Transparency News 6/1/17

Thursday, June 1, 2017



State and Local Stories

A judge upheld the Smyth County Board of Supervisors’ decision to discuss dissolving the regional library system behind closed doors. Judge Sage B. Johnson issued his ruling May 26 in the case brought by Friends of the Smyth-Bland Regional Library against the supervisors and County Administrator Michael Carter. The case alleged that the supervisors violated the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) when the supervisors discussed the dissolution of the regional library in closed sessions earlier this year. Johnson said he concurred with “my colleague, Judge Gamble, from Amherst Circuit Court recognizing that the Board is not entitled to a blanket exemption to discuss legal matters.” However, he noted, “there was active litigation directly involving the Smyth-Bland Regional Library against the Board that had been filed on November 4, 2016.” The existence of that lawsuit filed by three former Smyth-Bland Regional Library trustees who were fighting their removal by the supervisors was critical to Johnson’s decision.
Smyth County News & Messenger

Traffic at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport has been in a slump since People Express Airlines started, and quickly failed, to launch service — except for one select group: executives of the Peninsula Airport Commission. Former Executive Director Ken Spirito's travel bill approached $80,000 over the past three years, a Daily Press review of hundreds of pages of records requested through the Freedom of Information Act found. Most of the trips were for aviation conventions, with destinations including London, San Juan, San Diego and Las Vegas.
Daily Press

Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, said Wednesday she hopes police catch whoever broke into the office of her primary challenger Alex Mejias over Memorial Day weekend. Richmond police provided a copy of their report on the burglary but redacted the list of three items stolen and one item damaged. The total value of items stolen is listed as $90 in the report.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Katie Couric is in the clear after a judge dismissed a $12 million lawsuit filed against her by a Virginia gun club, claiming that a documentary she produced defamed its members because it was edited in a misleading way. In September 2016, the Virginia Citizens Defense League sued after it was revealed that director Stephanie Soechtig inserted a nine-second gap of silence into the Epix doc “Under the Gun,” making it seem as if the members were stumped by a question Couric posed on gun control.
Fox News

A U.S. Navy officer will soon be sentenced for revealing military secrets and other crimes. The Navy says a sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin Thursday in Virginia for Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin. The proceeding on a base in Norfolk could last into Friday.
McClatchy

An Arlington-based legal investigative unit filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to force D.C. police to turn over information gathered in last year’s fatal shooting of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. The Profiling Project, headed by lobbyist and lawyer Jack Burkman, along with law students at George Washington University, filed the suit in D.C. Superior Court in hopes it can gain access to surveillance video from a camera at the Flagler Market, near where Rich was killed; the D.C. Medical Examiner’s report on the death; and the forensic ballistic report.
Washington Post



National Stories
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The Justice Department decided to keep secret on privacy grounds the resignation letters from nearly 50 U.S. attorneys ousted by the Trump administration without first reading any of the letters, public records show. Justice Department lawyers in March denied a Burlington Free Press request under the federal Freedom of Information Act for copies of the letters, on grounds that the information in the documents was so "inherently personal" that they should be exempt from release. But notes that Justice Department staff created while processing the FOIA request show their conclusion was based only on an assumption.
Burlington Free Press

The White House on Wednesday disclosed a group of former lobbyists working in President Donald Trump's administration who have been issued ethics waivers, following a request from the U.S. government's ethics agency. The list of at least 11 waivers include White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, according to a chart issued on the White House website. (bit.ly/1LPKWx8)
Reuters

Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and key members of his leadership team on Wednesday filed a bill requiring the release of all records related to the 38 Studios investigation after learning the state police have recently discovered “a box of documents.” There was no immediate response from the attorney general’s office on the contents of the box, and when and where it was discovered. Laura Meade Kirk, the spokeswoman for the state police, said Wednesday night: “The Rhode Island State Police has already released what we had believed to be all records relating to the 38 Studios investigation. We were recently made aware of some additional documents that should have been released. We are in the process of reviewing these and will release them as soon as possible.” The bill says: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or state law, any investigatory records generated or obtained by the Rhode Island state police or the Rhode Island attorney general in conducting an investigation surrounding the funding of 38 Studios, LLC by the Rhode Island economic development corporation shall be made available to the public.″ (A similar bill has already cleared the House.)
Providence Journal

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the FBI for more information about its relationship with Best Buy employees with whom the FBI says acted as paid informants for the agency. The nonprofit digital rights organization filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit (PDF) Wednesday in US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking FBI records about the extent to which the agency trains and directs Best Buy Geek Squad employees to conduct warrantless searches of customers' devices during maintenance. The EFF says it worries that use of repair technicians to root out evidence of criminal behavior circumvents people's Constitutional rights.
CNET News

Police body camera videos of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history were released by a Florida newspaper on Wednesday, showing harrowing scenes of officers rushing into the Orlando nightclub where 49 people were killed in June 2016. Among the 15 hours of videos obtained through a public records request by the Orlando Sentinelis a scene of officers firing toward gunman Omar Mateen and one officer yelling: "Come out with your hands up or you will die." Portions of the videos were posted on the newspaper's website. Footage of those who died was not shown.
Reuters


Editorials/Columns


Slightly less than six months ago, a sitting judge decided in essence that it was a good idea to restrict access for one select group — news reporters. In that very same court, one of our elected officials was cleared of most of the charges of domestic abuse that had been levied against him — without anyone outside that room knowing the reason why. When the public's business is being done we believe it is our role and responsibility to provide full and fair coverage. It is not a mission that we take lightly.
Daily Press

HHHunt has a 1,000-residence development in the works in western Henrico. But in early April, a member of the county’s school board — John Montgomery — told his colleagues the developer would cancel the project if the county assigns future families there to Hermitage High School or Brookland Middle School.  Montgomery learned this from a “longstanding friend” he declined to name. A spokesperson for HHHunt denied the allegation. We have no idea who’s telling the truth. But you don’t have to look far to find cases where politicians have blasted anonymously sourced reports as fake news.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The original information came from media relations staffer Hayden. The DEQ now says he had not been fully briefed on the details of the review process. Mistakes happen. Perhaps the lack of a briefing was the fault of the technical staff; perhaps Mr. Hayden was at fault, exceeding his authority in making such a decisive statement. While we can and should forgive honest mistakes, news outlets also must be able to rely on the information provided them by media relations personnel — including the eye-catching news that the controversial pipelines would be held to a high environmental standard.
Daily Progress