Transparency News 9/28/17

Thursday, September 28, 2017


Nominations are being accepted for VCOG’s Freedom of Information Awards, to be presented in the fall of 2017. Entries should be submitted by October 9, 2017, by filling out the form linked above or by mailing the same information to VCOG, P.O. Box 2576, Williamsburg VA  23187.

State and Local Stories

Petersburg City Treasurer Kevin Brown admitted to forensic auditors that he stole money from his office’s petty cash and the case has been turned over to the FBI for further investigation, according to a report filed by the auditors. PBMares LLP, the accounting firm hired to conduct the forensic audit, has been delving into the city’s books since March. In addition to other findings, the auditors found evidence of money being stolen from the Treasurer’s Office by Brown.
Progress-Index

Virginia will have to pay $4.8 million that it has withheld from Northrop Grumman for messaging services since April, but the information technology giant must continue to provide email service for nearly 60,000 state employees while aiding transition to a new vendor, under a ruling by a Richmond judge on Wednesday. The split decision by Richmond Circuit Judge Gregory L. Rupe came after a three-hour hearing and prompted an additional 75 minutes of legal wrangling that required the judge to return to the bench three times to settle what his ruling means for the two sides.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The University of Virginia tallied more than $63,000 in additional costs as it responded to the white supremacist marches and rallies on Aug. 11 and 12. According to UVa, the majority of costs came from the University Police Department. Officers assisted the Charlottesville Police Department and offered on-Grounds security from Aug. 11 through Aug. 13. Officers clocked 842.75 overtime hours, for a total cost of $37,081.
Daily Progress


National Stories
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The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to install a secure phone booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to a report Tuesday. The agency signed a $24,570 contract with Acoustical Solutions this summer for a "privacy booth for the administrator," the Washington Post reported, citing government contracting records. Pruitt avoids using email, and employees who meet with him are told to leave behind their cellphones, the New York Times reported last month. The EPA until recently did not publicly post Pruitt's schedule. Last week, the agency released months' worth of meetings after media outlets filed Freedom of Information Act requests.
Washington Examiner

A federal judge said Monday he will decide soon whether Northwest Arkansas officials should have immunity from being sued for releasing decade-old information about an investigation into the sexual abuse of four Duggar daughters by their brother Josh. City and county officials have asked Judge Timothy Brooks to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that they are entitled to qualified and statutory immunity from being sued and the lawsuit fails to state a claim. They also contend that the information was public knowledge when it was released.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A National Security Agency contractor accused of leaking a classified report on Russian hacking aimed at the 2016 election told FBI agents she smuggled the document out of a high security intelligence facility in her pantyhose. That and other details appear in a transcript federal prosecutors filed in court Wednesday detailing the interrogation of 25-year-old linguist Reality Winner by the FBI as they carried out a search warrant at her home in June.
Politico

The open government movement is many-faceted, but with democratic principles serving as such a prominent motivator for many of its participants, gathering election data is considered by some to be their most crucial pursuit. To learn more about ongoing efforts to collect and share data pertaining to how and why people vote, StateScoop spoke with Derek Willis. He's a journalist, data scientist and project lead for OpenElections, a project funded by the Knight Foundation that is close to completing a data set of nationwide precinct-level elections results.
StateScoop


Editorials/Columns


At a Confederate statue protest and counterprotest, some State Police officers appeared to have concealed their names. A possible motive can be found amid reports that some internet trolls are targeting police officers. Trolling is the practice of deliberately causing conflict by making inflammatory comments on social media or posting false information. In today’s atmosphere of hostility and hatred, trolling could stimulate violence. While work policies and state and national laws lag in responding to such realities of today’s cyber-world, there simultaneously exists a compelling need to maintain openness and transparency in government — including police agencies. There’s a very good reason the Virginia State Police policy calls for names to be sewn onto uniforms: Residents need to know who they’re dealing with.
Daily Progress

If Aurora (Illinois) Police Chief Kristen Ziman’s view of the world gained currency, America would be a scary place for those who cherish the democratic ideals of a free press and the people’s right to know whether their government is following the laws of the land. . . . The chief went on to blast the reporter's journalistic practices: seeking information too often, wasting her department's time. She complained that sometimes the reporter does not even write a story after filing a FOIA request. We realize that you are somewhat new to this business of being a journalism critic, chief, but we must clue you in to one of our newsgathering secrets: You can't tell if information is worth writing a story about until you see the information. Crazy, right? We treasure the input, chief, but you don't get to decide what is a news story.
Beacon-News