The Foilies 2024: Recognizing the worst in government transparency
We’re taught in school about checks and balances between the various branches of government, but those lessons tend to leave out the role that civilians play in holding officials accountable. We’re not just talking about the ballot box, but the everyday power we all have to demand government agencies make their records and data available to public scrutiny.
‘Atomic Radius:’ The legacy of America’s nuclear weapons testing program from States Newsroom and MuckRock
Decades after the first-ever U.S. nuclear weapons test in July 1945, the extent of the fallout has only now been understood, thanks to new modeled data by researchers. States Newsroom and MuckRock explore the human fallout from America’s nuclear testing program, and how the consequences are still felt today.
For the Record: Recapping MuckRock @ NICAR
See what you might have missed from this year’s NICAR conference.
DocDive: Getting put on (legal) notice
Some state and federal laws require what are called “demand letters,” or notices of legal action, to be sent from one party to another before a lawsuit is filed.
‘The Air We Breathe:’ What Cicero and Stickney residents need to know about the Koppers coal tar plant
Koppers is a chemical plant on the south side of Pershing Road, on the border between Cicero and Stickney.
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FOIA 101: Tips and Tricks to Make You a Transparency Master
★ FeaturedWhether it's your first request or your first request *today,* it never hurts to go over the basics. MuckRock's compiled a lot of FOIA advice over the years, and with this project, it's all in one place. -
Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret
★ Featured“Smoke, Screened” is an investigative series by The California Newsroom, MuckRock and the Guardian on the large environmental impact of a little-noticed deregulatory tool found in the Clean Air Act. The provision in the Clean Air Act has allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to strike pollution from clean air tallies in more than 70 counties, enabling local regulators to claim the air was cleaner than it really was for more than 21 million Americans. The loophole allows regulators to forgive pollution, and avoid costly cleanup work, caused by “natural” or “uncontrollable” events, including wildfires. -
Dangers in Our Air: Mapping Chicago’s Air Pollution Hotspots
★ FeaturedChicago’s air quality is among the worst in the U.S., and the city has several local hotspots for particulate matter 2.5 — the tiny particles that come from diesel trucks and industry and enter people’s lungs and blood, causing significant health problems. Between April 2021 and March 2023, the tech company Microsoft installed and monitored 115 air quality sensors across Chicago. We worked with Chicago newsrooms, including the Cicero Independiente, WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, to analyze this data for a series of stories on the city’s comparatively poor air quality. We then installed our own air quality sensors in Chicago neighborhoods that lacked coverage in the Microsoft network — and looked for trends and spikes in pollution. -
Uncounted: An investigation of U.S. death certificate errors and the undercount of COVID-19 deaths
★ FeaturedDeath certificates have long been prone to error. During the pandemic, they've gotten worse, resulting in thousands of uncounted COVID-19 deaths. "Uncounted" is a collaboration between MuckRock, the USA TODAY network and dozens of local newsrooms around the country. We found that short-staffed, undertrained and overworked coroners and medical examiners took families at their word when they called to report the death of a relative at home. Coroners and medical examiners didn’t review medical histories or order tests to look for COVID-19. The result is a skewed picture of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.