Members of the Indigenous Investigative Collective recently joined MuckRock for a webinar to discuss how they’ve used records laws, data analysis and reporting to understand the impact of COVID-19 on communities, with a particular focus on Navajo Nation, including how a patchwork of transparency laws left key questions unanswered.

Reuters reporters Peter Eisler and Grant Smith recently joined MuckRock to share what they learned building a nationwide database of local jail deaths. Here’s how you follow up with your own investigations.

As part of our ongoing COVID Public Info collaboration, we’re hosting a free webinar this Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern detailing how to read local medical examiner data. RSVP today and register for future updates.

Do mask mandates matter? Were governments that shut down schools sooner making the right call? Julia Raifman, assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health, has been organizing the COVID-19 US state policy database (CUSP) to collect and analyze state-wide mandates from across the country to help answer these questions and inform future policy. This Thursday, she shares what she’s learned in a question and answer session with Garance Burke.