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For the Record: Appealing an unduly burdensome denial in Illinois
This week’s For the Record shares how reporters at MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente overcame rejection in their “Air We Breathe” series.
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For the Record: Michigan bill could expand FOIA law to governor and legislature
Two bipartisan bills in Michigan could expand the state’s Freedom of Information Act to allow requests for documents in the governor’s office and the state legislature.
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Release Notes: Making it easier to sort, filter and reprocess document OCR
Since our last release notes, we released a new Add-On OCR Tagger that allows you to tag your document(s) based on the OCR engine used and we added better logging for when scheduled Add-Ons like Klaxon or Scraper get disabled. This helps more easily diagnose and correct outages that impact Add-Ons.
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For the Record: New bill in Louisiana would exempt economic development projects from the state’s public record law
MuckRock’s For the Record column goes to Louisiana to understand how a new proposed legislation would exclude a local government’s “active” negotiations in economic development projects.
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Behind the Badge: In New York City Homeless Shelters, the Same ‘Peace Officers’ Abuse Residents
Previously unreleased disciplinary files expose officers who beat, slap, and pepper spray the residents they’re supposed to protect. Most are back at work within a month.
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Were you treated unjustly by police in New York? Are you a former officer with a story to tell? We want to hear from you.
A team of investigative reporters working with New York Focus and MuckRock would like to hear from New Yorkers across the state about their experiences with law enforcement.
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For the Record: New Utah law redefines what is a public record
Utah’s Senate Bill 240 allows for the exemption of elected officials’ calendars from the state’s public records law.
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The inside story on a billion-dollar chemical company’s fight to keep its secrets from the public
After the Cicero Independiente and MuckRock published investigative articles about air pollution and the chemicals company Koppers, it hired a public-relations firm to organize a secret, behind-the-scenes campaign to influence local officials.
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La historia interna de la lucha de una empresa química multimillonaria por ocultar sus secretos al público
Después que Cicero Independiente y MuckRock publicaran artículos de investigación sobre la contaminación atmosférica y la empresa química Koppers, ésta contrató a una empresa de relaciones públicas para organizar una campaña secreta entre bastidores para influir a los funcionarios locales.
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For the Record: What’s next for public records law in New Jersey and Arkansas?
This week’s For the Record is turning to New Jersey and Arkansas that have active legislation that could modernize public record laws in their states.
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Release Notes: Improved sorting, new revision control documentation and more
In recent weeks, we’ve rolled out a few updates on DocumentCloud. Users can now sort documents on DocumentCloud by their key/value pairs. We’ve documented API access for document revision control. Finally, a fellow DocumentCloud user contributed a write-up on how to run your own version of Klaxon.
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Automate your beat: Unredact documents, monitor websites and much more with DocumentCloud
Ever had a spreadsheet-turned-PDF you’re stuck untangling? Wish story ideas came right to you? Over the past two years, MuckRock’s DocumentCloud tool has built several ways to automate common journalism and research tasks, taking once-cumbersome processes and breaking them down to just a few clicks.
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For the Record: The state of new public records legislation in Colorado and Kentucky
This week’s For the Record tackles proposed state legislation in Colorado and Kentucky that would change how public records are accessed.
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Documenting Brazil’s January coup attempt using DocumentCloud
Brazilian newsroom Aos Fatos shows how they used DocumentCloud to pull images, audio files and videos from social media accounts.
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MuckRock and partners recognized for its journalism
MuckRock has won the First Amendment Coalition’s Free Speech and Open Government Award for its data journalism collaborations and was named a finalist for the National Institute for Health Care Management Awards and Sigma Awards.
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For the Record: Sunshine Week, in review
Sunshine Week shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.
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Release Notes: Enhanced project management, an easier way to count pages and other MuckRock and DocumentCloud updates
In the last two weeks the MuckRock team released the ability to pin your projects on DocumentCloud, the ability to update your card on file without making a new purchase and several Add-On improvements including two new Add-Ons: OCR Scheduler and Page Counter.
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Build a searchable collection of local campaign finance reports with DocumentCloud
At NICAR 2024, University of Texas students demonstrated their use of DocumentCloud to compile local campaign finance reports, overcoming challenges with the use of enhanced OCR and categorizing their documents with tagging.
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DocDive: Getting put on (legal) notice
Some state and federal laws require what are called “demand letters,” or notices of legal action, to be sent from one party to another before a lawsuit is filed.
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For the Record: Recapping MuckRock @ NICAR
See what you might have missed from this year’s NICAR conference.
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The Foilies 2024: Recognizing the worst in government transparency
We’re taught in school about checks and balances between the various branches of government, but those lessons tend to leave out the role that civilians play in holding officials accountable. We’re not just talking about the ballot box, but the everyday power we all have to demand government agencies make their records and data available to public scrutiny.
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‘Atomic Radius:’ The legacy of America’s nuclear weapons testing program from States Newsroom and MuckRock
Decades after the first-ever U.S. nuclear weapons test in July 1945, the extent of the fallout has only now been understood, thanks to new modeled data by researchers. States Newsroom and MuckRock explore the human fallout from America’s nuclear testing program, and how the consequences are still felt today.
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Lawmakers consider bill to raise training standards for Missouri coroners
A case in Cape Girardeau County, where the coroner is charged with stealing from the dead and lying on death certificates, is spurring action to strengthen qualifications for public officials who handle deaths.
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For the Record: The battle to preserve the online archives of now-shuttered newsrooms
Major news organizations have announced the shutdown of prominent websites, including the DCist, Vice and The Messenger with many left wondering who will archive the journalism of hundreds of reporters.
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Florissant homes built on Coldwater Creek may sit on radioactive contamination
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is drilling through basement floors in the Cades Cove subdivision of Florissant to determine whether there is radioactive contamination under residents’ homes.