Transparency News 10/15/18

 

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Monday
October 15, 2018

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state & local news stories

 

The Franklin County School Board must pay a Martinsville-based web design firm upward of $11,000, a judge has ruled. A lawsuit was brought by herDesign Inc., which does business as HD Web Studio, after the school district canceled its contract with the company. The money serves as payment for work HD Web Studio had already done on the project, which was to include logo design and creation of individual school websites, among other things, according to court documents. School board attorney Stephen Maddy said the dissolution of the contract was prompted by “creative differences.”
The Roanoke Times

The official photo of the Bristol Virginia City Council on the city’s website speaks volumes about the current divide. It excludes embattled Councilman Doug Fleenor. Taken July 2, immediately following the council’s annual reorganization meeting, Fleenor begged off sticking around to appear in the photo that morning, saying he had someplace else to be. The image was never retaken. On Monday, Fleenor faces an ouster vote by fellow council members. What the public and media didn’t know then — but are now learning — is that meeting occurred within days after a watershed moment in the sometimes rocky relationship between the outspoken Fleenor and his fellow council members. “In late June, I was advised by at least one council member to begin looking into Mr. Fleenor’s actions, or lack thereof, and attendance,” City Manager Randy Eads said Friday. Eads said he then began to review Fleenor’s attendance at meetings.
Bristol Herald Courier

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national stories of interest

One of the last secrets from the Watergate scandal could soon be revealed.  A federal judge in Washington has ordered the National Archives to review key documents that have remained under seal for 44 years and prepare for their release. Those papers, known as the "road map," helped advance the impeachment effort aimed at then-President Richard Nixon. They've been under wraps since then but scholars say they're newly relevant today as President Trump faces down a different investigation.
NPR

A Cook County, Illinois, judge has granted a July motion filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a coalition of six media organizations to unseal court documents that shed light on the case of three Chicago police officers facing obstruction of justice and other charges related to the shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald.  The officers — David March, Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney — are also facing conspiracy and official misconduct charges for allegedly interfering with the investigation into former police officer Jason Van Dyke's fatal shooting of 17-year-old McDonald in October 2014. Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm on Friday. 
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
 

 

 

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editorials & columns

 

Another state report released last week contained some grim news for the commonwealth. According to the Virginia State Crime Commission, more than 675,000 criminal offenses — including 132,083 felony offenses, 318 convictions for murder/homicide, and 1,308 rape convictions — were never entered into Virginia’s Central Criminal Records Exchange thanks to missing or poorly recorded fingerprints. As a result, the commission notes, there are large gaps in the state’s database used by law enforcement, private employers, gun sellers, and others to verify an individual’s background history and criminal record. Crime commission attorney Nathan Hittle said, “I think that the magnitude of the issue was somewhat surprising.” Somewhat surprising? That’s an understatement. We find the magnitude of the issue quite shocking.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

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