Last year, we filed a request for Corey Stewart’s various Confederate-related correspondence, and received it around the time Stewart voiced support for a white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Robert E. Lee statue. Three months later, a much larger rally dubbed “Unite the Right” saw Heather Heyer killed by a neo-Nazi. MuckRock duplicated the original request for emails, with the addition of keywords related to the rally. We received 21 pages of emails, none written by Stewart.

In this week’s FOIA round-up, public records show massive federal spending on protecting Confederate cemeteries post-Charlottesville, the Trump administration’s policy of withholding documents requested with FOIA at the Fish and Wildlife Service, and a police fraternity allowing cops to escape DUI charges in Illinois. Also, an extensive FOIA-focused report details systemic flaws in the Illinois state FOIA process.

MuckRock is asking you to submit examples of the most racist memorials and monuments in the country. We’ll follow up by submitting records requests that will help us find out exactly how much time and energy local, state, and federal agencies devote to upkeep.

Curious to see what the email inbox of controversial Gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart looked like after his comments attacking proponents of removing Confederate Statue, Virginian native Tom Nash filed a public records request. After some pushback, the commonwealth relented, and what they released makes for a fascinating read.