Transparency News, 5/20/20

Wednesday
May 20, 2020

There was no issue of Access News yesterday, May 19.
 

state & local news stories

"The agency initially declined to release the names of the 19 facilities to receive the shipment."

After an initial delay, the Virginia Department of Health on Tuesday released the names of 55 hospitals to receive a share of remdesivir — currently the only drug with proven, though moderate, effects against severe cases of COVID-19. As the Mercury reported last week, Virginia was one of several states to receive a shipment of remdesivir from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, part of a donation from Gilead Sciences, the drug’s manufacturer. While VDH received its first allotment of 10 cases early last week, the agency initially declined to release the names of the 19 facilities to receive the shipment, which included enough medication to treat approximately 36 patients.
Virginia Mercury

Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, is suing a former Virginia congresswoman over comments she made last year on John Fredericks’ radio show. Morrissey, who served in the House of Delegates from 2008 to 2014 and from January to March 2015 before winning election to the state Senate last year, filed the suit Tuesday in Richmond Circuit Court against Barbara Comstock. “Inexplicably, the defendant, without any prompting whatsoever, stated that [Morrissey] was ‘a predator when he was in the House of Delegates [and] we had to warn the girls to stay away from him,’ ” the complaint says. “Later in the interview, the defendant repeated that ‘we had to warn the interns to stay away from him.’” “The comments made by the defendant during her on-air interview with John Fredericks were deliberate, intentional and calculated to harm Morrissey,” the complaint says. “Comstock’s statements have injured, slandered and harmed Mr. Morrissey’s good standing in the community.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Seven Charlottesville boards and commissions will be able to resume some of their regular business electronically starting next week through the end of June. The City Council on Monday voted to allow the boards and commissions that haven’t already held electronic meetings to get back to work. The council signed off on the Board of Architectural Review, Board of Equalization, Community Development Block Grant Task Force, Housing Advisory Committee, Human Rights Commission, Planning Commission and Retirement Commission. The Electoral Board and board of directors for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority have already held electronic meetings related to the coronavirus pandemic and were among the list approved Monday. CRHA, BAR, City Council and Planning Commission meetings, which are typically livestreamed over the city’s public access channel will continue to be broadcast live. The Board of Equalization, Electoral Board and Retirement Commission meetings will be available online during the meeting, but will not be archived afterward. All the other boards will be broadcast live online and run on the public access channel afterward. Videos of those meetings will be available afterward on the city’s website.
The Daily Progress

An Amherst councilwoman who was expelled from Amherst Town Council last summer and then reelected a few months later was unsuccessful in initiating a process to change the town’s charter last week to prevent a similar move from happening again. Janice Wheaton cast the only vote in favor of changing the charter during Amherst Town Council’s May 13 meeting, while councilors Kenneth Bunch, Ken Watts, Sarah Ogden and Rachel Carton opposed. The provision paved the way for Wheaton’s July 2019 expulsion from council following a closed meeting where details of the conflicts she has had with other town officials were discussed. Several months later she was voted back into office during a special election. Wheaton also spoke in favor of council explaining to the public why removal of an elected official would be necessary, which currently is not spelled out in the provision’s language. Wheaton described the provision as “not acceptable.”
The News & Advance

No changes were made to the proposed Henry County budget after public hearings held Monday night. As County Administrator Tim Hall told the Board of Supervisors during the meeting, however, the $157 million spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year is “written in pencil.” The coronavirus prompted an unprecedented situation for county leaders: Holding a public hearing without the public in the room. Instead, officials set up a special email address and phone hotline for residents to share their opinions ahead of time. During the public hearings on Monday evening, Hall read all of the comments aloud so they would be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
Martinsville Bulletin

Loudoun County has updated its COVID-19 page to include interactive dashboards that illustrate key metrics important for decision-making regarding the region’s reopening. The dashboards released Tuesday include the “gating criteria” important in determining reopening timelines regionally and also include other key measures. Data is updated daily from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to provide information on testing totals, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Loudoun. “By providing this additional data, we are assisting policymakers and keeping the public informed during the COVID-19 emergency,” Dr. David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun County Health Department, said in a prepared statement.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

National Public Radio filed a complaint May 15 in a federal district court in Virginia against the U.S. Transportation Security Administration over a denied FOIA request for communications between TSA officials from Dec. 1, 2019, through Jan. 31, 2020, regarding coronavirus, Covid-19 and similar terms
Courthouse News Service (link is to the complaint)

stories of national interest

"Compelled disclosure of ... visitor logs would affect a president’s ability to receive unfettered, candid counsel from outside advisors and leaders, both domestic and foreign, who were aware that their visits to the White House would be subject to public disclosure.”

The [U.S.] Second Circuit [Court of Appeals in New York] upheld a ruling Monday that records of who has visited President Donald Trump’s White House and private Florida resort are exempt from government watchdog groups’ Freedom of Information Act requests. Trump has referred to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, as the “Southern White House” — and it’s where he’s hosted foreign leaders like President Xi Jinping of China, directed the launch of a strike against a Syrian airbase and recently welcomed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for dinner during the Covid-19 global pandemic.  In a 22-page opinion, a three-judge Second Circuit panel found the Secret Service’s electronic visitor records for the White House Complex and Mar-a-Lago do not qualify as “agency records” that are subject to public release under the Freedom of Information Act. Disclosure the visitor log under the act threatens the president’s “constitutional prerogative of maintaining secrecy,” the panel found. “Compelled disclosure of the visitor logs would affect a president’s ability to receive unfettered, candid counsel from outside advisors and leaders, both domestic and foreign, who were aware that their visits to the White House would be subject to public disclosure,” added Lohier, an Obama appointee.
Courthouse News Service

Citizens who request access to public documents under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act have the right to photograph those documents using their cellphones, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. By a 5-1 decision, the appellate court sided with Ben Motal, a Little Rock attorney who had argued against a city policy prohibiting him from photographing records related to a hit-and-run accident in which Motal said he was the victim. Motal said the Little Rock Police Department allowed him to review the accident report, and offered to make him a copy for $10, but would not allow him to take a picture of the report using his smartphone. That decision violated the Freedom of Information law, which states that public records "shall be open to inspection and copying by any citizen" of Arkansas, he argued. Motal said the Little Rock Police Department allowed him to review the accident report, and offered to make him a copy for $10, but would not allow him to take a picture of the report using his smartphone. That decision violated the Freedom of Information law, which states that public records "shall be open to inspection and copying by any citizen" of Arkansas, he argued.
El Doroado News-Times

The state official managing Florida’s public “dashboard” of COVID-19 data says that her office has been removed from the project — and questioned the Department of Health’s commitment to “accessibility and transparency.” Rebekah Jones, the geographic information system manager for DOH’s Division of Disease Control and Health Protection, wrote in an email, distributed Friday that authority over the dashboard was taken away from her office on May 5. The sharply worded email, which was shared with the Herald by a recipient of the message, was addressed to users of the state’s data portal, which includes researchers and journalists. It was not clear who replaced her and her staff. “As a word of caution, I would not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency that I made central to the process during the first two months,” wrote Jones, who holds a Ph.D. in geography from Florida State University. “After all, my commitment to both is largely [arguably entirely] the reason I am no longer managing it.”
Miami Herald