It took nearly a decade, but Ted Mosby, narrator of the long-running CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, finally got to the point in the story where he, well, met the mother. While last year’s series finale drew controversy for what some considered a last minute bait-and-switch, FCC complaints released to James C. Dziobek III were less concerned about continuity and more about Barney’s junk.

Senior executives within the Veterans Benefits Administration misused incentive programs to benefit themselves, an Inspector General report shows. Two officials went so far as to pressure subordinates into accepting unfavorable transfers to create vacancies for themselves.

Changes to North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety segregation policies in the past year have highlighted another common issue nationwide in the prison reform discussion: without adequate funding, naming the problem isn’t enough.

Curious about the literary influences of the various government agencies we deal with on a daily basis? MuckRock’s Michael Morisy ran their FOIA letters though I Write Like - a service that lets you see which famous author a given piece of writing resembles - to find out.

Though now eternalized as the familiar face of Burt’s Bees personal care products, Ingram Berg Shavitz was not always a mild-mannered beekeeper. In fact, recently released FBI files show that during his youth as a globetrotting photographer, Burt found himself the accidental protagonist in a Cold War spy thriller.

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission announced a second wave of reforms to inmate calling services. Complaints released in the wake of initial reforms, though, illustrate how companies of all sizes need closer oversight of their equipment and policies at home.

EFF and MuckRock teamed up in August to reveal how state and local law enforcement agencies are using mobile biometric technology in the field. We’re starting our analysis in California, where nine agencies indicated they were using digital fingerprinting and facial recognition software.

Over the years, we’ve looked at how asset forfeiture programs can be used as major revenue streams for law enforcement, detailing how agencies work around restrictions meant to safeguard due process and finding surprising big ticket items that were seized. Now, working with Lucy Parsons Labs, we’re looking at how one city has used asset forfeiture to fund a surge in domestic surveillance spending.

During the height of the “Satanic Panic” of the ’80s, the FBI twice investigated Anton LaVey’s infamous Church of Satan over allegations that it was kidnapping children for use in unspeakable rituals … and twice they had nothing to show for it.

California City, like the prison to match, was a town built on speculation. In the second half of this series, we look at how Corrections Corporation played the long game in CA and seems to be winning.

A breach-of-contract squabble has spiraled into broader allegations of misconduct against a drone manufacturer with millions in US military contracts. A motion filed last week in Florida civil court claims that Prioria Robotics misrepresented specs for its flagship “microdrone,” and also sold refurbished units to the Army as if they were new.

In this two part series, we look at how one community invited in private prison giant Corrections Corp - and why they can’t get them to leave.

Sons of Anarchy will have been off the air for a full year in December, leaving fans of motorcycle gang family/crime dramas featuring heavy Shakespearean undertones with little to fill the void. Every cloud has a silver ling, however, as FCC complaints released to Dustin Slaughter show the show’s ending saved at least one concerned parent a trip to Washington to get it yanked from the airwaves.

When the FBI found out that an upcoming episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents featured an unscrupulous former agent willing to exploit his Bureau contacts for personal gain, they were furious at the slander … and reached out to a former agent working studio security to do something about it, by any means necessary.

Jenifer McKim’s recent investigation, Out of the Shadows, is a troubling look into how state agencies failed to protect vulnerable children, leading to abuse, neglect, and even death. But the fight for evidence needed to report the piece began years ago, with a simple public records request.

It took some coaxing, but Kim Davis has released nearly 500 emails exchanged with other government officials since August. In a reversal of her previous stance, the county clerk agreed to provide the emails in digital format at minimal fee, in keeping with Kentucky’s public records statute.

Beryl takes a look at the most common myths and misconceptions surrounding the incarceration industry, especially the big one - do they actually save money?

Before rock legends KISS embarked on their 1980 “Unmasked” Tour of Europe, then FBI Director William H. Webster put out a request to field offices for information regarding instances of “civil unrest” associated with the band’s concerts, particularly an incident in Texas which escalated to open attacks on police. The field offices’ response was unanimous - they had no idea what the Director was talking about.

Over the past ten years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has spent millions of dollars on cell phone tracking. Federal purchasing documents that are already posted online indicate the make and model of the tracking device, and often even the DEA field office that bought it.

For over a decade, MythBusters has been using the scientific method to dismantle popular misconceptions, one controlled explosion at a time. But as FCC complaints released to Chris Meller show, you can’t bust a couple hundred myths without making a few enemies.

When the FBI first officially encountered Bess Myerson, she was a well-known television personality still wearing the glow of her historic Miss America crown. When they last investigated her, she was at the crux of a scandal that cost her her job and the tarnish-free sheen of a successful life in the public eye.

Kim Davis has deeply held beliefs on handing over her emails. Where Kentucky law commands officials to provide documents in digital format, the county clerk says she’s “old school on this email stuff” and insists on printing them out, at considerable cost and delay.

The details of the American prison system typically are, and have been, matters of public record - if one only knows how to ask. Even for-profit prisons, whose status as corporations make them notoriously exempt from public records laws, can’t hide everything they’ve got.

CBS’ The Big Bang Theory recently kicked off of its ninth season to an audience of over 18 million viewers. Despite its seemingly unwavering popularity, the sitcom’s pastiche of nerd culture has earned its fair share of critics - the most ardent of which, FCC complaints show, are calling upon the government to yank the show from the airwaves.

Author and journalist William F. Buckley, Jr. is an icon of American conservatism, quite literally defining the political philosophy in the very first issue of his seminal magazine, National Review. Buckley’s nearly 40-year relationship with the FBI began back in 1950, when J. Edgar Hoover himself was urged to meet with the then twenty-five-year-old phenom.