Transparency News, 7/21/2022

Thursday
July 21, 2022

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state & local news stories

COVID, the Parole Board, COVID again, settlements. These and other topics have been the subject of FOIA Council opinions over the last two years. Check them out on VCOG's website.

Norfolk City Council adopted an ordinance requiring the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the entity, Hampton Roads Ventures, to use its “best efforts” to seek out Norfolk projects in the future. It also requires the company to distribute its future profits to either the NRHA or other “deserving Norfolk not-for-profit entities.” “The projects that we want are now a priority for Hampton Roads Ventures,” Mayor Kenny Alexander said before the City Council meeting on Tuesday. Alexander said the company had been operating with “no accountability” to the city for years, but he said that would change following the adoption of the ordinance. City Council began looking into the housing authority’s dealings with Hampton Roads Ventures in 2021 following recent reporting by The Virginia Mercury, a nonprofit online news organization. Several City Council members said at the time that they were unaware of the company’s existence.
The Virginian-Pilot

On Tuesday, Elizabeth Bersani, a high school journalist from Fredericksburg, thought she didn’t have enough experience to take good photos. But by Wednesday, Bersani was editing and preparing vibrant, energetic and well-composed snapshots for publication of children at play in the Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg. Bersani said using the camera for the first time is just one of the new skills she’s learned during a weeklong technical education camp for local middle and high schoolers called jCamp. Taking place at James Madison University, the camp teaches storytelling to local students, putting them in groups that work to produce media spreads about community news during the week.
Daily News Record

stories of national interest

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and his ex-wife Sheena Greitens testified behind closed doors for more than seven hours Wednesday in their ongoing child custody dispute in which Sheena Greitens has accused the former governor of physical and emotional abuse. Attorneys for both parties were allowed to question Eric and Sheena Greitens under oath during the closed-door deposition in Columbia. A deposition hearing, which is not open to the public, was held instead of a public trial due to concerns about publicity for the former couple’s two young children.
McClatchyDC