What's a #FOIA Appeal? What's some good language to use when you want to argue with the government about why they should be giving you the file you asked for, instead of some "genealogy letter"? We got you covered, fam. Check out our advice in our latest newsletter: mailchi.mp/reclaimthere...

#foioklahoma By Murray Evans, oklahoman.com: Andrews wrote that “it is in the public interest to determine whether the board violated the Open Meeting Act …

A new initiative brings together the resources of transparency organizations and connects journalists with the country’s foremost records experts and strategies that can help them overcome challenges. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

Learn more about your right to access court records in each state and federal circuit using @rcfp.org’s Open Courts Compendium.

If courts don't have to power to enforce the Public Records Act beyond which records can be disclosed, "then the Public Records Act is meaningless" says @davidloy.bsky.social to @sandiegouniontribune.com www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/04/r...

"State contracts for Florida's controversial "Alligator Alcatraz" detention camp were removed from a public database and replaced with far less detailed documents" reason.com/2025/07/22/a...

Thrilled that NFOIC is part of this Press Forward grant! “Our plan with this project is to put the extensive knowledge and expertise of the state freedom-of-information organizations into every newsroom."

MuckRock, NFOIC and other leading transparency groups receive $1.25M Press Forward grant to help local journalists obtain government records mailchi.mp/c2b255eb7b84...

In a friend-of-the-court brief, @rcfp.org is urging the Oklahoma Supreme Court to allow the release of surveillance footage surrounding an inmate's death inside a county jail.

It's not you. It's us. The NFOIC website is down and we're working on finding a fix. Thanks for bearing with us.

"The proposal says the district would have to provide the school board with a list of lawsuits DPS is involved in and a tally of how much it spends on external legal costs."

"Sorry if it sucks to listen to people you don’t like or agree with, city council members, but that’s what being a public official, and especially an elected official is all about."

After decades when few law enforcement officers in Virginia lost the right to serve in sworn positions, recent reforms have brought dramatic increases in decertifications. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

The Air Force may have been caught off guard or was just unprepared when President Donald Trump said the next generation fighter jet would be called F-47, documents obtained via FOIA suggest.

“If you get a public record in reporting, get an image of that, splash it out there; show the readers under the hood what you’re looking at.” nationalpress.org/topic/public...

How a $9.8 million contract in 2016 ballooned into a $98.3 million one today.“Progress and accomplishments have been minimal; excuses and delays have been plentiful,” the three officials wrote in correspondence obtained through Freedom of Information requests. www.injusticewatch.org/judges/court...

VCOG All Access News, 6/9/25: FOIA logs are working papers? comment warnings; DOGE & FOIA & SSA opengovva.org/transparency...

🚨 A Connecticut city violated the state’s open record law by requiring written requests for public records. insideinvestigator.org/ansonia-viol... #FOIA

A judge Monday ordered Aurora to release all unedited body-worn camera footage of police shooting and killing Kilyn Lewis, finding that the city denied 9NEWS’ requests for the video in violation of Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act.

Access to Police Records . . . "The public has the right to know" . . . Rhode Island APRA Reform . . . Trump Administration and Higher Education . . . Local Flag Ordinances . . . and more. conta.cc/3FJxMrc #FirstAmendment #opengov

Today we honored the late Ramsey County District Court Judge Patrick Diamond with the John Finnegan Freedom of Information Award. His 2024 ruling in a public records case set a valuable legal precedent that contributes to open government in Minnesota. mncogi.org/2025-freedom...

R.I. Senate Looks to Publish Written Testimony Online, Four Years After the House | Rhode Island Current

Page 80 of the Jeffrey Epstein's contact book that Pam Bondi's office released earlier today

We went to the Iowa Supreme Court this week to ask it to decide the constitutionality of a 2024 law a judge cited in his decision to close the courtroom for testimony about an Iowa prosecutor’s decision to add the Jefferson County sheriff to a list of law officers whose candor has been questioned.

It court, DOGE claims it is not subject to #FOIA, which is clearly wrong under both the plain text of the stature and longstanding precedent.

#foioklahoma By Sasha Ndisabiye, nondoc.com: Kutmas, the board’s attorney, informed VanDenhende that the Open Meeting Act prohibited the board from discussing or taking action on any items not presented on the day’s agenda.

Happy #FOIAFriday: the DOJ is taking the position that DOGE is not subject to #FOIA. That's clearly wrong under decades of precedent (see, e.g. foia.wiki/wiki/Entitie...)

"The Oklahoma Open Records Act (51 O.S. § 24A.5(4)) explicitly states: 'Fees shall not be used for the purpose of discouraging requests for information or as obstacles to disclosure of requested information.'” theokpost.com/civil-rights...

NFOIC board member Terry Mutchler is quoted here. www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

"As a threshold matter, municipal governments cannot be libeled. You can say or print whatever you want about the legal entity of Clarksdale. I could write, for instance, that Clarksdale was founded by a syphilitic horse thief who married his cousin" reason.com/2025/02/20/m...

A bill that extends Colorado Open Records Act response times for public and commercial requesters won the support of a state Senate committee Thursday. #coleg #copolitics

The Regional Transportation District is considering capping fees for public records requests from the news media.

Warning: Secrecy mission creep at USAID to intimidate public officials from releasing information. Could this extend to other agencies DOGE is embedded with? Absolutely. The public - and any fed employees left in FOIA offices - should know this isn't a valid reason to withhold information.

“Last year, Roem called the system “broken” after a constituent was charged $8,800 just to obtain a video showing how a school bus driver handled her autistic daughter.”

🚨 Registration is OPEN for Sunshine Fest 2025 in Washington, D.C.! 🎉 Join us March 19-20 to celebrate open government and transparency! Don’t miss out – register today! 🔗 sunshinefest.eventbrite.com #SunshineFest2025 #OpenGov #Transparency

The folks at the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government pointed out this gem in the proposed bill:

"Justin Silverman, executive director of the @nefac.bsky.social, said while any deadline is an improvement over the current law, a 30-day window could encourage agencies to take the full month to respond—even to simple requests." wgme.com/news/i-team/...

About an hour ago, a genealogist filed the TEN THOUSANDTH FOIA REQUEST* to the VA made through our new BIRLS website. 🥳 Not bad for our first forty days online. 😎 Have you filed any FOIAs yet? We made it easy to do from your web browser, and FREE! www.birls.org

It took two trips to the FOIA Advisory Council and filing 5 versions of this bill over 8 sessions just to get a floor vote in either chamber but my bill SB 1029 to cap FOIA fees passed the Senate of Virginia 38-2 Monday. As a reporter-turned-legislator, it’s a BFD. www.wvtf.org/news/2025-02...

"It is a big deal," says Mike Meloy of the Montana Freedom of Information Hotline. www.mtpr.org/montana-news...

We love our Raygun friends and the fly "FOIA & Find Out" t-shirts & sweat shirts. I've got mine!

I see FOIA exemption bills populated on LIS today. During my first session in the #Virginia General Assembly, I didn’t like FOIA exemption bills but thought it best to pick my battles and not pull them out of the uncontested bloc since they’d just pass anyway. My 8th session is… not that. #valeg

Colorado Democrats rolled back public meetings laws, with a promise to hold a public meeting on the reduced transparency. They scheduled it during the middle of the holiday season when attention was elsewhere. #copolitics www.9news.com/article/news...

🚨 L.A. city officials are under investigation for using disappearing Google Chats! 💬 🔍 Could this violate California’s Public Records Act? Transparency matters—should public officials be allowed to auto-delete communications? 🤔 #PublicRecords #GovernmentEthics 🔗 www.latimes.com/california/s...

This is an absolutely blatant abuse of power and a transparent effort to shield police from legitimate scrutiny. There is no other justification for this apart from a desire on the part of the state to make police brutality easier to get away with. bsky.app/profile/morg...

#foioklahoma By Paul Monies, oklahomawatch.org: Records show she received four months of back pay, a lump sum of almost $25,000 and attorney fees of $15,000. The settlement, obtained through an open records request, included a mutual non-disparagement provision.