This week’s For the Record shares how reporters at MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente overcame rejection in their “Air We Breathe” series.

There are nearly 600 exemptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act, and the list keeps growing. However, a new state law could slow the adoption of new exemptions because it requires the Tennessee House’s Government Operations Committee to review any legislation that creates an exception to the TPRA, which requires government records to be open to public inspection.

Three years ago, Massachusetts legislators revised the state’s public records law with the ostensible goal of increasing access. And yet, the law is still considered one of the most restrictive in the country - in no small part owing to the fact that the Bay State remains the only state in which all three branches of its state government are exempt from disclosure.

New proposed changes to FOIA law in Washington D.C. could block access to government emails dealing with “matters unrelated to public employees and officials’ work,” among other restrictions.

In this week’s FOIA roundup, two FOIA lawsuits push the Justice Department to release a new version of the Mueller Report, records reveal that the Connecticut police officer who shot an unarmed teen last month had worried past supervisors, and an elected city clerk in Illinois sues his city over its own FOIA processes.