Transparency News 6/20/19

Thursday
June 20, 2019

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state & local news stories

A Henrico County judge has dismissed a legal appeal filed by a company that lost out on a chance to be part of Virginia’s emerging medical cannabis industry. Though most forms of competitive bidding in state government are subject to some public disclosure, the dispensary applications were treated under a medical licensing statute that allows a higher degree of secrecy. After the five winners were announced last September, some applicants complained they received little to no explanation about how their bids had fared.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Metro board chairman Jack Evans acknowledged Wednesday night that he violated the board’s ethics code by failing to disclose a conflict of interest and agreed not to seek reelection as chairman to help settle an investigation into his conduct. Evans’s statement reversed assertions he made Tuesday, when he repeatedly claimed that the board’s ethics committee had cleared him of all violations.
The Washington Post

As Warren County Supervisor Tom Sayre waited Wednesday in the lobby of the Warren County Circuit Court to be called before a special grand jury investigating potential embezzlement at the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, a defamation suit filed against him by the authority’s former executive director Jennifer McDonald was underway.
The Northern Virginia Daily

A bipartisan pair of U.S. Senators on Tuesday demanded the FBI and National Park Service update them on their review of Bijan Ghaisar’s fatal shooting by U.S. Park Police in 2017. Sens. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, co-authored the letters, saying the agencies have rebuffed their requests for an update on the case. “The FBI has failed to provide information on this investigation, which has been ongoing since November 2017, to us, our colleagues, or the public. The FBI’s slow pace and lack of transparency are weakening the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” the senators wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The Washington Times

stories of national interest

A city in Florida has decided to pay $600,000 to the hackers behind a ransomware attack that's locked down the local government's data. On Monday, the city council of Riviera Beach voted unanimously to let the city's insurer pay 65 bitcoins to the hackers. Why the council authorized the payment wasn't discussed at the emergency hearing. But the city is hoping to recover municipal files the hackers encrypted during the ransomware attack.
PCMag

The Joint Chiefs of Staff briefly published and then removed from public access a new edition of their official doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons. But a public copy was preserved.  The document presents an unclassified, mostly familiar overview of nuclear strategy, force structure, planning, targeting, command and control, and operations.
Secrecy News

 

editorials & columns

Citing ongoing negotiations with NH District Corp., the city consistently refuses to share information. That is wrong and runs contrary to open government. The city serves no one by shielding what should be public information. The Stoney administration is wasting time and taxpayer dollars by cloaking in secrecy vital information that deserves full public vetting. The city botched its handling of the FOIA requests. As we’ve stated previously, we’re guardedly optimistic about the plans to redevelop and in turn revitalize a decaying swath of downtown. However, we can’t throw our support behind a project when we don’t know all the details. Step into the sunlight, Mayor Stoney.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Patient advocates say understaffing and a lack of detail when it comes to patients’ individual needs are significant problems at nursing homes and assisted care facilities. Both issues foment an atmosphere where falls, infections and illnesses are much more likely to occur. Too often, the only way to get a true picture of these facilities is to sift through court cases and obscure Medicaid agency records because many accounts are not included in official inspection reports. It’s difficult, at best, for the public to determine if a facility has above average incidences of falls and wounds simply by looking at these reports. One step must include creating a facility report card that families can easily access that includes costs, services provided, staff-to-patient ratios and lists the various types of complaints consumers have reported to regulators. This transparency isn’t just for current residents and their families, it will have generational impacts that would be in place as today’s workforce retires and seeks these services in greater numbers.
Daily Press