How transparent are Virginia’s local governments when citizens ask for public records?

In this episode of The Cardinal: News of Virginia, host Dutchie Jessee sits down with Cardinal News executive editor Jeff Schwaner to break down the newsroom’s ambitious Sunshine Week “public audit” project—a real-world test of how local governments respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

To conduct the audit, 24 students from Radford University submitted basic public records requests across communities including Roanoke, Danville, Martinsville, Lynchburg, Bristol, and Radford. They asked for information taxpayers should be able to access easily—documents like school superintendent contracts, city budgets, and ...