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This week’s FOIA round-up: USDA adopts a new “hands-off” animal welfare policy, ICE is putting mentally ill migrants in solitary confinement, and an L.A. official was paid by an agency he was lobbying
In this week’s FOIA round-up, the number of animal welfare citations issued by the USDA has decreased by 65% under the Trump Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is placing record numbers of migrants in solitary confinement, many of whom are mentally ill, L.A. official Michael LoGrande was lobbying private developers while serving as the head of the city’s Planning Agency, and the Tennessee Court of Appeals rules that state agencies still have to release public records that are part of criminal investigations.

This week’s FOIA round-up: The Bureau of Indian Affairs has a new policy to protect employees from workplace harassment and ICE detainees in San Diego are being subjected to medical neglect
In this week’s FOIA round-up, High Country News obtains the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ new employee harassment policy, documents obtained by the Voice of San Diego show Immigration and Customs Enforcement is neglecting to care for detainees with serious medical conditions, and sexual misconduct allegations against doctors in California have drastically increased over the past two years according to data obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Requester’s Voice: The Washington Post’s Steven Rich
Steven Rich, the database editor for the investigations team at The Washington Post, recently gained access to a database that traced every pain pill distributed across the US between 2006 and 2012. The database provides a look at where opioids have been distributed by which pharmaceutical companies, and shows that the federal government has long been aware of the scope of the opioid crisis. Rich spoke to MuckRock about taking advantage of a lawsuit to gain access to the Drug Enforcement Administration pain pill database and how to use public records to report on private companies.

This week’s FOIA round-up: DEA database points to companies’ roles in opioid epidemic and Interior emails reveal violations of federal ethics rules
In this week’s FOIA round-up, the Washington Post and HD Media gain access to a database that tracks opioid distribution, emails obtained through a FOIA request reveal the extent of a top Department of the Interior official’s violations of federal ethics rules, and city and court records reveal that in one Alaska town every single police officer has been convicted of domestic violence.

This week’s FOIA round-up: the ethics of mining in Minnesota, problems with for-profit companies in the legal system, and ICE detention records contradict Trump administration statements on migrants
In this week’s FOIA round-up, calendars and emails reveal communication between Trump administration officials and corporate executives in a mining project, a contract with a private pretrial services firm raises questions about the role of for-profit companies in the legal system, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention records reveal that rates of people detained with criminal records has decreased in the past couple of years. Also, a Supreme Court ruling is bad news for people seeking government records pertaining to private entities.