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This week’s FOIA Roundup: Texas declined air pollution tests after Hurricane Harvey, a Missouri senator is back under scrutiny for election violations, and new report questions self-driving car safety
In this week’s FOIA round-up, emails show Texas declined National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s offer to test for air pollution following Hurricane Harvey, a Missouri senator, fresh out of an election violation investigation, is now back under scrutiny thanks to newly released communications, and now-public data shows that self-driving cars aren’t as safe as regulators claim.
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This week’s round-up: FEMA gets ICE’d, a splurging superintendent in Texas, and a chance to nominate your free speech hero
For this week’s FOIA round-up, we’re taking a look at FEMA cuts for ICE programming, a school leader’s spending habits, and Scott Pruitt’s money problems. Plus, open nominations for the FAC Free Speech and Open Government Award.
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This week’s round-up: FEMA’s “floating hotel,” Michigan State University flooded with Larry Nassar requests, and a rare “reverse FOIA”
Records released this week through FOIA requests show the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid millions for a ‘half-empty floating hotel’ last hurricane season. Plus, Michigan State University struggles to keep up with records requests about Larry Nassar, Humana’s “reverse FOIA,” and an exciting job opportunity with the New York Times, all in this week’s round-up.
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Puerto Rico looks to privatize its prison system
As part of efforts to rebuild and restructure Puerto Rico after last fall’s destructive hurricane season, the island territory is actively planning to use private prisons on the mainland to house a third of its current inmate population.
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Read FEMA’s 2014 plan for dealing with a hurricane in Puerto Rico
The Federal Emergency Management Agency just released its plan from 2014 for how to respond to a hurricane in Puerto Rico, after having denied ProPublica’s request for the same document in October.
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How does a private prison handle a hurricane?
We’ve filed requests with privately-run prisons and immigration detention centers in Harvey’s path to find out how they weathered the storm.
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FEMA really does have a “Waffle House Index” for hurricanes - and they’re not too happy about it
Records originally released to Adam Schweigert reveal the intricacies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s much-rumored “Waffle House Index” - and the agency’s recent attempts to distance themselves from it.
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From 1982 to 2016, FEMA paid $66 million in federal flood insurance payments to government entities
A spreadsheet released to Brian Sparks shows that since 1982, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid out a little over $66 million in federal flood insurance to government entities. That’s about a third of the cost of a single MQ-9 Reaper drone.
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Katrina exposed ‘response gap,’ unprepared first responders
With the hurricane season officially begun as of June 1, MuckRock reviews the lessons gleaned from major storms past. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, military analysts focused on a critical “response gap” and uncoordinated, overwhelmed local first responders.
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Hurricane Andrew exposed coordination issues, public confidence concerns
With the hurricane season officially begun as of June 1, MuckRock reviews the lessons gleaned from major storms past. Following Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Defense Department analysts critiqued the coordination and preparation of first responders, and emphasized the importance of maintaining public confidence in the government.