Virginia

FOIA Friday: What constitutes public business, Loudoun settlement disclosures – Virginia Mercury

Published

4 months ago

January 26, 2024

FOIA Friday: What constitutes public business, Loudoun settlement disclosures – Virginia Mercury

One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.

In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.

General Assembly FOIA bills: Gloss v. Wheeler

A bill clarifying that three or more members of a public body can be at a meeting together without that event legally being considered a public meeting as long as they don’t “discuss or transact any public business” cleared the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee this week.

Senate Bill 36 from Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, was proposed in response to the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling last year in Gloss v. Wheeler. In that case, the court found five members of the Prince William Board of Supervisors had violated FOIA by participating in a police citizens’ advisory board meeting about local protests over the killing of George Floyd without complying with public meeting requirements laid out in state law.

During one meeting of the FOIA Advisory Council in December, Del. Mike Cherry, R-Colonial Heights, said the ruling “has had a chilling effect among many in local government about what they can and can’t do in terms of literally just going to a Christmas party.”

But while transparency groups say they support clarifying the definition of a public meeting, they have raised concerns that additional language defining public business could have far-reaching effects that could block access to public records.

The newest version of Locke’s bill would define public business as “activity that a public body has undertaken or proposed to undertake on behalf of the people it represents.”

Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, noted that state law defines public records as various writings and records that are prepared, owned or possessed by a public body or agent “in the transaction of public business.” That could lead to government officials interpreting what records they have to release under FOIA too narrowly, she said, potentially blocking the release of reports or information not yet specifically raised by the public body.

“We really think this is actually a pretty big change,” said Aimee Perron-Seibert, a lobbyist for the Virginia Press Association, during a Jan. 24 hearing. “It’s a big deal to define public business, and we’d rather take some more time to do that.”

The committee nevertheless passed the bill on a 15-0 vote. It also passed another bill from Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, clarifying that the definition of a public meeting does not apply to local political party meetings.

“This is an effort to try to allow them to attend their political meeting, whatever party it is, without it being deemed an illegal meeting,” said Stuart Wednesday.

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General Assembly FOIA bills: Fee reform

A bill from Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, intended to place a cap on the fees public bodies can charge to fulfill FOIA requests also remains alive, albeit in watered-down form.

“I have made a world of compromises and concessions on this,” Roem told the General Laws committee Wednesday.

Roem’s original legislation would have prohibited public bodies from charging people for the first two hours of a records search in response to a FOIA request as long as the requester hadn’t filed more than four records requests during the last 31 days. It also would have capped hourly fees for FOIA responses at $33 per hour unless the public body successfully argued to a court that it needed to charge more.

After backlash from local government groups, Roem proposed a substitute version that would prohibit bodies from charging a fee to fulfill the first hour of the first FOIA request a person makes every year and increase the cap to $40 per hour, with exceptions. It would also order public bodies to document all requests they receive that take longer than 30 minutes to fulfill and ask the FOIA Council to study whether the parts of the law concerning fees “should be permanently amended to make access to public records easier for requesters.”

The bill would have a sunset date of July 1, 2025, a period intended to allow the completion of the study.

Daily Wire sues Loudoun schools over disclosure of settlement figure

The right-wing media outlet Daily Wire is suing Loudoun County Public Schools over its refusal to disclose how much it paid to settle a case brought by a sexual assault victim at Broad Run High School against the division.

This October, reporter Luke Rosiak filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Loudoun schools seeking a copy of the contract settling the victim’s claims. According to the Daily Wire’s lawsuit, the division refused to produce the record, which it said was exempt from FOIA because it is an “identifiable student scholastic record,” contains information directly related to a particular student and is “a legal memoranda/work product compiled specifically for use in litigation.”

Rosiak then filed another FOIA request seeking “financial records” related to any legal settlement Loudoun schools entered into in 2023. The division said it had “no records that are responsive to” the request.

The Mercury’s efforts to track FOIA and other transparency cases in Virginia are indebted to the work of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit alliance dedicated to expanding access to government records, meetings and other state and local proceedings.

Augusta County appealing ruling requiring disclosure of meeting recording

According to the Augusta Free Press, the Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted 6-1 to appeal a local judge’s recent ruling ordering the board to turn over a recording of a closed session meeting.

Judge Thomas Wilson IV previously found the board had not been specific enough in its reason for going into a March 20, 2023 closed meeting. Wilson said the personnel matter exemption cited by the board “does not contain the particularity I believe the [FOIA] statute requires.”

The Free Press is one of the news outlets that has been seeking the recording.

Spotsylvania School Board places superintendent on leave in closed meeting

The Free Lance-Star reports that the Spotsylvania County School Board voted in closed session to place controversial Superintendent Mark Taylor on administrative leave.

The vote was taken despite the fact that the Virginia Freedom of Information Act says public bodies can only take action on issues discussed during a closed session once they reconvene in public.

One board member refused to certify the closed session, saying it had violated FOIA.

Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: [email protected]

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Virginia

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Storm damage across southwest Virginia

Published

1 hour ago

May 27, 2024

Press Room

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Storm damage across southwest Virginia

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Strong storms caused widespread damage throughout many of our hometowns Sunday night. Below is a compilation of WDBJ7′s coverage.

Salem storm damage consistent with EF-1 tornado, NWS says

A team from the National Weather Service surveyed damage in Salem on Monday. The agency confirmed an EF-1 tornado hit the area.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/salem-storm-damage-consistent-with-ef-1-tornado-nws-says/

Storm rips roof off Roanoke business, damages another

Sunday evening’s storm ripped the roof off of a Roanoke asphalt business. The entire roof had blown off of one building and onto another causing significant damage, according to Roanoke Fire & EMS.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/storm-rips-roof-off-roanoke-business-damages-others/

Trees fall on cabin, campers, vehicles at Jellystone Park

Trees fell on a cabin, two campers, and two vehicles at a Rockbridge County camping site. Despite the damage, officials say no one was injured.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/trees-fall-cabin-campers-vehicles-jellystone-park/

Funnel cloud spotted moments before damaging storm hit Salem

Moments before the damage, Tyler Anderson was out watching the storm with his children and captured what looked like a funnel cloud on camera. Shortly after, video shows what may have been debris being lofted into the air in what may have been a brief tornado.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/widespread-damage-after-storm-hits-salem/

“I don’t wish it on anybody” People in Salem speak out after tornado damages their homes

The aftermath of an EF-1 tornado left people in Salem stunned. Salem residents spoke out about the storm damage on their homes.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/i-dont-wish-it-anybody-people-salem-speak-out-after-tornado-damages-their-homes/

EF-1 Tornado strikes Northview Apartments in Salem, damaging homes and trapping cars

An EF-1 tornado hit the Northview Apartments in Salem last night, causing significant damage to homes and vehicles and trapping several cars under fallen trees.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/ef-1-tornado-strikes-northview-apartments-salem-damaging-homes-trapping-cars/

Narrows Fire Department offers light of hope to residents after a day without power

Narrows Fire Department opened their doors to the public for charging and cooling while waiting for the power to come back on.

WATCH STORY HERE: https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/27/narrows-fire-department-offers-light-hope-residents-after-day-without-power/

Storm knocks out power to more than 100,000 people

More than 100,000 people in Virginia and West Virginia who use Appalachian Power lost power due to Sunday’s storm.

As of Monday morning, about 25,000 Virginia customers were still without power.

Crews were in the field Monday assessing damage, including downed wires and broken poles.

There were more than 1,660 locations where repairs needed to be made in order for power to be restored, the company said in an update at 11:30 a.m. Monday.

Appalachian Power said it requested an additional 1,000-plus storm response workers to help, with teams coming in from Alabama, Michigan and the Carolinas to assist in restoration efforts.

Power is expected to be restored late Monday night for people in Bedford, Carroll, Franklin, Floyd, Grayson, Henry and Patrick counties, the company said, with all other areas of Virginia having power back by late Tuesday night.

Charging and cooling stations opened in Giles County

To help those impacted by power outages caused by Sunday’s storms, charging and cooling stations were opened in Giles County.

As of 7:30 p.m. Monday, there are still 2,482 customers without power.

Charging and cooling stations were opened at the Narrows Fire Department Activity Building located at 133 Center Steet in Narrows and at the Giles Lifesaving and Rescue Squad Building located at 175 Industrial Park Drive in Pearisburg.

Charging and cooling stations at Narrows Fire Department and Giles Rescue will close at 9:00 p.m.

Pembroke Fire Department will remain open until 11:00 p.m.

Residents in need of assistance are encouraged to call (540) 921-3842.

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Virginia

West Virginia Receives Bid for the NCAA Tournament

Published

8 hours ago

May 27, 2024

Press Room

West Virginia Receives Bid for the NCAA Tournament

Monday afternoon, the West Virginia University baseball program earned its second consecutive at-large bid for the NCAA Baseball tournament and will head to Tucson, Arizona, to take on Dallas Baptist in the first game of the opening round.

The moment #WVU found out they are heading to Tucson pic.twitter.com/1nMzojekG7
— Christopher Hall (@WVHallBilly) May 27, 2024

The selection bid marks the first time in program history it earned an at-large bid in back-to-back seasons and it’s the first time in 40 years the Mountaineers have earned consecutive postseason appearances since a four-year run from 1961-64.

West Virginia finished the season 33-22 and 19-11 in Big 12 Conference play.

Junior JJ Wetherholt led the Mountaineers at the plate with a .356 batting average with eight home runs and 30 RBI in 31 appearances.

Senior Reed Chumley hit a team-high 15 home runs and 14 doubles and 45 RBIs.

Derek Clarks leads the team on the mound. The senior holds a 7-2 record with a 3.05 ERA and 73 strikeouts.

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Virginia

Charlottesville Selected as Host Site for NCAA Baseball Regionals

Published

15 hours ago

May 27, 2024

Press Room

Charlottesville Selected as Host Site for NCAA Baseball Regionals

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Disharoon Park will serve as one of the 16 regional host sites for the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Virginia will host a four-team, double-elimination tournament May 31 – June 4.

Two games will be scheduled for Friday (May 31), Saturday (June 1) and Sunday (June 2). If necessary, a single game will be played Monday (June 3). Regional game times will be announced in the afternoon on Monday (May 27).

The remaining at-large teams, top-eight national seeds and first-round regional pairings will be announced at noon Monday (May 27) on ESPN2. The selection committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the regionals and the first round of the Men’s College World Series.

Athens, Georgia – Georgia (39-15)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – North Carolina (42-13)
Charlottesville, Virginia – Virginia (41-15)
Clemson, South Carolina – Clemson (41-14)
Bryan-College Station, Texas – Texas A&M (44-13)
Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon State (42-14)
Fayetteville, Arkansas – Arkansas (43-14)
Greenville, North Carolina – East Carolina (43-15)
Knoxville, Tennessee – Tennessee (50-11)
Lexington, Kentucky – Kentucky (40-14)
Norman, Oklahoma – Oklahoma (37-19)
Raleigh, North Carolina – NC State (33-20)
Santa Barbara, California – UC Santa Barbara (42-12)
Stillwater, Oklahoma – Oklahoma State (40-17)
Tallahassee, Florida – Florida State (42-15)
Tucson, Arizona – Arizona (36-21)

By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions also have been selected to the 64-team championship field. All 16 regionals are scheduled for Friday, May 31 to Monday, June 3.

Virginia has been a host institution for NCAA Regionals 11 times (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010-2014, 2016, 2023, 2024). The Cavaliers will be part of the NCAA Tournament field for the 21st time overall and 18th under head coach Brian O’Connor.

TICKET INFORMATION

Regional all-session general admission tickets will go on-sale Monday May 27th at 9 a.m. on UVATix.com. Single session tickets (sessions 1 – 6), if available, will go on-sale later this week. Please note the ticket office will be closed Monday for Memorial Day and reopen on Tuesday at 9 a.m.

PARKING INFORMATION

Daily parking can be purchased online at UVATix.com or upon drive up for spaces in the JPJ South and West Lots $15 in advance or $20 upon drive up. We are sold out of regional all-session parking passes. Spots are first come, first served. Parking passes must be purchased using a valid credit/debit card; cash will not be accepted on site.

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