Transparency News, 3/31/2022

Thursday
March 31, 2022

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state & local news stories

 

The word equity has become a fault line in Virginia schools. On one side of the debate are people who say they are concerned the word has become code for equality of outcome. On the other side of the issue are people like Frank Callahan of the Virginia NAACP, who said state education officials have spent the last few years creating some excellent resources. "The Virginia Department of Education has put out an excellent 50-something page document talking about Virginia's road back to equity," Callahan said. "And in that they express a tremendous amount of determination to recognize its responsibility to advance racial, social and economic equality in education throughout the commonwealth of Virginia." That's a resource that might soon be purged from the department's website now that the state superintendent recommends rescinding equity initiatives. James Fedderman at the Virginia Education Association said those resources need to remain available.
WHRO

Under Virginia’s regulatory process, “fast-tracking” can be a relative term. Two years after Virginia lawmakers voted to give local government power to remove or modify Confederate monuments, state officials chose the fast track to finalize regulations on who gets the final say on the historical accuracy of any modifications to those statues. Those pending rules, which would give historians and preservationists at the Virginia Board of Historic Resources the power to approve or reject new Civil War signage sought by local governments, were set to take effect in April after a 30-day public comment period. But because enough people objected to the fast-track process, generally used for uncontroversial topics, the state will now have to go through a lengthier review process that could significantly delay the regulations.  “It can take two or three years,” said Stephanie Williams, deputy director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Virginia Mercury
 

stories of national interest

Democratic Virginia Rep. Elaine Luria on Tuesday said the reported gap in former President Trump's phone records had "overtones" of the Watergate scandal. On Tuesday, it was reported by multiple outlets that Trump's phone records from Jan. 6 provided to the House select committee investigating the attack had a gap of more than seven hours. Luria, a member of the select committee, appeared on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes" and said the absence of certain phone records was "always very strange" due to outside reports from other lawmakers who have said they called Trump on that day. Noting how the Watergate scandal was an “infamous cover-up,” Luria said this absence in Trump’s phone records “definitely has overtones of that.” According to reports from The Washington Post and CBS News, there is a gap in Trump’s communications on Jan. 6 from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m.
The Hill
 

editorials & columns

 

The pandemic prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to embrace transparency, at least a little, by providing live audio of oral arguments. That change should be made permanent. Writing that “tens of thousands” of Americans have thus gained a greater understanding of and appreciation for the careful, serious proceedings of the high court, 40 members of the Supreme Court bar — lawyers who have argued before the court — sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts urging that livestream audio of oral arguments should be made permanent. They are right. The Supreme Court hands down monumental decisions with profound implications for individuals and for the future of the nation. Yet often, to most of us, the whole process can seem shrouded in archaic mystery. Allowing people to hear oral arguments as they are made goes a long way toward pulling back that curtain and making what happens at the high court more transparent and understandable.
The Virginian-Pilot

 

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