In this week’s FOIA round-up, emails show Texas declined National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s offer to test for air pollution following Hurricane Harvey, a Missouri senator, fresh out of an election violation investigation, is now back under scrutiny thanks to newly released communications, and now-public data shows that self-driving cars aren’t as safe as regulators claim.

Mark Harris was getting tired of consumer reporting when he found a way to get great scoops to literally come right to him: Freedom of Information requests. Here our inaugural MuckRock Thiel Fellow shares the tips and tactics that helped him pierce the secrecy around Palantir and dig into other secretive tech companies.