Transparency News 6/22/17

Thursday, June 22, 2017



State and Local Stories

A judge in Henrico County ruled that state senators are not individually subject to FOIA. The case was brought in the context of a citizen’s request for Facebook posts of Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant. “While Senator Dunnavant is indeed a public official, she is not a public body within the meaning of FOIA.”
VCOG website

The City of Roanoke launched a free mobile and web app Wednesday called Recycle Coach that gives reminders specific to a resident’s address for trash, recycling and bulk and brush item pick up. Roanoke picks up residential trash weekly but collects mixed recycling every other week on a rotation based on the city’s geographic quadrants. On the mobile app, which is free from the iTunes App Store and Google Play, users can view and download schedules and set up automatic reminders on their smartphones.
Roanoke Times

The impending divorce between Virginia’s information technology agency and Northrop Grumman is getting more expensive, but the question is who will pay the bill. The Virginia Information Technologies Agency filed a $300 million countersuit against the McLean-based technology giant Wednesday, alleging that the company has cost taxpayers millions of dollars by blocking the orderly transfer of information services to new providersand failing to adequately upgrade the state’s IT network. The suit, filed in Richmond Circuit Court, represents a forceful answer to the civil suit Northrop Grumman filed against the state in the same court at the end of last month.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Sen. Mark Warner tore into the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday for not revealing which states Russian hackers targeted during the 2016 election, warning that its silence is making the nation less secure for upcoming elections. The department's decision to keep "secret" the number and names of states that were attacked is "just crazy, in my mind," Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a hearing. The Virginia lawmaker's remarks come on the heels of a media report that 39 states suffered intrusions into their voter databases and software systems during the election. To date, though, only two states — Arizona and Illinois — are publicly known.
Politico



National Stories
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Pennsylvania's highest court said Tuesday the public should have access to dash camera video footage unless the police agency can prove it amounts to criminal investigative material and may be redacted. The Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in favor of a lower-court decision granting access to video shot by the dash cameras of two state troopers' vehicles as they responded to a 2014 crash near State College. The majority says police vehicle recordings, as a general rule, are not exempt from public disclosure. The state police had argued the recordings always contain criminal investigative material, but Justice Kevin Dougherty wrote that such determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis. "PSP simply does not explain how the video portion of the (recordings) captured any criminal investigation," Dougherty wrote.
Philadelphia Inquirer

The New Jersey Supreme Court decided unanimously Tuesday that the public is entitled to view electronic data kept by local government agencies. It reversed an appellate panel's finding that Galloway Township was not required to honor a request to provide a log of emails that were sent by the township police chief and clerk in 2013 because such a record would have to be electronically created. The state Open Public Records Act (OPRA) only requires the release of records, not information or data, the panel had said.
Governing

A hacker, angry that the police officer charged with killing Philando Castile was found not guilty, reportedly broke into state of Minnesota databases, stealing e-mails and passwords. Minnesota IT Services confirmed the attack and said it's investigating, according to a sparsely worded written statement. "Minnesota IT Services' security forensics team will share any relevant information with law enforcement for review for potential criminal activity." The hacker, known as "Vigilance," tweeted on Sunday: "Justice for #PhilandoCastile MN.gov and mnstate.edu Hacked An innocent man is dead, while a guilty man is free."
Governing

A civil case pending in a New York state appeals court is testing the limits of state legislation that protects journalists from revealing anonymous sources. Murray Energy Corporation, a coal mining company, is seeking an order from the New York Supreme Court to force Reorg Research Inc., a Manhattan-based corporate intelligence firm, to disclose anonymous sources believed to be investors liable for breach of contract. The New York Times reports news alerts sent by Reorg to subscribers used information from anonymous sources to report the corporation had reached a collective bargaining agreement with workers.
McClatchy