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Bills to increase transparency within public college and university animal testing facilities have advanced in the General Assembly, but with amendments. Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, introduced Senate Bill 411 to require animal testing facilities to submit an annual report to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The report would include information about the number and species of animals used, including those not covered by the federal Animal Welfare Act, and the cost of experiments. The measure also capped Freedom of Information Act records requests at $25. The amended bill will instead create a task force that looks for potential deficiencies at public animal testing facilities and makes any needed recommendations to increase public transparency. Recommendations could include situations of noncompliance with federal regulations and details about the facility care, use and number of animals. The report will be due by November. Representatives such as lawmakers, universities and unaffiliated animal welfare groups will sit on the task force, in addition to members from the Virginia Press Association and Virginia Coalition for Open Government.

A White University of Virginia student who sued the school after she was expelled over a dispute at a Black Women Matter protest in 2020 has reached a settlement with UVa. Neither Bettinger’s attorneys nor UVa would provide the terms of the settlement. Bettinger’s counsel claimed it had evidence that student and activist Zyahna Bryant was prepared to lead students in a protest that could have shut down the UVA/Duke football game in front of national television crews. The UVa Police Department said previously it has “no records” of any such threats after The Daily Progress filed a request for documentation via the Freedom of Information Act.

It was a full house and a full agenda at the Danville Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Thursday. Out of 36 agenda items, 35 were for requests for special-exception permits for short-term rentals in areas all over the city. The board’s six members were ready for an all-day session that included sets of cases allotted for certain times during the meeting. The meeting started at 10 a.m. ended at around 4:15 p.m.

The York County School Division is facing a “tsunami of discontent” from employees and potential legal action under its new school board leadership. At the Feb. 12 school board work session, board members James Richardson and Mark Shafer weren’t shy about voicing their issues with the new three-member faction led by Board Chair Lynda Fairman. Richardson and Shafer made considerable revelations at that meeting: That Superintendent Dr. Victor Shandor was considering potential legal action against the board for alleged retaliation, and that Fairman allegedly sent a local militia group to a school district event on Family Life sex education. Shandor didn’t elaborate on those claims, but at the new board’s first organizational meeting on Jan. 8, Fairman and the board discussed having Shandor no longer sit on the dais with the board during meetings over “perception” concerns. Superintendents have long sat with the school board in places like Virginia Beach and Suffolk.

A Kentucky lawmaker says he plans to revise a bill rewriting the state’s open records law after it ignited protests from open government advocates and the Kentucky Press Association who warned it would “eviscerate” access to public records. Rep. John Hodgson, R-Fisherville, said in an email he plans to eliminate a section redefining public records after hearing from advocates he had challenged to provide examples of how House Bill 509 would block access to government information previously considered public. “A number of involved private citizens and constituents took me up on that offer and we had some very constructive dialog about dozens of specific examples in their experience base,” Hodgson’s email said. Among Hodgson’s promised changes: HB 509 would no longer try to shield personal cell phones and emails of state employees or board and commission members when used to conduct official business.