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"Judge James Updike recognized the media’s 30-year track record of professionally and unobtrusively giving the greater public a glimpse of the proceedings."
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Jail deaths persist in Virginia — at least 21 so far this year. And this is despite reforms enacted by the General Assembly to hold jails more accountable for how they treat their prisoners. In fact, the accountability effort might be failing. What causes concern is the fact that the responsible agency is not releasing information about its investigations. Under the new legislation, authority for overseeing investigations was handed over to the Board of Corrections, a panel of citizens appointed by the governor. The Board of Corrections already is in charge of jails, so the addition of investigative authority essentially means that the board is granted the power of self-policing. That creates the potential for conflict of interest.
The Daily Progress
News reports on a controversy regarding some past gift agreements at George Mason University have focused on three important, interrelated, yet distinct issues: a demand for increased transparency in agreements between the university and its private donors; opposition to accepting gifts from donors of a given political persuasion; and the question of what rights are appropriate for a university to grant donors.
We ought to be responsive to the first, stand firm against the second, and bring additional clarity to the third as a means of facilitating the other two.
Ángel Cabrera, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Last month, The News & Advance — a party to securing cameras in the courtroom during the Jens Soering case — went before now-Judge Updike, along with other media outlets, for the upcoming trial of Cristian Jose Sanchez-Gomez. In granting the media’s request, Judge James Updike recognized the intense public interest in the case and security concerns raised by both the prosecution and defense. But he also recognized the media’s 30-year track record of professionally and unobtrusively giving the greater public a glimpse of the proceedings. Some people still worry that cameras in the courtroom could impact the trial itself, but again Updike shot down those concerns. “”[I]f at any time there becomes some impact upon the trial, then in accordance with the statute, as counsel are aware, it says a presiding judge shall, at all times, have authority to prohibit, interrupt, to terminate electronic media and still photography coverage of public proceedings. So, if at any time a presiding judge says that’s it, then that’s it. But during all [these] years, I never saw that occur.”
The News & Advance
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