Transparency News, 8/2/2022
Tuesday
August 2, 2022
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state & local news stories
8News' investigations continue to reveal that about a dozen assisted living facilities statewide are operating with subpar conditions. Our April investigation into Fillmore Place in Petersburg revealed it was one of 11 across Virginia operating with a provisional license, meaning they all failed to substantially comply with state standards.There is currently no way to view all facilities with provisional licenses, so 8News has continued making periodic public records requests for those lists.
WRIC
Arlington County School Board Chairman Reid Goldstein announced at the last School Board meeting that a regular feature of meetings would be missing until the start of school. “We are not taking public comment during the summer meetings,” Goldstein said, so the School Board could “focus on conducting the necessary business promptly.” Public comment will return Sept. 8, said Goldstein, who rotated in for a one-year stint at chairman on July 1.
Sun Gazette
stories of national interest
The Iowa Public Information Board is backing off a proposed rule change that would have required government agencies to at least acknowledge a public-records request within two business days. The board had proposed the new rule after fielding complaints from Iowans about government agencies that don’t acknowledge, let alone fulfill, formal requests for access to public records, according to the board’s executive director, Margaret Johnson. “We have had an increasing number of complaints filed with our office where there’s no response back (from the government agency),” Johnson told the Iowa Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee on July 19. “Someone makes a record request and then hears nothing. And then, after a period of time, (they) file a complaint with us. And then we’re (hearing explanations) like, ‘Oh, we didn’t realize we needed to let them know we don’t have any of those records,’ or, ‘It went to the wrong place,’ or any number of other reasons … It does delay that record requester’s ability know what’s going on.” However, after hearing from government agencies that object to a rule requiring a response within two business days, the Iowa Public Information Board staff is now inclined to “just sort of let this die,” Johnson told the committee.
The Gazette
North Carolina’s intermediate-level appeals court will now make public more details about how its three-judge panels settled certain questions brought before them. On Monday, the state Court of Appeals will begin revealing online whether rulings on petitions filed with the court are unanimous or 2-1 votes. That will happen the day when a petition order becomes public. Petitions seek legal relief, such as blocking a trial court’s judgment while it’s appealed or compelling a trial court to act. Ninety days after each such petition decision is announced, the court also will reveal which of the 15 judges served on the panel seated at that time to hear the petition, and how each of them voted. Historically, the names haven’t been disclosed so as to discourage legal parties from “judge shopping,” according to a court news release. The 90-day delay will allow the seated panel to remain anonymous, while providing transparency, the appeals court said.
The Virginian-Pilot
