updated Wed. February 14, 2024
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Common Dreams
April 18, 2018
Farmworker Justice and Earthjustice submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EPA for the records in late December, days after EPA announced its intention to revisit these protections. The request went unanswered. Now, these groups are asking the court to order EPA to provide the documentsÃâà...
Southwest Virginia Today
April 18, 2018
The state requires local governments to designate at least one FOIA officer, who is the point of contact for public information requests. The Virginia FOIA guarantees citizens of the commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public officials, public employees and publicÃâà...
MuckRock
April 18, 2018
After a month of phone calls, letters, emails, faxes, and failed FOIAs, we've reached the final two competitors in our annual match-up of federal Freedom of Information Act offices. We began with the same request - a broad, arguably “burdensome” call for all “talking points” emails since Election 2016 - sentÃâà...
Chester News
April 18, 2018
The Chester County School Board had some items on its agenda posted for Monday's meeting that were questionable under the rules of the S.C. Freedom of Information Act, but once the items were brought to their attention, school board chair Denise Lawson and the school board acted quickly to fix them.
Northwest Herald
April 16, 2018
Since he took office in May, Supervisor Charles Lutzow said Algonquin Township has received more than 90 FOIA requests from numerous parties. He declined to comment for this story. The records requests asked for surveillance footage; protective orders; credit card transactions and billings; phone bills;Ãâà...
FederalNewsRadio.com
April 2, 2018
Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive's daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. Every administration says it wants the government to be more transparent. Yet federal agencies still get tens of thousands of Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA,Ãâà...
CNN
April 2, 2018
Van der Zwaan's forfeiture of his Freedom of Information Act ability prevents him from interfering with the Mueller investigation by requesting documents ... The special counsel told the court they are discussing van der Zwaan's waiving of his FOIA rights because the same judge drew attention to a similarÃâà...
Fairfaxtimes.com
March 31, 2018
Washington region residents have filed Freedom of Information Act requests to D.C., state and local governments, including Fairfax County, in hopes of discovering the breadth of incentives being offered to Amazon in hopes of landing the web and retail giant's second headquarters. The FOIA requests wereÃâà...
Taft Midway Driller
March 31, 2018
The city of Ridgecrest has asked for an additional 14 days to comply with the Daily Independent's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for correspondence regarding the Timbisha Shoshone casino project. City Editor Jessica Weston filed a FOIA request with the city via email on March 19 requestingÃâà...
BikePortland.org
March 24, 2018
The Audubon Society of Portland and OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon want to make sure the Oregon Department of Transportation doesn't short-change the environment as they plan to add and expand lanes on Interstate 5 through the Rose Quarter. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request wasÃâà...
The Peninsula
March 20, 2018
“In a rather inventive way, bureaucrats are using the flexibility that's provided in current statute to arbitrarily delay the processing of FOIA requests indefinitely,” Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain), the bill's cosponsor, said. “It's no wonder why residents are upset with their government. I'm all in for makingÃâà...
Burlington Times News
March 20, 2018
Since 1967, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has provided the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. The basic function of FOIA is to ensure informed citizens, vital to the functioning of a democratic society. Federal agencies are required to disclose any informationÃâà...
Michigan Radio
March 20, 2018
Rick Snyder signed legislation Monday that allows for the exclusion of cybersecurity information shared with Michigan State Police and other government bodies to be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The changes cleared the Legislature in House Bill 4973 (now Public Act 68 of 2018)Ãâà...
The Wilson Times
March 20, 2018
It's not part of the Constitution, but the Freedom of Information Act is one of the bulwarks of our liberties. Signed by President Lyndon Johnson on the Fourth of July 1966, the act provides that, with a few exceptions, citizens have a right to see documents and data maintained by the federal government,Ãâà...
WNMU-FM
March 19, 2018
LANSING, MI-- State Representative Beau LaFave has co-sponsored legislation that would speed up Freedom of Information Act requests. ... He says the measure is in response to Attorney General Bill Schuette's statement that Michigan's FOIA law doesn't specify a timeline in which information requestsÃâà...
Crain's Detroit Business
March 19, 2018
Supporters have said the exemption reassures companies that sensitive information shared with officials in the event of a security breach does not surface in public-records requests under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act. The exclusion also applies to requests that could trigger future securityÃâà...
Daily Press
March 17, 2018
The Daily Press relies extensively on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to gather documents and other information to investigate issues or to perform watch-dog coverage of our government. Jim MannerContact ReporterDaily Press. Privacy Policy. Have you ever wanted to know how to request documents from aÃâà...
HollandSentinel.com
March 17, 2018
One person's reasonable statute is another person's burdensome government regulation, and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is no exception. Look at what the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing. The Washington Post recently published a memo in which the BLM, which manages aÃâà...
Newsweek
March 16, 2018
Jared Kushner and Donald Trump to Get 200 Freedom of Information Act Requests From Impeachment Campaign ... records of Trump and Kushner's business interactions with government agencies and administration members' expenditures will be filed on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Day on MarchÃâà...
The Detroit News
March 16, 2018
Michigan is the only state in the nation in which state law exempts the governor and lieutenant governor from the requirements of the state Freedom of Information Act. In 1986, then-Attorney General Frank Kelley issued an opinion that the Michigan Legislature also is exempt from FOIA. Attorney General BillÃâà...
Daily Press
March 15, 2018
The family was desperate for information, but Dujardin and reporter Lisa Vernon Sparks ran into difficulty despite being familiar with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Listen to Dujardin share some of the difficulties — and some of the victories — in this video. This was created as part of aÃâà...
The Detroit News
March 15, 2018
Michigan is one of two states that exempts both the governor's office and state Legislature from its Freedom of Information Act, a contributing factor to the ... Schuette, now serving as attorney general, has said he'll work to expand FOIA to both branches and create a legal team to “explore the release of anyÃâà...
HollandSentinel.com
March 15, 2018
HOLLAND — A public forum Wednesday served to inform the public about the importance of transparency — specifically the use of the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. The Sentinel-hosted event took place at Herrick District Library's Hazel B. Hayes Auditorium, the forum andÃâà...
Gizmodo
March 15, 2018
... by President Donald Trump during his first six months in office, according to records obtained via lawsuit citing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). ... DC-based nonprofit transparency group, obtained the records after suing the DoD, which had failed to properly respond to its FOIA request last June.
Herald Palladium
March 15, 2018
Michigan is the only state in the nation in which state law exempts the governor and lieutenant governor from the requirements of Michigan's Freedom of Information Act. In 1986, then-Attorney General Frank Kelley issued an opinion that the Michigan Legislature also is exempt from FOIA. Current AttorneyÃâà...
Daily Press
March 15, 2018
Sunshine Week began Sunday, March 11, to recognize the importance of access to public information. The Daily Press relies extensively on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to gather documents and other information to investigate issues or to perform watch-dog coverage of our government.
FCW.com
March 14, 2018
On Capitol Hill, senators are complaining that there's too little transparency surrounding the government's premier transparency law. While the Department of Justice recently launched a one-stop shop to centralize the submissions of Freedom of Information Act requests, Republican and DemocraticÃâà...
FederalNewsRadio.com
March 14, 2018
As the federal government saw a record-breaking number of Freedom of Information Act requests last year, many agencies still struggle with a growing case backlog. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, several lawmakers expressed frustration with some of the bottlenecks in the FOIAÃâà...
CBS News
March 13, 2018
The calculations cover eight months under President Trump -- the first hints about how his administration complies with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The surge of people who sought records but ended up empty-handed was driven by the government saying more than ever it could not find a singleÃâà...
Government Accountability Office
March 13, 2018
In its draft report, GAO determined that all 18 selected agencies had implemented three of six Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements reviewed. Specifically, all agencies had updated response letters to inform requesters of the right to seek assistance from FOIA public liaisons, implemented requestÃâà...
Salt Lake Tribune
March 12, 2018
The memo proposes limiting “the number of FOIA requests from any one group” and increasing the fees associated with FOIA requests. The BLM also proposes protecting the information that state and local government share with it. Put another way, the proposal would make a federal agency vital to theÃâà...
FCW.com
March 8, 2018
The Department of Justice launched its one-stop shop for users to submit online Freedom of Information Act requests across government. The FOIA process has long been criticized as frustrating and even broken, and the number of FOIA requests spiked during fiscal year 2016 before reaching an all-timeÃâà...
Crain's Detroit Business
March 6, 2018
Supporters of the exclusion said without it companies might be reluctant to cooperate with officials in the event of a security breach due to fear of sensitive information being released under the Freedom of Information Act. Snyder spokeswoman Tanya Baker said in a statement that the governor looksÃâà...
Lawfare (blog)
March 6, 2018
A couple of weeks ago, The Hill reported on the latest legal endeavour of our little Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) project: a new lawsuit we've filed with help from our friends at Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) over a long-overdue FOIA request one of usÃâà...
CBC.ca
March 6, 2018
Three groups, including students and professors, are jointly calling for the University of Prince Edward Island to be included under provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation. The legislation is under review. Currently, the university and municipalities are not regulated by the act.
MuckRock
March 6, 2018
We've chosen 64 teams from across the federal Freedom of Information Act offices. The selection is less-than-scientific, including some fan favorites from last year and some new contenders and absent certain non-responsives from the 2017 iteration. We'll be submitting the same FOIA request to each officeÃâà...
MuckRock
March 6, 2018
With Sunshine Week just around the corner, we wanted to count down the days to our favorite time of year with a closer look at what's going on behind the black bars: the nine federal FOIA exemptions. Today, b(6): the privacy exemption.
MuckRock
March 5, 2018
With Sunshine Week just around the corner, we wanted to count down the days to our favorite time of year with a closer look at what's going on behind the black bars: the nine federal FOIA exemptions. Today, everyone's least favorite exemption: b(5), the “Withhold It Because You Want To” exemption.
Port Huron Times Herald
March 3, 2018
Freedom of Information Act requests are a tool available to anyone to gain access to data at any level of government from police reports to building permits, or even communications between officials. If it has any sort of government fingerprint, chances are FOIA can deliver it, and local governments in St.
Pacific Standard
February 26, 2018
Over the past year, the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of the Administrator has significantly delayed the department's processing of Freedom of Information Act requests, according to an ongoing analysis by Project on Government Oversight, a non-partisan non-profit that tracks corruption in theÃâà...
Bloomberg BNA
February 26, 2018
Public Citizen Inc., a nonprofit public interest advocacy and litigation organization, says that it filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the OFCCP to obtain copies of FOIA requests made by other parties for EEO-1 reports as well as any agency correspondence that followed those requests.
Times Record
December 31, 1999
Local residents got the chance to learn more about the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act during a meeting Wednesday. The Transparency in Government Group of Western Arkansas met at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Fort Smith to discuss the Arkansas FOIA. The meeting wasÃâà...
Michigan State University Extension
December 31, 1999
One of the laws that protects transparency and open government is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This act protects the public's right to access government documents, with certain restrictions. While the act does protect this right, there are often complaints about the cost associated with a FOIAÃâà...
Detroit Metro Times
December 31, 1999
To help do that, the lawmakers of that day gave us a very important tool: The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. Every state and the federal government passed some version of FOIA laws. In Michigan, anyone, whether a journalist or a barista, can write to any government and ask to see any records,Ãâà...
FederalNewsRadio.com
December 31, 1999
The government's Freedom of Information Act website has taken its first step to becoming a one-stop shop for FOIA requests governmentwide. The Justice Department's Office of Information Policy (OIP) launched the first iteration of its National FOIA Portal on Thursday through a redesign of its existingÃâà...
Bloomberg BNA
December 31, 1999
The city is hoping to sweep away a lawsuit under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act filed by a nonprofit called Lucy Parsons Labs. Chicago is one of the 20 remaining communities in the sweepstakes for Amazon's HQ2, which is expected to include a corporate investment of $5 billion and the creation ofÃâà...
Newark Post
December 31, 1999
... process of releasing council members' emails under the Freedom of Information Act was met with fierce resistance from several council members Monday. ... Under the policy, proposed by City Secretary and FOIA coordinator Renee Bensley, each council member and the mayor would be provided with aÃâà...
Undark Magazine
December 31, 1999
The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is a law that gives the public the right to request access to information from any federal agency. Numerous exemptions relating to national security and personal privacy may apply, but in any case, an agency must generally provide a response to a FOIA requestÃâà...
