Transparency News 5/24/13

 

Friday, May 24, 2013

State and Local Stories

Times-Dispatch: Virginia has begun measuring how many hours state employees work each week to find out how many part-time workers should be receiving health insurance under federal law. On May 1, the state began measuring hours and will continue through April 30, 2014, to determine an hourly average over a year and to identify how many hourly wage employees worked more than 29 hours a week.

Virginian-PilotA December trial date has been scheduled to hear a $707,000 tax disagreement between the state and a former tobacco company turned health supplement maker that's gained notoriety for its role in a developing political scandal.

Free Lance-Star: Fredericksburg City Council will hold a closed meeting Tuesday night to discuss a potential deal to build a multi-purpose stadium and bring minor league baseball to the city. The session will be at the end of City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting, the other parts of which are open to the public.

Northern Virginia Daily: Andrew Charles Studds insists he wasn't doing anything wrong when he videotaped Front Royal police while carrying a holstered gun on his right hip as they conducted traffic stops a few weeks ago. The police and prosecutors think otherwise, and now Studds is facing two charges of possession of a firearm by a person involuntarily admitted to a mental institution.

Leesburg Today: Loudoun Schools Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick was thrust into the spotlight during the May 14 School Board meeting when board member Brenda Sheridan (Sterling) asked him to announce his salary and what kind of vehicle he drives. Sheridan said her mission between now and next year’s budget season is to dispel any rumors about how county tax dollars are spent within Loudoun County Public Schools. “I don’t want the issue of the budget to ever die again so I’m going to make it my personal mantra to keep it active and in the spotlight because I think it’s really important for our community to support the Loudoun County Public Schools budget,” she said from the dais.

 

 

National Stories

After a long day of slogging through the woods, Arkansas hunters used to have to check in their game at the nearest mom-and-pop establishment. At the end of the season, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff would drive around the state to collect the paperwork. Times have changed: Now Arkansas hunters can use a Game and Fish Commission app on their smartphones to upload the information immediately, allowing the state to enforce hunting regulations and manage game populations in real time. The state’s hunting and fishing app was the first of its kind when it launched in 2010, but now at least 10 state natural resources agencies have their own versions. In addition to checking in game, there are apps that allow sportsmen to purchase licenses, find fishing holes, and get real-time reports from other hunters and fishermen. But hunting and fishing is only the beginning: In the last several years states have rolled out apps to help people find tourist attractions, take practice driver’s tests, locate polling places and much more.
Stateline, via Governing

Jurors who improperly search the Internet for information about the trial they're hearing are a growing problem for lawyers and judges. This week, the California Court of Appeal tackled a worst-case scenario -- a juror who located a prior appellate opinion about a case, chock-full of inadmissible evidence -- while challenging the California Supreme Court to tighten standards for prejudice from extraneous materials.
The Recorder

Multiple system failures at the National Weather Service in the past week are raising concerns that its ability to warn the public of hazardous weather could crack at any time.
Washington Post

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.
NBC News

President Barack Obama said on Thursday he directed Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a review of Department of Justice guidelines for investigations that involve journalists and report back by early July. Obama has come under criticism for his administration's pursuit of journalists who have reported leaked material.
Reuters

Jack's Boathouse is dead and gone, and its protracted battle with the National Park Service is now water under the Key Bridge. But Freedom of Information Act requests can take longer than a lifetime, and the FOIA I submitted when I was reporting on the Jack's saga came back to me after the boathouse's demise.  Still, the internal NPS emails I recently received shed a posthumous light on NPS' motives during its efforts to replace the operator of the popular Georgetown boathouse.
Washington City Paper

Lying about receiving a military medal could become a crime, under a bill headed to the president’s desk. The Stolen Valor Act cleared the Senate Wednesday and the House earlier this week. The actmakes it a crime to lie about military medals, if the purpose is to benefit from the claim. The measure revives a law struck down by the Supreme Court. The court said it may be disreputable to lie about receiving a medal, but it’s protected under the First Amendment.
First Amendment Center

In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, bank lobbyists are aiding lawmakers in preparing legislation that softens financial regulations.
New York Times

 

Editorials/Columns

Daily Progress: In case you missed this side of the current IRS scandal, it’s worth noting: Despite earlier disclaimers, high-level officials did know about what has now been termed “inappropriate” targeting of tea party groups.

Dana Milbank, Herald Courier: There are various reasons you might not care about the Obama administration's spying on journalist James Rosen and labeling him an "aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator" in an espionage case. Liberals may not be particularly bothered because the targeted journalist works for Fox News. Conservatives may not be concerned because of their antipathy toward the news media generally. And the general public certainly doesn't have much patience for journalists' whining. But here's why you should care -- and why this case, along with the administration's broad snooping into Associated Press phone records, is more serious than the other supposed Obama administration scandals regarding Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service.

Richard Petz-Steele, South Coast Today: The freedom of information is not absolute, however, and it runs up against FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.This conflict puts people such as me in a tough spot. I've long been an access advocate. I am on record stating, and I maintain, that public universities overreach with FERPA. Sometimes they mean well, to protect students; sometimes they mean to conceal misfeasance.

 

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