Transparency News 5/31/17

Wednesday, May 31, 2017



State and Local Stories

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. and Virginia’s information technology agency have reached divorce court. The McLean-based corporation filed suit Friday against Virginia and its IT agency over the state’s attempt to disentangle itself from the 13-year, more-than-$2 billion contract and replace it with deals for specific services with multiple other vendors. The 35-page complaint Northrop Grumman filed in Richmond Circuit Court seeks damages of more than $10.2 million and accuses the state of sabotaging a mediated settlement agreement that was reached with top officials in Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration. The company said it has attempted to resolve differences “in a transparent, businesslike” manner under the public-private partnership established in 2005 under then-Gov. Mark Warner and extended in 2010 under then-Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A Henrico County School Board member said the developer of a planned 1,000-home community signaled it would pull the project if it were rezoned as part of a school redistricting plan, according to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.  Explaining the developer’s reasoning, School Board member John Montgomery wrote in an April 5 email to his colleagues on the School Board that HHHunt “builds houses for certain kinds of people (rich) people and these (rich) people will not send their kids to schools like Hermitage and Brookland.” Montgomery wrote that he was approached by a “longstanding friend” who works for HHHunt, which is behind the would-be River Mill development. The friend expressed a “strong desire” not to have students who live in HHHunt’s development attend Hermitage High School or Brookland Middle School, according to Montgomery’s email to the School Board. In another email sent to a community member May 9, Montgomery wrote that HHHunt “is threatening to pull out of the River Mill project if it’s (sic) students are zoned to attend Hermitage.” Montgomery told the School Board members he declined to meet with his friend further and encouraged her and the company to share its research during public sessions.
Richmond Times-Dispatch



National Stories
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Jury selection starts Wednesday in a more than $1 billion defamation case over ABC news reports on a South Dakota meat producer's lean, finely textured beef product, which critics have dubbed "pink slime." The trial in state court is scheduled to last until late July. 
McClatchy