While an effort to reform the nation's open records law failed to gain much traction in 2015 after a promising start, the Freedom of Information Act still quietly shaped much of the year's political landscape.
Reporters and transparency advocates used FOIA to unearth documents related to FBI surveillance, CIA spying on Congress and the State Department's handling of the 2012 Benghazi attack. Continue…
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Read More… from This obscure law had a big political impact in 2015
MORGANTOWN — A website that tracks public records requests across state and local governments will be up and running by Friday, meeting the Jan. 1 deadline spelled out in state law, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant said.
Tennant told The Associated Press the site will list agencies, what was requested, when it was requested and who asked for the information. Continue…
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After two Peninsula circuit court clerks broke with almost all their counterparts and released compilations of case records, Virginians discovered that only about one in 20 rapes ever result in a conviction.
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Read More… from Top Stories of 2015 in Virginia: FOIA – lots of attitude, and a challenge
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) asked FBI Director James Comey to explain the purpose of a new FBI policy requiring people to upload copies of government-issued identification when filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, in a letter sent Monday.
“I write to express my strong concern that the ID requirement presents serious legal and privacy concerns,” Wyden wrote to Director Comey. “The FBI’s new eFOIA system imposes a requirement that can neither be found in statutory law nor case law.”
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Read More… from Senator questions FBI ID policy on Freedom of Information Act requests
The Department of Justice helped kill a bill intended to enhance transparency and refuses to release records on its efforts to block the legislation, the Freedom of the Press Foundation claims in court.
The nonprofit watchdog sued the Department of Justice in Federal Court Monday, seeking immediate disclosure of its communications with members of Congress on bills that would force the DOJ to release more records to the public.
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Read More… from Press freedom group says Justice Department helped kill transparency bill
The City of Champaign and the Champaign Police Department has released several documents to the public in response to several inquiries regarding the department's Use of Force policy, litigation, and Freedom of Information Act requests regarding a Champaign Police officer.
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Read More… from Champaign officials release documents related to use of force FOIA requests
Most of us saw recent news accounts of a Chicago police officer involved shooting that occurred one year ago. The dashcam video of that tragic incident shows a young man being shot in the back. Evidence was released last week that the young man was shot 14 more times as he lay on the ground, purportedly by the same officer’s gun.
That it took one year for that particular investigation to play out and for an arrest to be made is impossible to comprehend.
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Read More… from Editorial: South Carolina bill would streamline FOIA process
Veterans across the country are demanding answers after being exposed to toxic water for nearly three decades.
On Monday, three veterans groups filed a Freedom Of Information Act requesting records that the Department of Veterans Affairs has long withheld in regards to the Camp Lejeune Subject Matter Expert Program.
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Read More… from Veterans groups file FOIA requesting records on Camp Lejeune toxic water
The McHenry County Board is likely to approve a six-figure settlement with an Algonquin man who sued the sheriff's office over an open records violation.
The settlement awards $104,402.96 to First Electric Newspaper Publisher Pete Gonigam, who sued the sheriff's office after it refused to turn over documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.
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Read More… from Illinois county to approve settlement in FOIA violation
The FBI’s new data-requesting eFOIA app comes with controversial terms: The agency wants your ID in exchange for the information. Critics argue that the FBI collecting the requesters’ sensitive information is “over the top” and likely illegal.
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