Transparency News, 8/17/2022
Wednesday
August 17, 2022
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state & local news stories
Tomorrow morning in Norfolk Circuit Court, the City of Norfolk will defend its response to FOIA requests submitted by Josh Stanfield of Yorktown. One of the issues that will be covered is whether two elected city council members should be required to follow FOIAif they've received a request sent directly to them for their own records. The city says no, that "determining that a part-time elected official is a public body and custodian of public records goes far beyond what the General Assembly contemplated in enacting and maintaining FOIA."
Read the city's response to Stanfield's petition on VCOG's Google Drive
Tuesday night’s Hanover County School Board meeting regarding a proposed transgender policy quickly became tense as the third speaker was ushered out by a deputy while addressing the board. Resident Wendy Kersey was talking about the local organization Hanover Patriots, which had a strong presence at the meeting and generally supports the policy. She was interrupted by School Board Chair John Axselle III, who asked her to stay on topic. The two spoke over each other, and Kersey was ushered away by a deputy as she spoke about Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal advocacy organization that largely wrote the proposed transgender policy.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith admitted that communication could’ve been better on July 6 when he and Mayor Levar Stoney stated that the Richmond Police Department (RPD) foiled a mass shooting plot targeting Dogwood Dell. A City spokesperson reached out to 8News on Tuesday afternoon, saying Smith would be available for a discussion later in the afternoon. The interview took place a little over a week after Smith declared that he would no longer speak publicly about the alleged mass shooting plot. “We are closing all discussion about the planned Fourth of July mass shooting,” Smith had said at an RDP quarterly crime briefing on Aug. 8. “The matter is now in the hands of the federal government. As I’ve often stated, we will follow wherever the investigation leads us.” Smith continued to stand by his earlier statements that the Dogwood Dell was identified as the target for the mass shooting plot.
WRIC
stories of national interest
D.C. public health officials said Tuesday they plan to publish an online dashboard of the city’s monkeypox cases, including demographic data, one day after a majority of D.C. Council members urged the health department to step up public communication about the virus. The dashboard, which officials said will go live at 6 p.m. Wednesday, appears to address council members’ concerns about making sure the city’s limited number of vaccine doses go to underserved communities, and parents’ concerns about safety before the upcoming school year.
The Washington Post
Back in April, Politico published a short item pertaining to a judge who refused to seal a “Jane Doe” Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. It demanded that the F.B.I. turn over documents related to allegations that the plaintiff’s then-husband “physically and verbally assaulted” her and their children while they were traveling on a private plane “several years ago.” The item speculated—based on the timeline, the details of the incident, and the powerful attorney involved—that this “Jane Doe” was Angelina Jolie, and that the “then-husband” was Brad Pitt. After all, Jolie made similar allegations about Pitt in 2016. Eventually, however, the F.B.I. decided not to press charges. Having followed their bizarre post-divorce legal battle for some time, I can now confirm that Jolie is indeed the plaintiff in the F.B.I. suit. I can also reveal that the pseudonymous lawsuit is available publically for the first time.
Puck News
California State Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, R- San Luis Obispo, went into the last month of California’s legislative session somewhat hopeful about prospects for his biggest bill. Cunningham co-authored a law that would have allowed prosecutors to sue big social media companies for addicting children and teens to their online platforms. Companies like Meta, which oversees Facebook and Instagram, hated the bill and deployed lobbyists to fight it. Even so, it advanced easily through the Assembly and the Senate Judiciary Committees before landing in the Senate Appropriations Committee. On Thursday, Aug. 11, Assembly Bill 2408 died there without a vote or any public explanation. Twice a year, a legislative instrument called the suspense file leaves many lawmakers, lobbyists and members of the public seething. Appropriations committees in the Senate and Assembly use it to kill or quietly amend bills before they can reach the floor.
Governing
editorials & columns
Until last week, I considered Isle of Wight County School Board member Michael Vines to be an unimportant side show — loose-lipped, quick-tempered and beleaguered, but mostly well-intentioned and undeserving of recall from public office, as his critics have sought. Then came Thursday night’s School Board meeting, where Vines revealed a deeper flaw and rendered himself, in these eyes, unworthy of elected service to the important cause of public education in this community. Vines’ attack on the integrity of this newspaper — and one of Virginia’s best journalists, Stephen Faleski — might rate as the most shameful act by a public official I’ve ever witnessed. And, in four decades of editing and publishing community newspapers, let’s just say I’ve seen some doozies.
Steve Stewart, The Smithfield Times
