Transparency News 4/16/14

The Virginia Community College System will suspend its policy for on-campus student expression as it works to settle a lawsuit filed in March by an evangelical Christian student at Thomas Nelson Community College. The 23-member community college system has also indicated in court filings that it's willing to permanently adjust its student policy as a way of settling the case.
Daily Press

In the past year two Newport News City Council members have borrowed city cars for a combined 169 days, according to records obtained by the Daily Press. City documents requested under the state's Freedom of Information Act show that Tina Vick and Pat Woodbury, but no other members of the council, checked out cars routinely, ostensibly to do city business. Woodbury said she has borrowed cars strictly to attend meetings related to her city duties in keeping with city policy.
Daily Press

It’s unclear exactly what precipitated the dustup with armed activist Chris Dorsey at Monday’s City Council meeting, but the incident has prompted at least one official to call for better security at council meetings. Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, the chairwoman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, said Tuesday that the council should consider a stronger police presence near the front of the room and stricter credentialing rules governing access to the media gallery on the council dais. “We’re right there,” Trammell, 8th District, said of herself and her fellow council members whose backs are turned to the media gallery where the confrontation unfolded. “Sitting ducks.”
Times-Dispatch

Pittsylvania County’s interim administrator said he is updating how the county buys goods and services in an effort to get the local procurement code in line with state law. The county’s 30-year-old procurement code is outmoded, said Interim County Administrator Otis Hawker. There have only been a few minor amendments to Pittsylvania’s code since the early 1980s, he said. Times have changed and the code needs to be more current, Hawker said. “Information travels quickly now,” he said. “You need to be up to date.” Hawker declined to specify the proposed changes and said the county attorney is reviewing them. Hawker hopes to take the revised code to the board of supervisors at its next meeting Tuesday.
Register & Bee

National Stories

Opinion from Illinois appellate court says FOIA rules for the cost of electronic records trump other laws that might assess fees for paper records. The charge should not exceed the cost of the medium used to convey the data. The upshot is that the chief deputy supervisor of assessments can’t charge $.05 per parcel for an electronic database of “current real property assessments.”
Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District

Is it possible to ever know what you’re really getting when you eat a chicken nugget? At a certain level, perhaps not, but even those looking for a full accounting of the ingredients have few places to turn. You could trust what McDonald’s is willing to show us. You could dissect and study them under a microscope. Or, you could make like WBEZ Chicago and just FOIA them. As part of an ongoing effort to figure out the mysteries of school lunch, Monica Eng, a reporter for the Chicago public radio station, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the state school district requesting a list of the ingredients included in its tax-funded cafeteria meals. This was easier said than done. The district took a month to mull it over, and then responded to Eng’s query as to the ingredients of chicken nuggets as follows: “chicken nuggets.”
Salon

The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Internal Revenue Service, accusing the agency of failing to respond to a request for documents about the review of organizations seeking tax-exempt status. The committee sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the IRS in May 2013, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. More than 200 days later, the committee said it had not received any documents.
National Law Journal

A protester who disrupted a Supreme Court proceeding in February, and whose shouts at the justices were secretly recorded on a video that was later posted online, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a misdemeanor offense. Noah Kai Newkirk, 33, entered his plea in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, according to court records. He was sentenced to time served – the night he spent in jail after his arrest by court police. Newkirk, of Los Angeles, California, agreed to stay away from the Supreme Court grounds for a year.
Reuters
 

Editorials/Columns

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson won one of the greatest presidential landslides in history. Four years later Sen. Eugene McCarthy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. The McCarthy campaign attracted students who joined the crusade. Organizers welcomed their support but also urged them to be on their best behavior and to project a mainstream look. The McCarthyites wore traditional clothes and kept their hair cropped short. Although the crusade appealed to the so-called counterculture, the young activists seemed more likely to dress like prep school students than like hippies. The lesson has been lost by those who help transform meetings of Richmond’s City Council into chaos. And if private citizens harm themselves and their causes, then elected officials in Richmond and elsewhere do not always project composure.
Times-Dispatch