Transparency News, 8/21/20

House Bill 5090, proposed by Del. Chris Hurst and co-sponsored by Del. Mike Mullin, would clarify the definition of an “ongoing case” and require that law enforcement agencies release investigative information to the public unless they can prove in court that releasing the information would cause harm. “Our criminal justice system must improve — it doesn’t work for everyone equally. Disproportionately, criminal investigations with Black and Latino victims are going unsolved,” said Hurst. “Data and best practice in law enforcement consistently shows that transparency with the public helps build trust with the community.”
WSLS

The Virginia Senate adjourned Thursday and will return to Richmond next week to continue work for the special session. The Senate has worked through dozens of bills in just a few days, while the House of Delegates has yet to begin its work. The House is planning to vote Sunday to transition to an all-virtual session and then it will begin taking up bills. Because of that delay with the House, the senators decided to go home and return once the House catches up on its work. In the meantime, the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees are continuing to work on the budget, which is the primary reason the governor called the General Assembly to have a special session.
The Roanoke Times

Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority is preparing to submit its annual plan for federal approval. Before that happens, the public has until September 30 to comment on the plan — but after a site redesign earlier this week, a draft version of the plan was pulled from RRHA’s website until VPM contacted the agency. RRHA initially posted a draft plan and supporting documents under the “news” tab on its website last week. But sometime between Monday and Wednesday morning — they were taken down. 
VPM

The day after protests and vandalism at the city’s Confederate monument, a Portsmouth police sergeant emailed the city manager and council members to defend the police chief and take aim at Sen. Louise Lucas, the city’s top prosecutor and public defenders. “For a Senator to try to inject any of us into her agenda is repulsive,” he wrote of Lucas. Two months later, that same officer, Sgt. Kevin McGee, went before a magistrate to take out felony charges stemming from those protests against Lucas and 13 others, including local NAACP leaders, a school board member and three public defenders. The existence of the email was first reported Thursday by the Huffington Post. The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy of it Thursday.
The Virginian-Pilot

An investigation into Superintendent Steve Walts’ use of his Twitter account has cost Prince William County Public Schools over $110,000. The school division paid law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP a total of $110,776.50 for its investigation of complaints about Walts, according to documents from the division provided to InsideNoVa in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The law firm presented the results of its investigation to the school board in late July, but that presentation is confidential because it involves a personnel matter, school board Chair Babur Lateef told InsideNoVa on Tuesday. In response to a FOIA request from InsideNoVa for a copy of the law firm’s report, school division staff said no physical report was provided. Sherry Clines, equity and employee relations specialist for the division, told InsideNoVa the law firm gave “an oral and visual presentation” with findings from its investigation to the school board. 
InsideNoVa

 

Appealing a Second Circuit decision barring President Donald Trump from blocking his critics on Twitter, the Justice Department on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to reverse the finding that government officials must make themselves open to contentious debate on social media. “In holding that the president acts unconstitutionally in blocking respondents’ accounts from his personal Twitter account, the court of appeals misapplied several First Amendment doctrines,” according to a petition filed with the high court by acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall.
Courthouse News Service

Dr. Deborah Birx says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is creating a new way to track COVID-19 hospitalizations a month after such data collection was moved outside the agency.
NPR

 

 

Allegations that the Virginia Parole Board—which had a statutory obligation to allow families and local prosecutors to testify regarding the release of these violent felons—failed to even notify them were “substantiated,” according to the IG’s report. But the supposed watchdog then attempted to keep the gory details from the public—while the Parole Board was busy releasing 95 violent felons, including murderers and rapists, from prison in just 35 days—by redacting almost the entire report and refusing to grant media requests for an unredacted copy. The full six-page report was made public only after Republican leaders in the General Assembly pointedly reminded the IG that state law also required him to provide them with a copy of his findings.
The Free Lance-Star