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ACCESS BILLS TO WATCH AS OF FEBRUARY 15, 2008

 If you think Big Brother is watching you, the bill that passed the House on Monday tells you it's true.

The Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center is where state local and federal officials are secretly gathering and  analyzing information on the citizens of Virginia and beyond. Apparently they are busy also worrying about hypothetical situations where someone could ask them for information they don't want to give out.

(though it says above that this was written by Megan Rhyne, it wasn't. It was written by VCOG Executive Director Jennifer Perkins, but thanks to a Web-updating quirk, Megan's name was inadvertently added.)

The 2008 Virginia General Assembly session has started out with a bang. By my count, there are at least 60 bills to fight, amend and track for changes. It's going to be a busy season for access advocates. See our list of bills we are tracking this year.

I write in response to the article the Free-Lance Star "Spotsy ordered to release 4 e-mails." While there are certainly heartening parts to Judge Beck's decision, I fear that once again a failure to interpret the letter of the law of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act will result in future withholding of records that should be public. Judge Beck stated county officials did not have to disclose the blacked-out portions of a Sept.

Note: The governor rescinded the policy Friday after the story broke.

I never thought of Pennsylvania as a particularly nutty place. You can’t get much more sober and sane than Philly’s Main Line neighborhoods, Pittsburgh’s serious steel making and the Amish, for heaven’s sake.

But the people running the state’s elections, bolstered by equally nutty folks at the state police, Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Homeland Security, have lost their marbles!

Over the weekend, the Roanoke Times reported that the Salem City Council took an expensive retreat to a West Virginia resort to talk city business in more comfortable climes.

Out-of-town retreats are nothing new. Though not particularly public-friendly to begin with, at least most local governments who favor these jaunts keep them close by or at least in-state. But a West Virginia resort?