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For the Record: Celebrate the Fourth with FOIA
Get in the spirit of the holidays by making your own public records request or taking some inspiration from your fellow MuckRockers.
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Release Notes: Knight Election Hub, more OCR tools and expanded raw email access
Over the past few weeks, the MuckRock tech team has focused on several key updates and additions. These include the development of the Knight Election Hub, which offers vital resources to U.S. newsrooms for comprehensive coverage of the 2024 elections.
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For the Record: How to background political candidates through public records
As November inches closer, June’s #FOIAFriday session explored what type of public records can be used to investigate political candidates who are running in the 2024 election cycle. Friday’s session covered how to request these overlooked documents, including military personnel records, voter lists and Paycheck Protection Program loans.
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For the Record: Navigating MuckRock’s FOIA Log Explorer
MuckRock has archived data on over 160,000 FOIA requests, including the Environmental Protection Agency and Customs and Border Protection.
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Search across almost 170,000 requests via MuckRock’s expanded FOIA Log Explorer
Over the last few weeks, we have been hard at work on a range of improvements to MuckRock and DocumentCloud, but FOIA fans have something special to celebrate: We’ve imported many of the requests from FOIAonline into a searchable database which allows you to filter, browse and even re-request almost 170,000 requests with just a few clicks.
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‘They bungled it:’ NIH documents reveal how $1.6 billion long Covid initiative has failed so far to meet its goals
Budget and other project documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show how the National Institutes of Health set up its flagship long Covid research initiative, including the scientific expertise that government reviewers prioritized in selecting research teams to lead the RECOVER program and the early goals and timelines. Experts who reviewed the contracts and project documents say the agency set itself up for failure.
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MuckRock to SCOTUS: Requesting information is not a crime
In 2017, Priscilla Villarreal — sharing updates through her popular La Gordiloca Facebook page — first confirmed with a government source and then reported on a series of deaths in and near Laredo, Texas. They were not unusual stories for Villarreal to share — she has gained wide attention for local updates and breaking news on public corruption and thousands tune in to her videos and updates.
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For the Record: How Fiquem Sabendo used records requests and DocumentCloud to reveal corporate card expenditures
In Brazil, presidents and other top government officials have the right to use “corporate cards” to cover occasional travel expenses and other small value purchases on behalf of the federal government. In January 2023, the journalism non-profit Fiquem Sabendo secured access to the invoices for these cards, and last week, the Brazilian newsroom detailed how they meticulously scanned and organized these documents, making them accessible for the first time.
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Help track PPP loans associated with 2024 election candidates
MuckRock is working to obtain PPP loans by candidates in the 2024 election by using public records.
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For the Record: Requesting data inventories
MuckRock’s #FOIAFriday webinar series continued last Friday with a step-by-step guide on how to request data inventories from federal and state agencies.