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Tuesday
April 10, 2018
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state & local news stories
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 "Student directory information has long been used to reach students with information about products, services and opportunities."
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Gov. Ralph Northam has signed two bills that forbid public schools and colleges from releasing a student's email address or phone number without written consent. Release of such information is currently discretionary. But the Democratic governor last week signed Senate Bill 512 from Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, a bill that will become one of the only exemptions in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to specifically prohibit release of public records. The governor also has signed House Bill 1 from Del. Tony Wilt, R-Rockingham. That bill amends state education law to say that no school can disclose student directory information without a parent or eligible student affirmatively consenting in writing. Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, wrote to Northam last month, urging him to veto both bills. "Student directory information has long been used to reach students with information about products, services and opportunities, from restaurant coupons to apartment brochures, from graduate school information to career opportunities," the letter said.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Danville police say concerns about accuracy and timing caused the department to hold off on confirming an officer-involved shooting for 13 hours Sunday. Virginia State Police, now tasked with investigating the shooting, announced on Monday that Juan Markee Jones, 25, of Danville, is the man killed early Sunday morning after city police followed up on a complaint of a domestic assault. But multiple requests by the Register & Bee on Sunday for confirmation of a shooting were met by statements from the local department that a release would be made about an “incident” under investigation.
Register & Bee
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stories of national interest
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy wants you to have better access to info about New Jersey's gun violence -- including where the firearms used in those crimes come from. Murphy on Friday signed an executive order for the state to issue monthly reports online about gun crimes, showing where they occur, how many people were killed or injured, and the type of weapon involved. And every three months, New Jersey will publish a report listing the states from which those guns originated. People can already access much of this information by filing open records requests or through the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. But Murphy said this information will be easier for people to obtain.
NJ.com
A WBEZ analysis of nearly 450 pages of emails found that Illinois government lawyers blacked out portions of more than half the documents recently turned over to a legislative panel investigating the state’s inability to contain the waterborne illness. Repeated outbreaks at the home since 2015 have contributed to the deaths of 13 residents and sickened dozens more. The way the government lawyers wielded their figurative black markers to redact hundreds of Legionnaires’-related emails has some lawmakers fuming and government transparency advocates crying foul. WBEZ had previously obtained some Legionnaires’-related emails from the public health department in Adams County, where the Quincy home is located. The Rauner administration later handed over some of those same emails to the legislative committee investigating the outbreaks — with significantly more redactions. By cross-checking the two groups of documents, it’s possible to see some of what Rauner’s office didn’t want lawmakers to see.
WBEZ
The Justice Department will appoint a U.S. attorney to oversee the release of documents related to the FBI’s 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton amid Republican complaints — including from President Donald Trump — that the DOJ is slow-walking their release. Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Monday that U.S. Attorney John Lausch will direct the Justice Department’s process of combing through, redacting and releasing thousands of documents sought by lawmakers. She said Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray selected Lausch because as a U.S. attorney for the northern district of Illinois, he is “outside of D.C. and independent of the FBI hierarchy.”
Politico
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 "By cross-checking the two groups of documents, it’s possible to see some of what the Illinois governor's office didn’t want lawmakers to see."
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editorials & columns
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 "The FBI used as evidence against one of its agents a series of FOIA requests made by the Intercept."
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We have a new frontrunner for America's Next Top Swampmonster in the form of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who apparently felt entitled to live like an oligarch on the taxpayer dime. One of his big excuses for that appears to be falling apart. His reason for the exclusive travel arrangements, and round-the-clock security detail comprised of at least 18 agents, was that he faces unprecedented danger for an EPA chief. Specifically, EPA spokespeople have repeatedly claimed that Pruitt receives a huge number of death threats. If Pruitt is receiving a huge number of death threats, that would justify ramped up security. (Pruitt's contention this also justifies first-class travel at all times isn't so clear cut.) Except when BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EPA asking for records of the threats, the agency could not produce a single one.
Jack Holmes, Esquire
Late last month, the FBI arrested Terry James Albury, a longtime agent in its Minneapolis field office, for allegedly providing classified documents to the Intercept. Albury’s arrest shows the need for the FBI to reevaluate its policy of myopic secrecy and the tools it uses in counterintelligence investigations. While tracking him down, the bureau crossed a red line that will sour relationships with journalists and whistleblowers, with negative consequences for everyone. The classified documents in question, on their own, should concern anyone who cares about civil liberties. A set of policies and procedures, the documents outline how the FBI can access journalists’ phone records without search warrants or subpoenas approved by a judge. This is despite a 2013 promise by former attorney general Eric Holder to reform rules about spying on reporters after the Department of Justice secretly obtained phone records from over 100 Associated Press journalists. Holder’s reforms only applied to subpoenas in criminal investigations. But worse than the material Albury turned over was the tool the FBI used to go after him for it: the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI used as evidence against Albany a series of FOIA requests made by the Intercept.
Zack Kopplin, The Washington Post
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