The First Step Act’s first steps are stalled
The First Step Act was touted as beginning a reversal of decades of tough-on-crime policies. But just hours after the bill was signed by President Trump, the federal government began a shutdown of “nonessential” government operations. Now more than a month later, the shutdown has stopped efforts by the federal government to meet the new law’s first deadline - the selection of a team who will help implement a tool to assess risk and needs.
Cooking with FOIA: The Soviet Army’s 1948 borscht recipe
A document recently uncovered in the Central Intelligence Agency declassified archives reveals that for over 50 years the CIA kept a translated copy of the Soviet Army’s 1948 “Manual for the cook instructor of the ground troops in peacetime” a closely-guarded secret. That’s how you know that borscht recipe is solid.
MuckRock Release Notes: Help build a directory of FOIA ideas
For Sunshine Week 2019, we’re working on building a database of the best FOIA suggestions to help showcase the power of transparency - and give requesters a little inspiration when they’re stuck for ideas. Join us next Tuesday in Boston or on our FOIA Slack.
The Reverend and the Director: FBI files capture the one and only face-to-face meeting between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr.
While a not-insignificant percentage of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s activities under Director J. Edgar Hoover were driven by personal vendettas, few were as well-known – or as publicly vicious – as Hoover’s feud with civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. That clash quite literally came to a head on December 1, 1964, when, at the urging of President Lyndon Johnson, Hoover invited King to FBI headquarters for their first - and only - face to face meeting, captured in a ten-page memo in King’s file.
This week’s FOIA round-up: The Shutdown’s impact on immigration court, records show environmental agency pushed for prosecution of No More Deaths activists, and the NYPD holds on to protest photos
For this week’s FOIA round-up, a new report shows over 40,000 immigration hearings have been cancelled due to the government shutdown, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pushed to have activists providing migrants with water prosecuted on environmental grounds, and recently released photos reveal that the New York Police Department might be in violation of its guidelines on protest surveillance.
Projects See all
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Subjects Matter: FBI Files
★ Featured- Contribute
- 43% funded
- $2160.00 raised
- 20 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. -
Exploring America's Nonconsensual Pornography Laws
★ FeaturedNonconsensual pornography (NCP) is the act of distributing pornographic images of individuals without their consent. Victims report feelings of humiliation, distress, and shame. Because of the nature of the internet, it can be difficult to completely take down victims' images, and they can be circulated years after the initial posting. -
Sunshine Spotlight: Massachusetts
★ FeaturedWe'll be shining a light on your Bay State public records struggle! Trouble getting meeting minutes from your city council? Are your local police refusing to release logs or other public information? Whatever your public records struggle, we want to hear about it! -
Secret Scandals of the Trump Administration
★ FeaturedExploring and exposing the Trump Administration’s lesser known, but no less damaging policies.