At universities throughout the country, the two big beverage manufacturers, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, contract exclusive rights to stock vending machines and soda fountains with their products, and in September, MuckRock began asking its audience to help us understand just what else ends up in those agreements.

Records released this week through FOIA requests show the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid millions for a ‘half-empty floating hotel’ last hurricane season. Plus, Michigan State University struggles to keep up with records requests about Larry Nassar, Humana’s “reverse FOIA,” and an exciting job opportunity with the New York Times, all in this week’s round-up.

Recent police calls on people of color remind us that private universities operate on accountability mechanisms different than their public counterparts.

What’s considered public record or not is not a new debate. But the increasing prevalence of social media use amongst government agencies and officials, such as Twitter, brings up a new debate: If you delete social media posts on an official account, is it a violation of public records laws?

In August, we announced a new initiative to support up and coming FOIA fighters who want to help better understand and report on government. Today we’re pleased to announce the college participants in the inaugural MuckRock’s Student Journalist FOIA Grants.