Transparency News, 8/9/2022

Tuesday
August 9, 2022

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state & local news stories

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is facing a second lawsuit over his administration’s repeated refusals to release records related to an email tip line he set up for parents to report school employees who teach “divisive” subjects. Nonprofit ethics watchdog group American Oversight and the law firm Ballard Spahr filed the suit Monday in Arlington County Circuit Court. The suit seeks documents that show how Youngkin (R) and his staff used the tip line, including how they responded to tips submitted.
The Washington Post

Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith said he will no longer talk about an alleged July 4th mass shooting plot, days after prosecutors released information conflicting with Smith's claims that police prevented an attack at Dogwood Dell. Chief Smith began a Monday morning press conference about crime statistics by addressing the mass shooting plot saying, "We are closing all discussion about the planned Fourth of July mass shooting. The matter is now in the hands of the federal government. As I've often stated, we will follow wherever the investigation leads us." The new lawsuit follows a suit filed in April by The Washington Post and a dozen other media outlets in Richmond Circuit Court. That suit, which is ongoing and whose other plaintiffs include the Associated Press, Tribune Publishing and NPR, seeks copies of submissions sent to the governor’s tip line.
WTVR

stories of national interest

Former president Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI had raided his Mar-a-Lago Club and searched his safe — activity related to an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified documents, according to two people familiar with the probe. One of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its details, said agents were conducting a court-authorized search as part of a long-running investigation of whether documents — some of them top-secret — were taken to the former president’s private golf club and residence instead of sent to the National Archives when Trump left office. That could be a violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to a president’s official duties.
The Washington Post

A science journalist can’t access the redacted portions of documents submitted to the FDA relating to the accelerated approval of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc’s. drug for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the Second Circuit affirmed Friday. Releasing the documents would harm Sarepta’s business so an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act applies, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said. And there’s no carevout for cases where disclosure would serve public health, Judge Denny Chin wrote for the court. 
Bloomberg Law