FOIA doesn’t have to be dry, particularly if you get creative with your requests and how you put the data to work. This week, some great examples of using government data from the New York Times and CityLab, plus a report on a questionable new way to skirt the law via the Tri-City Herald.

Right now, the current administration’s plans to improve American infrastructure and create jobs nationwide rest heavily on the hope of public-private partnerships. Join our survey to learn more about which towns and cities are privatizing a particularly public resource: water.

In the next few weeks President Donald Trump is slated to release a highly-anticipated plan for an overhaul of the nation’s infrastructure, and with an anticipated total tag of nearly a trillion dollars, there will certainly be plenty of feeders fighting at the trough of public funds.

MuckRock invites you to consider how water reaches you through faucets and fountains, on good days and bad, and what steps are being taken to protect its potability for years and generations to come.

MuckRock’s most recent survey for greater Boston gas leak information has received relevant responses from two-fifths of surveyed municipalities, a marked improvement over responses from two years ago, when many municipalities claimed to have little to no information on the locations and plans for repair of natural gas leaks in their neighborhoods.