With competitive Congressional races across the country and state and local candidates fighting to keep or take elected office, there are endless stories that can be reported out to help the public make informed decisions when heading to the polls.

Ever wonder if there’s more (or less) to someone’s story when they are running for office? From national races to local elected office, democracy depends on understanding how qualified candidates are for the role they are seeking, and this free training will offer a range of techniques to background political figures, helping better understand potential conflicts of interest, work histories, assets and more.

Want to know when your favorite government agency posts new information? Wondering if a corporate press release might see some post-publication revisions? We’ve brought the power of The Marshall Project’s Klaxon site monitoring tool into DocumentCloud, and it’s now easier than ever to track changes and get alerts from websites you care about.

Despite our holiday wishlist, every year some government agencies, officials and private companies fight back against the public’s right to know, which is why we are looking for your nominations for the 2024 Foilies, “awards” that highlight intransigence, secrecy and all sorts of other transparency-thwarting.

Need inspiration when coming up with public records ideas? Wish you knew which other requesters were interested in the same agencies, government initiatives or subject matter? Starting today, you have a new tool: MuckRock’s FOIA Log Explorer.

Join us Sept. 20 for a free transparency training from FOIA Fellow Albert Serna Jr., open to everyone.

MuckRock’s first two rounds of Gateway Grantees are using DocumentCloud to reveal those secretly profiting from the destruction of Brazil’s rainforests, probe police misconduct in Chicago and much more. Now’s your chance to pitch a project that uses primary source documents to help inform and strengthen the public while leveraging AI, distributed storage and other leading technologies, baked right into DocumentCloud.

MuckRock’s legendary swag store shut down in 2021, but for one-month only, we’re bringing it back, with some caveats: You won’t know exactly what you’re getting until it arrives. On the upside, Pro and Org users can get free and deeply discounted transparency goodies, so order today!

Your MuckRock account now lets you do even more thanks to the launch of Big Local News’ Agenda Watch, which helps you monitor and explore public meetings data around the country.

MuckRock is looking for a FOIA Fellow to make transparency their beat. The selected candidate will cover key developments in public records, helping respond to thorny question challenges while assisting our newsrooms around the country with our collaborative reporting efforts.