Help explore Ronald Reagan’s 30,000-page FBI file
Ronald Reagan’s decades-long association with the Federal Bureau of Investigation - from his early days as an anti-Communist informant in Hollywood to the law and order governor of California to President of the United States during Iran-Contra - is attested to in his 30,000-page file, recently released to Emma Best. Due to the size and scope of the historical material contained in these pages, we’re using our new Assignments tool to start a crowdsourced project to hone in on the most interesting finds buried in the Bureau’s margins.
New Washington task force looks to tackle transparency at the legislative level
Each state and jurisdiction has the discretion to implement FOIA and public record laws differently. Depending on the type of document your searching for, accessing that same record in one state may not be so public in another. In Washington state, the Public Records Act is not clear on whether the legislative branch is exempt or not. However, a new Legislative Task Force on Public Records in Washington met for the first time early this month to tackle the PRA as it pertains to their legislature and find solutions to issues of transparency.
This week’s FOIA round-up: DOJ seals evidence of Border Patrol targeting volunteers, New Mexico’s settlements get pricey, and Parkland parents get stonewalled
For this week’s FOIA round-up, records show the Justice Department motioned to seal text messages implicating Border Patrol’s deliberate targeting of a humanitarian group, and New Mexico settled almost $5 million in legal claims. Also, parents of two victims in the Parkland shooting are being prevented from getting public records about the massacre.
You want to know: what’s next for the inmates who respond to emergencies?
Inspired by your feedback, we’re looking for any reports states’ Departments of Corrections might have on inmate firefighters post-incarceration employment.
Ronald Reagan couldn’t get J. Edgar Hoover to guest star on “General Electric Theater”
Last week, we took our first look into Ronald Reagan’s recently released Federal Bureau of Investigation file and how it documented the close personal friendship between Reagan and Director J. Edgar Hoover. However, a section of the file from a decade earlier reveals a much less auspicious first encounter between the Gipper and the G-Man, with Hoover repeatedly turning down a starstruck Reagan’s offer to guest star on General Electric Theater.
Projects See all
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The Private Prison Project
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- 44% funded
- $4495.00 raised
- 111 backers
For-profit detention continues to reap the rewards of an incarceration system filled to the brim and facing an uncertain future. Our FOIA requests have released thousands of documents that show how for-profit prisons have leveraged the legal system to their advantage, letting companies pick-and-choose inmates to off-load costs, ignore complaints and concerns, and create dangerous conditions for prisoners and staff alike. This is all done while billions of taxpayer dollars are funneled into these private companies, which then pour millions into politicians' campaigns to keep their growth going. With your help, we can provide needed scrutiny of an industry few are even aware exists. -
Subjects Matter: FBI Files
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- 43% funded
- $2150.00 raised
- 19 backers
This project aims to sift through the hundreds of thousands of pages of FBI archival material we've released, so we can better understand why the Bureau had an eye on these people - and through that, better understand who they're keeping tabs on today. -
Unearthing CREST: CIA's Declassified Archives
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- 10% funded
- $60.00 raised
- 2 backers
After our three-year lawsuit led to the public release of 13 million pages of declassified CIA records, we've begun a daily-deep dive into the depths of the Agency's seven-decade history. -
FOIA 101: Tips and Tricks to Make You a Transparency Master
★ FeaturedWhether it's your first request or your first request *today,* it never hurts to go over the basics. MuckRock's compiled a lot of FOIA advice over the years, and with this project, it's all in one place.