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Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of Aug. 20, 2024:
Federal judge rules in favor of trans athlete in Hanover
Reported by VPM News’ Lyndon German and Whittney Evans
A transgender student from Hanover County will be allowed to try out for her middle school girls’ tennis team after all. A federal judge in Richmond ruled against the Hanover school system in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Virginia on behalf of the 11-year-old student identified as Janie Doe.
In her opinion, U.S. District Court Judge M. Hannah Lauck called Hanover’s policy on transgender students in extracurricular activities “overbroad” and concluded that Janie had demonstrated that she suffered harm because of the board’s discriminatory conduct. The ruling bars Hanover from blocking Janie from playing girls’ tennis in 2024-25 while the case proceeds.
Curious Commonwealth: Are Virginia open records laws weaker than other states?
Reported by VPM News
Earlier this month, the Virginia Mercury and Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the city of Richmond had cut off access to its database of government spending — which had previously been available to the public through the city's open data portal, though it had not been updated since May 2019. Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders told the Mercury that maintaining the database was "a time-consuming task for city hall administrators."
Last October, as part of the VPM News series Curious Commonwealth, a listener said they had been told that "Virginia has some of the weakest [Freedom of Information Act] laws in the country." VPM News reporters Megan Pauly and Ben Paviour, who have made dozens of FOIA requests in Virginia, looked into the particulars of the state's public records law, including exemptions that experts say make the commonwealth less transparent than other states.
In other news:
- House Republicans release impeachment report on Biden but next steps are uncertain (The Associated Press)
- Virginia senator asks state education department for probe amid clash of U.S. and state law (The Daily Progress)*
- Trump campaign threatens Loudoun County GOP with lawsuit over merch sales (The Washington Post)*
In case you missed it:
- Virginia attorney general denounces ESG investments in state retirement fund (The Associated Press)
- Registrar said he 'cannot conduct' election without p-card. Then he said it'll be fine. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)*
- Could this right-to-counsel program for evictions become a statewide model? (Virginia Mercury)
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.