Richmond city officials will not release additional records related to spending by Reginald Thomas — a former senior management analyst with the Richmond Fire Department who is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the city’s watchdog office. The Times-Dispatch previously reported that, according to credit card logs and invoices obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Thomas had spent more than $2 million of public funds at three companies registered to himself and associates. The newspaper followed up on that report, submitting a FOIA request for records of transactions between Thomas and three additional companies. On Tuesday, officials denied that request — despite the fact that they had fulfilled three prior, identical requests. “Release of the requested documents will negatively impact an ongoing inspector general investigation,” a city FOIA officer wrote in an email. The exemption cited by officials exists to “make sure investigators have free flow of information,” Megan Rhyne explained. For example, it protects certain whistleblowers’ names from disclosure so that potential whistleblowers won’t be discouraged from coming forward in the future. But the documents requested by The Times-Dispatch don’t appear to meet the criteria laid out in the exemption. Transaction records are neither “investigative notes,” “information furnished in confidence” nor “produced by or for” the inspector general’s office. They simply document how taxpayer dollars are being spent, and by whom.

A Prince William County police officer was arrested Wednesday on charges of stalking and illegally using a department computer in an investigation that began last month. Godson Vondee, 42, of Sentinel Ridge Lane in Stafford, was held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas regional jail, Prince William County police Lt. Jonathan Perok said in a news release. Police said their investigation revealed Vondee, a sworn officer of six years, accessed law enforcement databases to obtain identifying information on a man who “was known to a female acquaintance” of his, Perok said. Investigators determined Vondee allegedly accessed the Virginia Criminal Information Network once in 2023 and four times in 2024 to obtain information about the man, Perok said. He was reportedly on duty at the time of each incident, and did not have a criminal justice reason needed to access the information, Perok said.

Since nine confirmed incidents of self-harm began last year, local, state and international media — including The New York Times and The Guardian — have covered the story. The self-inflicted burns and attendant media attention have coincided with what men incarcerated by the Virginia Department of Corrections and prison abolitionists see as a coordinated effort to impede communications. Department of Corrections spokesperson Kyle Gibson emphatically denied the complaint via email: “This claim is completely false.” But in email exchanges with media, he’s referenced unwritten rules when declining to answer questions, saying that communications staff don’t generally respond to inquiries without proof of a publication home. That kind of opacity has raised alarm among press freedom advocates who see a broader trend of government agencies withholding information that should be available to the public.

Alligator Alcatraz, the massive immigration detention center in Florida, was originally expected to cost taxpayers $450 million per year. Leaked documents show that, after being in operation for less than two weeks, the cost of the facility has ballooned to over $600 million. New information from a leaked internal FEMA document reviewed by Drop Site puts “the total grant awarded to the Florida Division of Emergency Management at $608.4 million.”