While teens across the United States prepare to return to their cliques and classes, MuckRock would like to introduce inquisitive minds and aspiring rebels to the paper path toward challenging your school, town, and local government. Encourage increased clarity in your academics, transparency in your community, and civic participation in your country: file a public records request.

Anyone with Google, a passing interest in espionage, or a love of Amy Adams knows by now that the life of television personality and French cook Julia Child was entwined in the U.S. intelligence apparatus. More ambiguous, however, is Child’s relationship to the FBI as the U.S. moved out of the joyous tidings of V-J Day and into the cold uncertainty of McCarthyism.

MuckRock is a small team, and we’re working constantly to keep those requests going out and give you fresh FOIA reads every day. Unfortunately, that kind of upkeep doesn’t give us too much time to tackle bigger projects, which is why we’re announcing our first Mandatory Declutterification Review - a week-long editorial hiatus so we can give the site an overhaul.

Over the course of the 23 thousand (and counting!) records requests we’ve filed, MuckRock has seen all sorts of responses. While the overwhelming majority of which have been polite and professional, there are a few that … well, weren’t. But nothing tops this response from a Massachusetts police department, which stands out as the closest we’ve gotten to a middle finger by fax.

Despite recent wins, media coverage and auditor skepticism may not be enough to keep the growth of private prisons in check for the long run. But you can help.

For decades, the Vandenberg Air Force base in California gave a briefing to new missile officers on the ethics of nuclear war. Then, in 2011, a watchdog group successfully lobbied to get the program suspended. If you’re wondering what was so objectionable about an ethics lesson, the fact it was more commonly referred to as the “Jesus Loves Nukes speech” might give you a hint.

The latest report from the BOP Inspector General calls for closer oversight of contract prisons, highlighting an important shared trait with their public counterparts: the problems they face. From whole cloth outsourcing to individual ceiling tiles, the private sector is willing to help.

Recently-released data from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation emphasizes high rates of urban gun violence, but rural numbers still contribute a majority of crimes.

The recent announcement by the DEA that marijuana should remain classified a Schedule 1 drug akin to heroin are in keeping with the agency’s long-standing position that pot is a dangerous, addictive substance. But what exactly are these threats that the DEA feels marijuana poses?

Massachusetts is known for its habit of keeping public records private, and that lack of transparency isn’t limited to officials at the state level. While we can all agree that Massachusetts’ open meeting and public records laws exist on paper, actually using these laws to find out what’s going on during the executive sessions of city council and select board meetings is another thing entirely.

Following a Freedom of Information Act request by Mike Best, the FBI located nearly 3,000 pages relating to internal investigations into the improper access of Bureau files during the Bill Clinton administration, commonly known as “Filegate.” We’ve opened up a crowdfund to help Best pay for duplication costs.

Holocaust survivor and tireless activist Hedy Epstein dedicated her long life to fighting for human rights. The organizations she founded, led, or worked with are too numerous to recount, but it was her involvement in two particular causes which attracted the attention of the FBI.

Allan Lasser received spreadsheet from the Department of Energy, listing all the computer hardware they currently have in their headquarters office. With this digital copy, we can ask some simple questions against their inventory and get answers very quickly. And make cool charts!

Last year, seven agencies began experimenting with a new policy dubbed “Release to One, Release to All.” The goal was to make any information released under a FOIA request available for everyone online, and now the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press wants your feedback.

Earlier this week, people with mouths across America were stunned to hear that the lifelong recommendation to floss one’s teeth goes unsupported by research - yet another case testing the assumption that the federal government knows best when it comes to caring for and treating our human bodies. Add to the list the ever-ongoing concerns surrounding one of the most controversial dental elements ever to be used: mercury.

When novelist Ayn Rand found out that Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover was an adherent of her Objectivist philosophy, she was thrilled, and immediately tried to set up a personal meeting. There was just one problem: Hoover had no idea what she was talking about.

Since 1979, C-SPAN, the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, has been a constant comrade on the tour through the TV channels, generally been taken for granted as a public service - which it is. As a majority of FCC complaints regarding the network show, it’s a service people would like to see extended and free of abuse … not unlike our democracy itself.

In 2010, America’s third largest government agency, the Department of Homeland Security, joined forces with its largest corporation, Walmart, to fight terrorism. What could possibly go wrong?