In May of 2020, the Navajo Nation reported one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the United States. Since that milestone, official data reveal that the Navajo Nation has been one of the hardest-hit populations since the pandemic began. The Navajo Nation boasts the largest population of any Indigenous nation in the United States, and thousands of Navajos live outside the nation, in towns along the border, cities across the country, and in other parts of the world, making it difficult to tally the virus’ impacts on Navajo citizens.

Documenting COVID-19, started at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and sponsored by MuckRock, hosts local, state and federal document sets related to the COVID-19 pandemic and supports related local reporting. In this training, Derek Kravitz, Mohar Chatterjee, and Kyra Senese share how they’ve tackled the project and how you can build on it.

This Thursday, join us for a free training with Documenting COVID-19, the Columbia University-led initiative to help collect, analyze, and report on COVID-19 data and information around the country. This training will focus on information gleaned from analyzing medical examiner data, obtained in partnership with MuckRock through our COVID Public Info work.

Through the power of FOIA logs, FOIA-minded reporters can find interesting story ideas by asking for and digging through the history of what other people are looking to obtain.

Ever wonder what your FBI file would look like? Want to share your wild (socially distanced) weekend pics without leaving too much incriminating evidence for potential future employers? We’ve got you covered with #FOIAFacelift, our new tool that FOIA-ifies your personal photos in seconds instead of months.

Since 2015, The Foilies have served as an annual opportunity to name-and-shame the uncoolest government agencies and officials who have stood in the way of public access. We collect the most outrageous and ridiculous stories from around the country from journalists, activists, academics, and everyday folk who have filed public records and experienced retaliation, over-redactions, exorbitant fees, and other transparency malpractice.

Reuters reporters Peter Eisler and Grant Smith recently joined MuckRock to share what they learned building a nationwide database of local jail deaths. Here’s how you follow up with your own investigations.

Bullet trains and FOIA don’t often mix (snack cars aside) but this week’s FOIA roundup has inside details on California’s transportation dreams and much more, including police misconduct, legal misrepresentation, and more.

It’s been a while since we’ve published release notes, but we have a lot to share, including improvements to our crowdsourcing Assignments tool and a number of new DocumentCloud features.

This week, we take a look at how Louisiana’s Attorney General not only backtracked on a records release, but decided to throw the book at a requester in a surprising way. Plus new documents from the Defense Intelligence Agency provide fodder for star-struck requesters.