Some of the nation’s largest cities are stilling using COVID-19 as an excuse to delay records requests.

Unwilling to wait for federal regulation to develop, municipal leaders from California to Massachusetts are pushing their own rules on the acquisition and use of facial recognition technology.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s COINTELPRO investigation of Ramparts magazine appears to have been sparked by a combination of their exposés on Central Intelligence Agency, their contacts at press outlets like the Soviet-controlled TASS, and their interviews with foreign leaders and officials. The Bureau described these interviews as placing the Ramparts reporters as being “under the guidance of Egyptian propaganda and intelligence personnel” and felt that “the average reader” would see the resulting article as “pro-Nasser, anti-Israel and anti-U.S.” For the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office, this perception created an opportunity for the Bureau to sow dissent among Rampart’s staff, subscribers, and donors.

Following a historic midterm election, two ballot measures in western states passed, granting each jurisdiction new laws governing transparency and access to records.

Ahead of tomorrow’s midterm elections, voters in Nevada and San Francisco, California prepare to decide on the future of their government’s power over open access. If you’re voting in either location, make sure you’re knowledgeable on the potential impacts on transparency effects these two ballot measures could have.