Transparency News, 8/25/20
Tuesday
August 25, 2020
August 25, 2020
state & local news stories
VCOG's virtual conference is Sept. 10. Panels include one on COVID's impact on meetings & records.
Details on additional panels and speakers, our sponsors and how to register.
Details on additional panels and speakers, our sponsors and how to register.
On a 16-6 vote, the House General Laws Committee advanced HB 5090 yesterday, but it will have to go to the Courts of Justice Committee next. HB 5090, which was amended to take access to witness statements out of the criminal incident information currently required to be released, otherwise seeks to provide access to criminal investigative files that are no longer active or ongoing.
A Virginia Senate panel on Monday backed one of a few bills the General Assembly is considering that would bring more transparency and accountability to the parole board. The proposal, from Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, would require the Virginia Parole Board to publish more information in its monthly report about prisoners it’s taking action on, including why the board granted someone parole.
The Roanoke Times
As JMU has chosen to bring its students back for an in-person fall semester, the university has so far declined to release daily reports on case numbers to the JMU community. The Breeze has already submitted two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for daily numbers from JMU, and will continue to demand transparency from the university. Under Virginia FOIA laws, public bodies — including public universities — are legally required to respond to a FOIA request within five days, and the fifth day for the first FOIA submitted by The Breeze is Thursday, Aug. 27. A large and quickly growing number of universities have already begun to release daily reports of case numbers in their communities, which constitute public information.
The Breeze
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the convictions of two members of a white supremacist group who admitted they punched and kicked counterdemonstrators during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, but found that part of an anti-riot law “treads too far upon constitutionally protected speech.” In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the entire federal Anti-Riot Act on its face. But the court said the 1968 law violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment in some respects. The court invalidated parts of the law where it encompasses speech tending to “encourage” or “promote” a riot, as well as speech “urging” others to riot or involving mere advocacy of violence.
The Virginian-Pilot
A Virginia Senate panel on Monday backed one of a few bills the General Assembly is considering that would bring more transparency and accountability to the parole board. The proposal, from Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, would require the Virginia Parole Board to publish more information in its monthly report about prisoners it’s taking action on, including why the board granted someone parole.
The Roanoke Times
As JMU has chosen to bring its students back for an in-person fall semester, the university has so far declined to release daily reports on case numbers to the JMU community. The Breeze has already submitted two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for daily numbers from JMU, and will continue to demand transparency from the university. Under Virginia FOIA laws, public bodies — including public universities — are legally required to respond to a FOIA request within five days, and the fifth day for the first FOIA submitted by The Breeze is Thursday, Aug. 27. A large and quickly growing number of universities have already begun to release daily reports of case numbers in their communities, which constitute public information.
The Breeze
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the convictions of two members of a white supremacist group who admitted they punched and kicked counterdemonstrators during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, but found that part of an anti-riot law “treads too far upon constitutionally protected speech.” In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the entire federal Anti-Riot Act on its face. But the court said the 1968 law violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment in some respects. The court invalidated parts of the law where it encompasses speech tending to “encourage” or “promote” a riot, as well as speech “urging” others to riot or involving mere advocacy of violence.
The Virginian-Pilot
stories of national interest
"Whoever broke into 251 law enforcement websites and obtained the BlueLeaks trove of documents appears to have reused decades-old software."
Whoever broke into 251 law enforcement websites and obtained the BlueLeaks trove of documents appears to have reused decades-old software for opening “backdoors” in web servers. The use of the widely available backdoors provides evidence that the hacktivist who compromised the sensitive sites, including fusion centers linked to federal agencies, didn’t need to use sophisticated digital attack methods because the sites were not very secure. The backdoors appear among files in the roughly 270-gigabyte BlueLeaks dump but seem to originate not from law enforcement entities, like most of the documents, but from the hacker, who appears to have left behind a few tools in the leaked data. Other leaked files provide further clues about how the hacktivist operated.
The Intercept
A new ruling from a federal appeals court could shine more light on the donors who fund so-called “dark money” political groups. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court ruling that found the Federal Election Commission’s donor-disclosure regulations regarding groups that spend money on independent expenditures — ads that expressly support or oppose political candidates — were too weak to comply with federal law.
Politico
A federal judge ruled Friday to lift a temporary restraining order that blocked the release of disciplinary records of New York City police officers, one day after hundreds of thousands of such complaints dating back to the 1980s were published online. Judge Katherine Polk Failla's ruling would clear the way for the release of officers' disciplinary records by the city's independent watchdog agency, police department and other entities — even if the officers were cleared of wrongdoing — which unions representing New York's police officers and other public safety officials fought.
USA Today
The Intercept
A new ruling from a federal appeals court could shine more light on the donors who fund so-called “dark money” political groups. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court ruling that found the Federal Election Commission’s donor-disclosure regulations regarding groups that spend money on independent expenditures — ads that expressly support or oppose political candidates — were too weak to comply with federal law.
Politico
A federal judge ruled Friday to lift a temporary restraining order that blocked the release of disciplinary records of New York City police officers, one day after hundreds of thousands of such complaints dating back to the 1980s were published online. Judge Katherine Polk Failla's ruling would clear the way for the release of officers' disciplinary records by the city's independent watchdog agency, police department and other entities — even if the officers were cleared of wrongdoing — which unions representing New York's police officers and other public safety officials fought.
USA Today
editorials & columns
"Del. Glenn Davis (R-Virginia Beach) [was] unable to join the virtual floor session because only 100 virtual 'spaces' had been reserved on the online platform."
Our nation’s founders designed our system of government to be accountable and visible to the people. They intended elected officials to openly debate the merits of legislation in full view of the public, while also listening to citizens’ concerns through public testimony. This collaborative process historically leads to reasonable legislation that addresses the pressing issues at hand. Our General Assembly is “the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World.” For more than 400 years, we have strived to uphold a standard of government that is accountable and visible to the people. Virginians have a reasonable expectation that their elected officials will openly debate legislation, its merits, flaws, and ideas, in full view of the public. Abandoning centuries of tradition, Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) and the majority party upended a time-proven process with the passage of House Resolution 515 (HR 515). The rollout of this disastrous policy was on full display Wednesday when elected officials such as Del. Glenn Davis (R-Virginia Beach) were unable to join the virtual floor session because only 100 virtual “spaces” had been reserved on the online platform. His absence alone represents the silencing of more than 85,000 Virginians. The 99 members of the House of Delegates (there is currently one vacancy), the Clerk of the House and her staff, and media require far more than a limit of a mere 100 spaces. This basic failure proves yet again the new majority is not ready to govern.
Del. Roxann Robinson, The Roanoke Times
“Knock knock! Anybody home [House emoji]” — March 19, 2019, 10:10 p.m. Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steve Walts sent that direct message on Twitter to a female high school student who had not responded to a question he had asked her earlier in the day. It was just one of over 20,000 direct messages exchanged between Walts, using the Twitter handle @superPWCS, and nearly 2,000 different respondents. A formal complaint about the messages was filed this spring, and the school board hired a private forensics firm and a law firm to investigate, costing county taxpayers over $110,000. Worse, Walts’ response when the complaint became public – a video posted on the Twitter account – was to proverbially shoot the messenger. All that did was prompt a multimillion-dollar defamation suit from former School Board Chair Ryan Sawyers, which the school system will have to now spend more time and money defending.
InsideNoVa
Del. Roxann Robinson, The Roanoke Times
“Knock knock! Anybody home [House emoji]” — March 19, 2019, 10:10 p.m. Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steve Walts sent that direct message on Twitter to a female high school student who had not responded to a question he had asked her earlier in the day. It was just one of over 20,000 direct messages exchanged between Walts, using the Twitter handle @superPWCS, and nearly 2,000 different respondents. A formal complaint about the messages was filed this spring, and the school board hired a private forensics firm and a law firm to investigate, costing county taxpayers over $110,000. Worse, Walts’ response when the complaint became public – a video posted on the Twitter account – was to proverbially shoot the messenger. All that did was prompt a multimillion-dollar defamation suit from former School Board Chair Ryan Sawyers, which the school system will have to now spend more time and money defending.
InsideNoVa
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