The Dept. of Defense has denied our request for footage of a September strike on shipwrecked survivors. We believe this denial is illegal. Read our full statement:

Connecticut has some of the lowest FOIA fees in the country, but pending cases could allow for agencies to charge hourly fees. New from @foiakatherine.bsky.social for @insideinvestigator.bsky.social. insideinvestigator.org/priced-out-f...

It's taken Inside Investigator *years* to obtain records about misconduct at public colleges. But through that process, I've learned a lot about what to request through FOIA. If you're interested in obtaining similar records, check out some tips here: insideinvestigator.org/transparency...

In Virginia, the cost of accessing public records can range from free to tens of thousands of dollars — raising questions about how public that information really is, reports @vcij.bsky.social.

Part 2 of our ongoing investigation into how sexual misconduct allegations are investigated and disciplined on college campuses. insideinvestigator.org/patchwork-ho...

Question for other folks who have filed FOIA requests for ALPR audit logs: have you run into unreasonable fee requests? I have one PD trying to charge me $1,000+ in per page copying fees and another trying to charge $30 for a flash drive because they refuse to turn over records via email.

The Connecticut legislature adjourned sine die at midnight last night, with a number of outstanding FOIA exemption bills still sitting on chamber calendars. insideinvestigator.org/adjournment-...

We're in the final few hours of the legislative session. The House yesterday passed a bill fixing a change in a bill it previously passed that exempted cannabis enforcement board meetings from FOIA disclosure. insideinvestigator.org/house-passes...

DESPP was able to withhold a document we know was fabricated after the in-custody death of an inmate a homicide not because the information is exempt from disclosure, but because it was created by another agency. insideinvestigator.org/transparency...

Whether it's pages from previous administrations that have been taken down or datasets that politicians have scrubbed, the Internet Archive is a crucial open access tool for journalists. Publishers who are undermining it are undermining the future success of their newsrooms.

I'm auditing Connecticut state agency response times - and the length of time it's taking the majority of state agencies to respond to a simple request for a log of requests received in 2025 just reinforces that the state has a problem. insideinvestigator.org/300000-to-st...

I'm quoted in this piece talking about quorum requirements (which trigger open meeting protections) and why they're crucial to public oversight. This is a great writeup about a concerning issue unfolding in Ansonia: valley.newhavenindependent.org/2026/03/30/a...

The Office of Policy and Management is now the THIRD agency that has been told it cannot charge FOIA requesters for time its employees spend reviewing responsive records. insideinvestigator.org/foic-finds-o...

A bill to expand CT's vexatious requester statute to include "threatening" or "harassing" behavior even if it occurs OUTSIDE a FOIA request has advanced out of committee." insideinvestigator.org/vexatious-re...

The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene here is an absolute travesty for press freedom rights.

Attorneys for at least 13 agencies and departments have explicitly stated in 26 FOIA lawsuits that the downsizings were the reasons for failures to meet FOIA deadlines, reports @foianate.bsky.social. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

If you're interested in obtaining public information, there are some things you should know before you file a records request. Check out some of my top tips for understanding what's required under the law and what's not.

Today kicks off Sunshine Week, a week dedicated to promoting open government and public records laws. CT filers: check out our new Transparency Resources page. It houses our FOI library, (newly updated) FOI directory, and links to Transparency Update: insideinvestigator.org/transparency...

Sunshine Week starts in just a few days, but here in CT, legislators are trying to exempt more and more categories of records from Freedom of Information Act disclosure. Here's a rundown of bills that were introduced/will receive legislative action this week:

A CT bill aimed at restricting the distribution of deepfakes prior to elections has raised concerns from free speech groups and broadcasters who worry it makes them responsible for manipulated content they did not create in ads: insideinvestigator.org/deepfake-bil...

My latest investigation takes a look at the pending cases seeking to rewrite CT's FOIA law to allow agencies to charge hourly fees for time spent searching for records - and how some could be priced out of requests should the effort succeed. insideinvestigator.org/priced-out-f...

SB 4 is getting a public hearing today. That's the other bill seeking to exempt ALPR information from FOIA. The proposed ban is buried in a huge consumer privacy bill and will get little attention. I've written about why it's a terrible idea here: insideinvestigator.org/transparency...

There's now a second bill to exempt ALPR data from FOIA here in CT: www.cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/H/P...

Flock's CEO has equated FOI requests about data his company is collecting to attacks on cops. A FOIA request I sent to Manchester PD captured numerous copies of that email, sent to dept. members with Flock access. Exempting ALPR data from FOIA is giving Flock what they want.

More on what exactly is in the 'consumer privacy' bill to exempt ALPR info from FOIA here: insideinvestigator.org/bill-would-b...

New CT bill would exempt ALPR data from FOIA: www.cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/S/P...

Both the language to close the referenda ballot 'loophole' and to restrict access to CT's voter files for "state governmental purposes" and to individuals like journalists and scholars are in the emergency certification bill the Senate is taking up today.

Jason LaChapelle won an FOIC case finding that Colchester had to turn over ballots cast at a stand-alone town budget referendum. The ruling was the result of a lack of clarity in state statute. All other types of ballots are exempt from FOIA.

A Connecticut State Police policy ‘restricts’ troopers from communicating directly with journalists. Read more from @insideinvestigator.bsky.social: insideinvestigator.org/gag-order-st... #journalism

Sworn Connecticut State Police personnel are 'restricted' from talking directly to various departments within their own agency and with the media according to an internal memo from September. insideinvestigator.org/gag-order-st...

Sunshine Week 2026 is only a month away! It's a great opportunity to learn about how you can better use public records requests. Reach out to me at [email protected] and tell me what topics you want to hear about during #sunshineweek.

Today in session FOIA news: The Government Oversight Committee meets at 1 and will vote on raising a bill to exempt the residential addresses of public teachers from being released under FOIA. A bill on this subject appeared last year but didn't make it to final passage.

State employee overtime spending keeps going up. But analysis of why that's happening relies on public facing dashboards (which are not always accurate) and not underlying data. It turns out trying to obtain that data through FOIA isn't easy: insideinvestigator.org/overtime-as-...

via Hearst: Out-of-state police are using Connecticut license plate camera data for immigration enforcement "In another instance, police in Johnson County, Texas searched the Connecticut data for a woman it said had an abortion, records from five departments show."

Big changes are potentially coming to Connecticut 's Freedom of Information Act as a number of state agencies, all represented by the attorney general's office, push to allow requesters to be charged for hourly time employees spend searching for documents.

I frequently call out agencies that fail their FOIA duties, so I think it's also important to highlight agencies that are doing a good job. FOIA does get abused, but unfortunately the abuses of a few bad actors are often an excuse to restrict FOIA and put information beyond the public's view.

Concerning statement from Connecticut's AG: “People have a First Amendment right to speak — yes,” Tong said. “Threatening and intimidating people and hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment.” www.courant.com/2026/01/22/c...

This is a good video on that unsolicited self-own by Langley.

ACLU highlighting an email from Flock's CEO dismissing people concerned about privacy as ALPRs are rolled out as wanting to "normalize lawlessness." Also significant: dismissing attempts to use records requests to learn more about Flock as "weaponizing" FOI laws. www.aclu.org/news/privacy...

In search of First Amendment experts to talk about state hate crime reporting tools and how exempting that information from FOIA could harm free speech. DM or email me at [email protected].

This is a pretty egregious attack on the free press, but also, a really glaring example of why it doesn't pay for newspapers to compromise editorial independence because they're afraid of being targeted. No matter how much ground you give, they'll find something to be offended about.

Police screw up redactions. Flock goes after company collecting data collected through records requests. I wish I could say it's unbelievable, but if you've been following Flock's behavior it's not.

Claiming that videotaping law enforcement (which is First Amendment protected activity) or reporting the identities of public employees (which is journalism) is terrorism is just another iteration of 'speech is violence.' Speech is not violence. When society believes it is, actual violence follows.

This bill is a mixed bag every year. Introducing a vexatious requester element is a bad idea. The provision to allow for the release of draft documents after a certain period of time is an improvement on preliminary drafts exemptions that block a lot of records from being released:

Coming hot out of the gates in 2026 with Transparency Update because it's been 2 weeks since Manchester PD denied my followup requests on the same grounds the FOIC has already adjudicated and I'm still mad: insideinvestigator.org/transparency...

In an outrageous but not unpredictable move after ignoring a request for a status update on my follow-up request for ALPR data, Manchester PD has now denied the request outright. Alarmingly, they're citing the use of ALPR cameras to catch the Brown University shooter as justification for the denial.

CT includes film and television budget information in its definition of a trade secret under FOIA. It's the only state do do so. This is important because it's this definition, not the state's trade secret law, that prevents TV budget information from being disclosed to the public.

IT'S TIIIIIIIIIIME!!! December is here, which means the inaugural 2025 #FOIAdvent calendar has arrived. ☃️✨ Every day this month, the calendar will update with a new records request prompt for you to file with an agency of your choosing, for a fun run of holiday FOIA requests. bit.ly/31-days-of-f...

Important case to watch in Connecticut. OLM is trying to argue legislative privilege stemming from the Speech or Debate Clause exempts it from FOIA. If they win their appeal, most legislative documents will no longer be publicly accessible. insideinvestigator.org/olm-appeals-...

CT currently doesn't allow for agencies to charge for time spent reviewing documents responsive to requests in most cases. There's a concerted effort to undermine that right now and stories like this just show how important it is that doesn't happen. It's too easy for agencies to manipulate.