News
Original reporting, commentary, and analysis of public records by MuckRock’s staff and affiliates, with new articles every weekday.
Release Notes: A new DocumentCloud is coming. Try it today!
We’ll be releasing the experience for everyone in mid-November. Keep reading for an in-depth explanation for why we started this project, how we approached it, and how it succeeded.
For the Record: Opening up the statehouse
MuckRock’s September FOIA Friday conversation focused on opening up the statehouse through requesting data and documents such as calendars, contracts, lobbying data and travel logs.
Help us investigate how the federal government uses AI for FOIA
Since at least 2023, the Attorney General has asked the federal government how it uses machine learning for public records. We want to know more.
Release Notes: DocumentCloud API updates and embargo restructuring
New changes have been made to both the DocumentCloud and MuckRock APIs, including that and embargoes are now restructured.
Data Liberation Project expands transparency efforts with MuckRock and Big Local News
The Data Liberation Project transparency initiative is joining MuckRock, where together with the data experts at Big Local News it will expand how the community of FOIA enthusiasts requests, documents and publishes data.
FOIA 101: Tips and Tricks to Make You a Transparency Master
How data can power public health investigations — through collaboration
In a new story with DataJournalism.com, reporters Dillon Bergin and Betsy Ladyzhets shared how MuckRock collaborates with both experts and other reporters to pursue major data journalism projects.
Air Quality Access: How local government is planning (or not) to protect your air
In the late 1980s, an area of the Jurupa Valley in Riverside, California began a transformation that would turn it from a community of sprawling dairy farms to hub for enormous warehouses. David Danelski, then an investigative reporter for the Riverside-Press Enterprise, unraveled the details through public records on town planning and found one important document missing from projects approved by county officials for more than a decade: the environmental impact statement. Here are his tips on this and other key records requests you can file.
Air quality access: Using complaints, violations and fines to pinpoint local polluters
Freelance journalist Monica Vaughan was reporting on air pollution in California’s San Joaquin Valley when the words of one mother changed her perspective. “I just scan the stories looking for the sentence about whether or not it’s safe to live here. And I can never find that,” Vaughan remembered the woman saying.
In a second guide on air pollution, we bring together advice from reporters like Vaughan and examples that might help you uncover unsafe air in your community. From intial complaints to sustained violations, we give you the tools to ask your local government how it regulates polluters in your area
Air Quality Access: Three requests to help you scrutinize local environmental standards
In 2004, Dina Cappiello discovered some Houston residents were exposed to cancer-causing toxins at a level 20 times higher than federal guidelines — for toxic waste dumps. “Everybody was like ‘nothing to see here,’ but I was like something doesn’t add up,” Cappiello said. In this guide, we share tips and examples from Cappiello and other reporters of what you can request in your community to understand how dangerous the air is and even pinpoint potential polluters.
For the Record: How personal financial disclosures and other public records can improve election reporting
Take advantage of new resources to help your election reporting.
Help track PPP loans associated with 2024 election candidates
MuckRock is working to obtain PPP loans by candidates in the 2024 election by using public records.
For the Record: Recapping MuckRock @ NICAR
See what you might have missed from this year’s NICAR conference.
Six things to know about Mazi Pilip and Tom Suozzi, the candidates who sought to replace former Rep. George Santos
The special election to fill the congressional seat of disgraced and expelled former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is on Tuesday, with New York state legislator and “rising star” Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Israeli émigré, competing against an establishment Democrat, former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi.
For the Record: Opening up the statehouse
MuckRock’s September FOIA Friday conversation focused on opening up the statehouse through requesting data and documents such as calendars, contracts, lobbying data and travel logs.
For the Record: Dig into personal financial disclosures
August’s FOIA Friday session covered documents that are especially useful during the election season: personal financial disclosures, business interests and finances.
For the Record: Government transparency when businesses and nonprofits are involved
MuckRock hosted its monthly FOIA Friday conversation on the challenges of requesting public records when businesses and nonprofits intervene.
For the Record: Requesting data inventories
MuckRock’s #FOIAFriday webinar series continued last Friday with a step-by-step guide on how to request data inventories from federal and state agencies.