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The judge who presided over the Huguenot High School graduation shooting trial issued a gag order on Tuesday forbidding prosecution and defense attorneys from speaking to the press as they prepare their arguments on a recently filed motion to withdraw Amari Pollard’s guilty plea. Pollard in February pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges in the June 6 shooting of Shawn Jackson outside the Altria Theater after Judge W. Reilly Marchant ruled that Pollard’s actions did not meet the legal threshold for self-defense. On Monday, Pollard’s attorney, Jason Anthony, filed the motion to withdraw that plea on the grounds he gave Pollard inaccurate legal counsel. In the motion, Anthony also alleged that Marchant made prejudicial comments and facial expressions while overseeing the trial.

Planning and land use applications in Chesapeake will begin to include lobbying disclosures in May. City Council member Robert Ike first made the disclosure request in January and council approved the new process in March. Ike proposed the city begin requiring the disclosure of all companies, firms and individuals hired to lobby City Council and the Planning Commission on land use matters such as rezoning requests, special use permits and planned unit developments. Ike previously said his biggest concern is private companies that “reach out individually and talk to council members and lobby and try to convince them to vote for or against a project.”

Warren County School Board members discussed exactly what their roles as elected officials are during a meeting last week at Skyline Middle School. Since March, social media posts have circulated on whether some board members have been overstepping the boundaries of their role, including getting involved in student discipline matters. At the March 6 meeting, Lo denounced a lack of transparency as she felt board members were having an abundance of their conversations via email and during closed sessions. She also expressed frustration with the content of their conversations. On Wednesday, Lo said she stood by her previous statements, as she “felt morally compelled” to bring up the concerns so they could be further discussed. Chairwoman Kristen Pence addressed the recent public concerns, saying board members do not have the ability to access student records, camera footage, personnel files or other similar documents at will. School board member Tom McFadden said the division’s policy JO states board members are able to view student records.

The law firm representing former Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler says the school division stiffed them on legal fees incurred for representing Ziegler. The School Board hired the firm, Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, in April 2022 to represent "any school official in any legal proceeding," according to the suit, which was filed on April 10 in Loudoun Circuit Court. But the firm says the school division has never paid its bills for those services and has an outstanding balance of $617,000.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin released an opinion Wednesday, at Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ request, declaring that certain executive branch officials such as the governor are not subject to certain laws that regulate purchases by government entities. Sanders’ request and Griffin’s response came just days before lawmakers are expected to release the results of Arkansas Legislative Audit’s investigation into the controversial purchase of a $19,000 lectern last year by Sanders’ office. Lawmakers authorized the audit in October into both the lectern purchase and “all matters… made confidential” by Act 7 of 2023, which exempted records related to the governor’s security from the state Freedom of Information Act. The Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed Sanders’ office for the full amount of the lectern in September, about the same time that attorney and blogger Matt Campbell was using the FOIA to report on the governor’s office’s expenses. Campbell, who is now a reporter for the Arkansas Times, posted the invoice for the lectern on X (formerly Twitter) on Sept. 15. Sanders signed Act 7 the previous day after a special legislative session in which she had supported additional exemptions to the FOIA.

California's highest-ranking court officials are warning of a growing "constitutional crisis" playing out across the state's judicial system, as hundreds of thousands of hearings are held without a precise record of what occurred. The problem is a shortage of public court reporters, the stenographers who transcribe proceedings, and state law that bars electronic recording devices from being used in certain types of hearings — even when a reporter isn't available. Courts have tried to triage the problem by reserving available court reporters for the most important cases, such as felony trials. But other critically important proceedings — such as for domestic violence restraining orders and child custody disputes — routinely are going unrecorded.