Transparency News 9/28/16

 

The chairman of the Winchester Board of Architectural Review (BAR) has been removed from that position by City Council. At a regular meeting of Council on Tuesday, the panel unanimously adopted a resolution to remove Peter Serafin as a member of the BAR because he was recorded discussing the matter of demolishing the Winchester Towers site at 200-214 N. Cameron St. with other BAR members before a BAR meeting on Sept. 15. The resolution was added to the regular meeting agenda. There was no public discussion. The matter was discussed in closed session for about one hour and 35 minutes. During that time they called in both Serafin and BAR Vice Chairman Kevin Walker, both of whom said they were asked by the city to attend the meeting but not told why. On Tuesday, city communications manager Amy Simmons gave The Star a copy of Code of Virginia § 2.2-3112, which states that a government "officer or employee of any state or local governmental or advisory agency" is prohibited from "discussing the matter in which he has a personal interest with other government officers or employees."
Winchester Star



National Stories
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Maine Gov. Paul LePage said he has been keeping a binder of photos to prove that most of the drug dealers arrested in Maine are blacks or Hispanics, but people of those races account for only 40 percent of the photos in the binder. The 148-page document includes press releases, newspaper clippings and jail booking and courtroom photos of people charged with trafficking heroin, methamphetamine, crack and other drugs in Maine since January. The photos in the binder show men and women of several races, and some of the pages include handwritten notes by LePage. The governor's office released the contents of the binder Monday, in response to numerous public records requests from the media and other organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine.
Governing

Five years after a deranged gunman shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others at a southern Arizona shopping center, records released by the FBI provide insights and details about the case, but no startling new revelations. The heavily redacted files depict a swarming investigation that began within minutes of the shooting, as federal agents and law officers in Pima County tried to figure out whether the captured gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, had acted alone.
USA Today

Despite his outspoken views on pretty much everything, famed astronomer Carl Sagan’s surprisingly light FBI file only concerns an investigation into a letter he received in 1983, identifying Dr. Sagan as one of the few figures capable of preventing a global apocalypse. The file, released to Brandon Wieber, makes relatively little note of Dr. Sagan, beyond verifying his position at Columbia University, and agreeing with the author of the letter’s assessment that he is “a figure of influence.”
Muck Rock (with documents)

An attorney for the Boulder, Colorado, Daily Camera argued in court Tuesday that a Boulder judge's order prohibiting the newspaper from publishing information contained in an arrest-warrant affidavit in an attempted-murder case was an unconstitutional prior restraint of the press. Chief Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter did not immediately rule on the Camera's motion to overturn her order, saying "the prior restraint will remain in effect" while she considers the matter. The court order, which Berkenkotter stressed she had issued reluctantly on Monday, came in the case of the 16-year-old boy accused of severely beating a Lefthand Canyon woman last week.
Daily Camera

Monroe County, Florida, State Attorney Catherine Vogel said Tuesday that her office is investigating possible wrongdoing in the County Clerk’s Office for the destruction of government e-mails and possibly other documents. “We’re looking into whether there is criminal activity. I can’t say there is any criminal activity,” Vogel said, adding her lead investigator, Chris Weber, is on the case. It’s the latest to come out of revelations brought out by County Attorney Bob Shillinger that e-mails were being deleted just days following Clerk Amy Heavilin’s loss in the Aug. 30 Republican primary election to Kevin Madok, who will face former Clerk’s Office attorney Ron Saunders in the Nov. 8 general election.
Miami Herald