Transparency News 7/8/16
Friday, July 8, 2016
Transparency News and I are headed out on vacation next week, but that doesn't mean you'll be without updates on access. I'll be on Twitter (@opengovva) and our Facebook and Google+ pages. I'll even send out the News IF my laptop is repaired by Saturday. It seems a certain four-legged creature knocked a glass of water off of a ledge onto my unsuspecting laptop below. Thanks for your patience!
State and Local Stories
Former University of Virginia Rector Helen Dragas is accusing U.Va. of maintaining “a $2.3 billion slush fund” for pet projects with money that instead should have been used to reduce tuition. University spokesman Anthony P. de Bruyn issued a statement in response that did not directly address Dragas’ allegations. U.Va. is “steadfast in its longtime commitment to providing an affordable, accessible and world-class education to all qualified students,” de Bruyn said Thursday.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
State mental health officials say they followed all standard procedures to reach the family of a Hampton Roads Regional Jail inmate who died a day after her transfer to Central State Hospital in May. "Given that this particular case has received a lot of public attention, I want to make it clear that (the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services) and Central State Hospital have followed protocols in doing everything in our power to reach the next-of-kin of a deceased patient, as we would do in any such case," spokeswoman Maria Reppas said in a written statement. Federal and state privacy laws bar her from giving specific details about efforts to reach the family, she added.
Daily Press
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has decided to forgo hearing information about a plan that would relocate its general district court to the site of its current office building. “We’ll be canceling [a] public presentation of the county’s alternative for locating the court here at Lane High School to give us more of an opportunity to discuss this with the city,” said Supervisor Brad Sheffield. Sheffield made the announcement after a closed session at the conclusion of the board’s regular meeting Wednesday. A public presentation on relocating the county’s General District Court to the former Lane High School had been scheduled to go before the board July 13 but the matter will now be delayed. “[Supervisors] decided to delay the public presentation of the information so it could be shared and considered by the county and city negotiating team prior to deciding on the timeline for a public presentation,” said Albemarle’s county executive, Tom Foley. Foley said the information will be then shared with each jurisdiction’s governing body in closed session.
Cville Tomorrow
Augusta County officials will meet with area Internet providers next month as the county continues to work toward providing broadband web access to remote parts of the county and other underserved areas.
The News Virginian
National Stories
The State Department is re-opening an internal investigation into whether Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her top aides mishandled classified information, Fox News confirmed late Thursday. The investigation, which was first reported by the Associated Press, focuses on how classified emails to and from Clinton's private server were categorized at the time they were sent. The State Department started its review in January after declaring 22 emails from Clinton's private server to be "top secret." The investigation was halted after the FBI began investigating Clinton's so-called "homebrew" email setup last April. On Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said there would be no indictments resulting from the FBI probe.
Fox News
Even as the FBI said Tuesday that it would not recommend charging Hillary Clinton for putting her work email on a private server when she was secretary of state, a federal court may have just opened the door to more scrutiny of the Democratic presidential candidate. The facts of the court ruling -- in the case of another government official -- have little to do with Clinton herself. But the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit appears to hold significant implications for the presumptive Democratic nominee. The D.C. Circuit held in its decision that work email stored privately is still subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The whole point of FOIA, the court said, is to provide transparency on public officials' behavior while in office. Circumventing that by hosting government documents on non-governmental servers defeats that purpose, Judge David Sentelle said. In other words, work emails are work emails, no matter where they happen to live or who happens to control access to them.
Washington Post
When the FBI director, James B. Comey, said that his investigators had no “direct evidence” that Hillary Clinton’s email account had been “successfully hacked,” both private experts and federal investigators immediately understood his meaning: It very likely had been breached, but the intruders were far too skilled to leave evidence of their work.
New York Times
Following almost two weeks of pressure from free speech groups and press coverage, a Georgia district attorney moved to drop felony charges against a newspaper publisher and his attorney. The publisher was indicted and jailed on June 24 for allegedly making a false statement in an open-records request. Mark Thomason, publisher of the community newspaper Fannin Focus, and Russell Stookey, the publication’s attorney, were also charged with identity fraud and attempted identity fraud after issuing subpoenas for financial records of a bank account controlled by the court. Chief Judge Brenda S. Weaver, of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit Superior Courts, convinced Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney Alison Sosebee to bring the charges against Thomason and Stookey after the pair subpoenaed copies of checks written on a court-funded bank account assigned to Weaver, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The indictment alleged Weaver was never notified or ever consented to the subpoena and that the accused may have been trying to steal her banking information “with intent to unlawfully appropriate resources.”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
A military judge in the desertion case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl ordered the government Thursday to turn over emails from top military leaders to Bergdahl’s defense attorneys so they can determine if top brass unfairly influenced the case, the Associated Press reported. The judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, ordered the government to release emails regarding the case that were sent and received by the head of U.S. Army Forces Command and his predecessor, along with communications by others involved in decisions on how Bergdahl's case has been handled, the AP reported. Army Forces Command has jurisdiction over the case.
USA Today
Editorials/Columns
When it comes to thwarting the public’s right to know, the list of offenses committed by Portsmouth officials is both lengthy and egregious. A majority of the City Council has expended a great deal of political will erecting obstacles to citizen access; those officials will not abandon that approach to governance based on one slap on the wrist. It’s been clear for months that no amount of public outrage, nor ink in the newspaper, nor time on the evening news will deter some members of the Portsmouth City Council from their belief that they shouldn’t have to answer for their decisions.
Virginian-Pilot
Transparency News and I are headed out on vacation next week, but that doesn't mean you'll be without updates on access. I'll be on Twitter (@opengovva) and our Facebook and Google+ pages. I'll even send out the News IF my laptop is repaired by Saturday. It seems a certain four-legged creature knocked a glass of water off of a ledge onto my unsuspecting laptop below. Thanks for your patience!
State and Local Stories
Former University of Virginia Rector Helen Dragas is accusing U.Va. of maintaining “a $2.3 billion slush fund” for pet projects with money that instead should have been used to reduce tuition. University spokesman Anthony P. de Bruyn issued a statement in response that did not directly address Dragas’ allegations. U.Va. is “steadfast in its longtime commitment to providing an affordable, accessible and world-class education to all qualified students,” de Bruyn said Thursday.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
State mental health officials say they followed all standard procedures to reach the family of a Hampton Roads Regional Jail inmate who died a day after her transfer to Central State Hospital in May. "Given that this particular case has received a lot of public attention, I want to make it clear that (the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services) and Central State Hospital have followed protocols in doing everything in our power to reach the next-of-kin of a deceased patient, as we would do in any such case," spokeswoman Maria Reppas said in a written statement. Federal and state privacy laws bar her from giving specific details about efforts to reach the family, she added.
Daily Press
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has decided to forgo hearing information about a plan that would relocate its general district court to the site of its current office building. “We’ll be canceling [a] public presentation of the county’s alternative for locating the court here at Lane High School to give us more of an opportunity to discuss this with the city,” said Supervisor Brad Sheffield. Sheffield made the announcement after a closed session at the conclusion of the board’s regular meeting Wednesday. A public presentation on relocating the county’s General District Court to the former Lane High School had been scheduled to go before the board July 13 but the matter will now be delayed. “[Supervisors] decided to delay the public presentation of the information so it could be shared and considered by the county and city negotiating team prior to deciding on the timeline for a public presentation,” said Albemarle’s county executive, Tom Foley. Foley said the information will be then shared with each jurisdiction’s governing body in closed session.
Cville Tomorrow
Augusta County officials will meet with area Internet providers next month as the county continues to work toward providing broadband web access to remote parts of the county and other underserved areas.
The News Virginian
National Stories
The State Department is re-opening an internal investigation into whether Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her top aides mishandled classified information, Fox News confirmed late Thursday. The investigation, which was first reported by the Associated Press, focuses on how classified emails to and from Clinton's private server were categorized at the time they were sent. The State Department started its review in January after declaring 22 emails from Clinton's private server to be "top secret." The investigation was halted after the FBI began investigating Clinton's so-called "homebrew" email setup last April. On Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said there would be no indictments resulting from the FBI probe.
Fox News
Even as the FBI said Tuesday that it would not recommend charging Hillary Clinton for putting her work email on a private server when she was secretary of state, a federal court may have just opened the door to more scrutiny of the Democratic presidential candidate. The facts of the court ruling -- in the case of another government official -- have little to do with Clinton herself. But the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit appears to hold significant implications for the presumptive Democratic nominee. The D.C. Circuit held in its decision that work email stored privately is still subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The whole point of FOIA, the court said, is to provide transparency on public officials' behavior while in office. Circumventing that by hosting government documents on non-governmental servers defeats that purpose, Judge David Sentelle said. In other words, work emails are work emails, no matter where they happen to live or who happens to control access to them.
Washington Post
When the FBI director, James B. Comey, said that his investigators had no “direct evidence” that Hillary Clinton’s email account had been “successfully hacked,” both private experts and federal investigators immediately understood his meaning: It very likely had been breached, but the intruders were far too skilled to leave evidence of their work.
New York Times
Following almost two weeks of pressure from free speech groups and press coverage, a Georgia district attorney moved to drop felony charges against a newspaper publisher and his attorney. The publisher was indicted and jailed on June 24 for allegedly making a false statement in an open-records request. Mark Thomason, publisher of the community newspaper Fannin Focus, and Russell Stookey, the publication’s attorney, were also charged with identity fraud and attempted identity fraud after issuing subpoenas for financial records of a bank account controlled by the court. Chief Judge Brenda S. Weaver, of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit Superior Courts, convinced Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney Alison Sosebee to bring the charges against Thomason and Stookey after the pair subpoenaed copies of checks written on a court-funded bank account assigned to Weaver, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The indictment alleged Weaver was never notified or ever consented to the subpoena and that the accused may have been trying to steal her banking information “with intent to unlawfully appropriate resources.”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
A military judge in the desertion case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl ordered the government Thursday to turn over emails from top military leaders to Bergdahl’s defense attorneys so they can determine if top brass unfairly influenced the case, the Associated Press reported. The judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, ordered the government to release emails regarding the case that were sent and received by the head of U.S. Army Forces Command and his predecessor, along with communications by others involved in decisions on how Bergdahl's case has been handled, the AP reported. Army Forces Command has jurisdiction over the case.
USA Today
Editorials/Columns
When it comes to thwarting the public’s right to know, the list of offenses committed by Portsmouth officials is both lengthy and egregious. A majority of the City Council has expended a great deal of political will erecting obstacles to citizen access; those officials will not abandon that approach to governance based on one slap on the wrist. It’s been clear for months that no amount of public outrage, nor ink in the newspaper, nor time on the evening news will deter some members of the Portsmouth City Council from their belief that they shouldn’t have to answer for their decisions.
Virginian-Pilot
Open records laws make it possible for the public to get their hands on valuable government information. That's generally a good thing. But there are a number of instances in which greater transparency can actually work against public-sector employees and taxpayers. Disclosing government employee pay, for example, can have a negative impact on those workers. According to research from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, after the pay for the highest-earning city employees was disclosed in California, their salaries took an 8 percent hit. That, in effect, "triggered a 75 percent increase in the quit rate among city managers," according to the report.
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, Governing
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