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Who visited Jack Abramoff in Cumberland prison? We've FOIAed to find out
By Bill Allison Dec 6, 2011 4:50 p.m.In his book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth about Washington Corruption from America's Most Notorious Lobbyist, Jack Abramoff notes that while serving his sentence for mail fraud and conspiracy in a federal prison in Cumberland, Md., he was fortunate that "some intrepid public officials [made] the trek to Cumberland, including Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, his wife Rhonda, and their adorable triplets..."
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Federal Reserve forced to report which banks benefit from loan programs
By Nancy Watzman Oct 18, 2011 12:35 p.m.It took an act of Congress and a major lawsuit, but the details of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's emergency loan programs and discount window lending--which peaked at more than a trillion dollars for the nation's biggest banks and other institutions during the recent financial meltdown--finally came into the light.
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Powerful financial council could deny or delay public information
By Nancy Watzman May 31, 2011 1:43 p.m.A newly created powerful federal financial council will have broad latitude to deny or delay Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests if it adopts proposed rules, charges a financial watchdog group.
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Overlooked part of Dodd-Frank law could keep information from the public
By Nancy Watzman Feb 14, 2011 12:20 p.m.Buried in the massive Dodd-Frank financial law is a section that could prevent the public from obtaining records the government collects as part of its new oversight of hedge funds and other private funds managed by investment advisers.
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Republicans Ask Watchdogs to Review FOIA Request Process
By Laurel Adams Oct 4, 2010 10:04 a.m.Inspectors general at the Energy Department and Social Security Administration say their review of FOIA procedures at the request of senior Republican lawmakers showed no signs of meddling by political appointees.
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Reporter's Notebook: How we got the latest FTA disappearmark data
By Lisa Chiu Jun 22, 2010 8:59 a.m.When we first reported about how we attempted to track down disappearmarks from the Federal Transit Administration, we recounted the difficulties in getting data in an electronic format. In response to our first Freedom of Information request, we were given a 121-page printout of a database, which in the end didn’t accurately include the information we sought: which SAFETEA-LU earmarks went unspent.
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Disappearmarks: Millions in SAFETEA-LU transit earmarks are unspent
By Lisa Chiu Jun 22, 2010 8:58 a.m.A sketch of what Rochester's Renaissance Square bus terminal would have looked like.
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Case study in trying to analyze earmark data
By Lisa Chiu May 4, 2010 12:25 p.m.Each year, Congress allocates billions in earmarks that come in the form of annual appropriation committee requests or are attached to various bills that become law. The Sunlight Foundation thought it would be interesting to examine which earmarks, after all the Congressional debate and bluster has dispensed, actually get spent.
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Other dangerous mines? Federal data can't tell you
By Anupama Narayanswamy Apr 6, 2010 1:28 p.m.Monday’s explosion that killed 25 miners at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia came at a mine that had been flagged by inspectors for a series of violations – 3000 since 1995 and more than 500 in 2009 alone.
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Description of Citizenship Database Available – If You’re Willing to Pay Nearly $112,000
By Nick Schwellenbach Mar 18, 2010 10:22 p.m.After taking nearly four years to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request, the U.S. immigration agency is demanding $111,930 for records that describe what is in a government database of claims for U.S. citizenship – not the actual database itself.
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OGD: Defense releases what it already releases
By Lisa Chiu Jan 26, 2010 5:17 p.m.To comply with the Open Government Directive, the Defense Department designated three high-value datasets last week, among them a listing of those requesting more transparency from the Pentagon. DoD released details on the 4,000 Freedom of Information requests it has received as well as datasets with information on service members gender and race, U.S. state, and marriage statistics.
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Is FOIA any better under Obama? An anecdote today, data later
By Anupama Narayanswamy Jun 23, 2009 9:01 p.m.Newsweek's Michael Isikoff report on the Obama administration's mixed record on transparency got me to thinking about our own experience with FOIA requests. Isikoff notes,
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Still waiting for FOIA reforms to surface
By Bill Allison Apr 27, 2009 2:49 p.m.Roger Strother writes at OMB Watch's Fine Print blog about the latest noise coming out of the Office of Information Policy about the "sea change in the way transparency is viewed across the government." That sea change is supposed to lift a lot of FOIA requests that, unlike boats, seem to sink the bottom with incredible rapidity, then burrow down into the muck at the bottom. We've found that the only way to surface those FOIA requests is the application of vigorous effort (including regularly calling FOIA officers to make sure they haven't forgotten us). Waiting--for months or years at a time--is also a necessary skill to master. In any case, Roger notes:
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Show me THIS data
By Bill Allison Mar 26, 2009 3:20 a.m.Derek Willis, with whom I was lucky enough to work with at the Center for Public Integrity, critiques the recent Show Us The Data effort (full disclosure: Sunlight was involved in building the site, and I helped a good deal with the conceptualization). He offers eight solid suggestions for data sets that should be publicly available -- and didn't make the cut for the Show Us The Data site. No arguments here with his wish list, and there's some really good suggestions there.
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