client privilege.
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Local
At Thursday’s public hearing for the city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, Peter Cefaratti said, “I’m surprised there are only seven people in this room for a budget hearing.” The local civic activist, like others in Council Chambers, was baffled by the small number of Lynchburg residents who showed up to express their views on the city manager’s proposed budget. As it turned out, the budget public hearing lasted only 15 minutes, during which seven people spoke. … The relative lack of interest in the proposed budget may have been due to the absence of any major budget items. … A year ago, citizens packed Council Chambers for the public hearing on the city’s proposed real estate property tax rate and FY’26 budget. The vast majority of residents who spoke at the April 2025 hearing urged Lynchburg City Council to lower the real estate property tax rate.
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Local
In March, the Blacksburg Police Department photographed more than 312,000 unique vehicles with nine automatic license plate reader cameras — part of a network of surveillance technology that has sparked debate over privacy and data sharing across Virginia. A Roanoke Times Freedom of Information Act request shows how agencies in Montgomery County are navigating a new state law governing how the data can be stored and shared. … As the federal government has moved to crack down on illegal immigration, opponents of ALPR technology have raised concerns about local departments sharing data with federal agencies. Last year, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a law addressing those concerns, prohibiting law enforcement agencies from sharing ALPR data with the federal government or other states without a subpoena. The law, which went into effect in July, also required that ALPRs be used only in connection with criminal violations and capped data storage at 21 days, unless an ongoing investigation requires otherwise. Virginia departments are still permitted to query ALPR databases in other states. Privately owned ALPR systems, such as those purchased by homeowners associations or retail stores, are not bound by the law.
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Local
Richmond Public Schools’ director of facilities has departed his post amid an investigation into his spending and use of RPS property. Ronald “Bobby” Hathaway, who has helmed the district’s facility services office since 2017, was placed on administrative leave in early February, according to sources familiar with the details of the investigation, as officials began to probe transactions made through an RPS credit card and expense accounts, as well as his alleged use of RPS equipment for non-work-related reasons. The total dollar amount of the transactions under review — and the timespan in which they occurred — is not clear. … Sources familiar with the investigation said that, for numerous acquisitions, Hathaway both executed purchases and then approved the related invoices — a process that created a lack of oversight as to what, precisely, Hathaway was buying and why, sources said. … After Hathaway was placed on administrative leave, he allegedly conspired with two subordinates to disable security cameras outside an RPS facility so that he could return RPS equipment without detection, sources said.
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A former Staunton City employee has been charged with five felonies after allegedly using a city bank card to pay off personal bills. Christopher David Stokes, 46, of Craigsville, is facing four charges of forgery and a charge of embezzlement, court records show. … According to court records, Stokes, who was a street and traffic superintendent for the Staunton Public Works Department, came under suspicion late last year. In November, Public Works, along with the city’s finance department, identified two charges on Stokes’ city bank card “that were found to be suspicious and unjustified.” … Police met with Chad Horvat, the city’s finance business manager, who noted that Stokes reportedly had delayed providing receipts for the two transactions before allegedly creating fraudulent invoices and sending them to him, according to court records.
News Leader
Last May, for unexplained reasons, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence took down its website. Days later, the site was restored. But a ton of material was missing, notably hundreds of intelligence-related documents released over the years in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. Why? I filed a FOIA request to find out (surprise, surprise). This week, a year after I filed my request, and sued ODNI to compel the release of records, the agency sent me more than a dozen pages of emails that offer some answers. The communications call into question the Trump administration’s pronouncement that it’s “the most transparent administration in American history.”
Bloomberg
“Democracies die behind closed doors.” ~ U.S. District Judge Damon Keith, 2002
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