A few weeks before Norfolk Public Schools Superintendent Sharon Byrdsong was fired, she lambasted a faction of school board members for what she described as attempts to undermine her administration and micromanage the school system. The May 22 memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, details a list of grievances Byrdsong leveled against school board members in what she describes as a months-long overreach campaign. The memo was written just weeks before the Norfolk School Board voted 4-3 to terminate Byrdsong’s contract without cause in a surprise vote during its June 11 meeting.

Three years after the Richmond Inspector General’s Office began investigating a complaint regarding the finance department’s handling of tax credits and refunds, no formal report on the matter has been published. However, CBS 6 obtained a draft report that outlined what investigators characterized as a confusing process for returning money to overpaying business owners and millions in excess taxes that were never credited back to taxpayers.

On average, Richmond drivers receive about $460,000 in parking tickets each month, according to city parking ticket data obtained by The Richmonder. The city issued those tickets with the help of SP Plus Corp., which has a five-year contract with the city to issue citations (police officers are also allowed to write tickets). SP Plus is working on a five-year, $28 million contract to perform those services. The contract runs through December 2026, according to city spokesperson Michael Hinkle. To understand the scale of parking enforcement, The Richmonder analyzed parking ticket data from 2015 through 2023 – the latest and most complete data available.

The City of Richmond has launched an online progress tracker to update the public on its overhaul of the city’s purchasing card, or p-card, program — a system that has faced repeated criticism for weak oversight and misuse. The new tool, announced Monday, is part of efforts to restore trust and strengthen accountability after city audits and internal reviews revealed widespread problems in how cards were used and monitored. In past years, cardholders were found exceeding spending limits, failing to submit receipts and making purchases that did not always appear clearly tied to city business.

The men and women who maintain Henry County’s archives have spent the last several years fighting back against the universal enemy of recordkeeping both public and private: time. From damp basements to dust-ridden offices with minimal climate control, important documents are relegated to less-than-optimal spaces for storage and become susceptible to a litany of dangers. In Henry County, a pair of rooms in the clerk’s suite of offices hide a trove of county history that is in danger of crumbling. Jennifer Ashworth, the county’s clerk of court, is among those trying to do something about it.

A Fredericksburg-area judge facing a felony charge of bribery of a public official did not attempt to enrich himself, the special prosecutor handling the case said. Richard T. McGrath, the chief judge of the 15th Judicial District of Virginia, which includes the Fredericksburg region, was indicted on June 2. The Mechanicsville resident’s next appearance in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court is scheduled for July 7. He is represented by Richmond-based defense attorney Craig Cooley, who did not return a phone call seeking comment. “What I can share is he was charged with soliciting a bribe, not offering a bribe,” said Special Prosecutor Nate Green, the Williamsburg Commonwealth’s Attorney. “He basically was asking someone to give money, not to give him money.”