Spook up your Halloween with a dip into the dark side of FOIA courtesy of the federal government’s own numbers.

Appeals are a critical tool for records requesters who want government agencies to cough up their secrets, but what if an agency puts up its defense before you even know you’re in a disclosure fight?

Last week, we fixed up some local dev environment quirks and rewrote the instructions so it’s easier to play around with MuckRock’s code on your local device. We also fixed up some minors bugs, such as non-functioning profile page buttons.

We’ve requested police communications about fugitive peacocks in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and we need your help.

Since the launch of MuckRock’s crowdfunding tools, over a thousand donors have pitched in over $50,000 to records fees for projects large and small, telling important stories across the country. We’re now expanding that program to offer better ongoing support for local journalism with improved ways to reward supporters.

Read a great FOIA-based news story we should highlight? Let us know.

Technology has created new problems - and solutions - for government accountability. In Colorado, a transparency group hopes to develop and adopt best practices for its state.

A few months ago, an agency we were talking to was struck by how MuckRock does user testing to improve our service. They wanted to know if we ever did user testing on agency acknowledgement letters. We hadn’t, but it seemed like a good idea — and now we have some interesting results to share.

When undercover officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office bought crack cocaine from someone in 2015, they couldn’t actually identify the seller. Less than a year later, though, Willie Allen Lynch was sentenced to 8 years in prison, picked through a facial recognition system. His case — and others like it — could reshape the limits placed on AI.

Last week, we pushed some new bulk editing features to the Assignments crowdsourcing platform and fixed some dastardly bugs.

We know that children have been separated from their families at the border, but with the Center for Public Integrity’s ongoing crowdsource, you can help uncover more specifics about the practice.

A drone was spotted near a Virginia prison carrying cocaine and marijuana. Michigan Attorney General Dana Wessel says she’s “ashamed” of the state’s public records law. An ACLU request and lawsuit culminate in over 30,000 pages of DHS documents.

Last week, we pushed some major changes to how we handle payments, now letting you see when a particular check is cashed. We also made a number of improvements to Assignments, including more design flexibility and the ability to make user submissions public.

Interested in big data, water transparency, or just getting a chance to work with great people on important problems? Join us in Grand Rapids on November 5 for the FOIAFest 2019 hackathon, where we focus on important water stories both within the United States and around the world.

The New York State Gaming Commission is required by state law to keep a list of people it bans from its casinos publically available on its website. A Freedom of Information request submitted through MuckRock by T. McElwee led to a response from the commission that said it had taken no action to exclude anyone from state gaming facilities.

Journalists share their findings on FOIA Twitter, the Marine Corps keeps misconduct on the down-low, and a Defense Department audit vindicates a former official’s concerns.

Before college campus speakers make it to campus or, potentially, the online outrage cycle, a lot of effort goes into the logistics of inviting these notables. Help us find out how much.

MuckRock is looking for reporters to help us investigate public records in two places where in-state citizenship is required to access them: Alabama and Arkansas.

As governments build smart cities and businesses deploy commercial tools, the commercial potential of facial recognition is competing with civil liberty concerns and protections for individuals’ private information.

No new features last week as we continued picking away at some big long-term improvements. Interested in what we’re up to and wondering if you can help out? Read on to learn more about our meetups and open source community.

Jennifer 8. Lee has been an informal advisor to MuckRock since the very beginning, so last week we made things official and welcomed the entrepreneur, publisher, producer, journalist, and emoji activist to the MuckRock Foundation board of directors.

A newsroom collective publishes a database spanning 70 years of abuse at Boys and Girls Clubs across the country. Idaho plans free public workshops on public records and open meeting laws. The University of Connecticut issues 966,000 dollars in parking violations in one year.

The Department of Homeland Security, like other federal agencies, puts out an annual report about the Freedom of Information requests it has received, most of which are destined for its immigration-focused components, often from individuals looking to obtain their own documents.

The DOJ is processing more FOIA requests than ever before, and a handful of high-processing components are bearing the brunt.