The latest from FOIA and public records

Senate proposes law to strength FOIA after Supreme Court rules to expand corporate privacy

A bipartisan team of senior U.S. Senators has introduced legislation to clarify important sections of the Freedom of Information Act and codify a presumption of disclosure for commercial records.

Pepsi's rules for summertime shelf space at Miami University in Ohio

It’s summertime! You know what that means: Ohio’s Miami University can stock the vending machines with non-Pepsi products! Check out the contract and then let us know which school's cola machine commitments you want to see next.

Five cities, five different approaches to algorithms in government

We looked at five cities and the steps and policies bringing new technology to city hall.

Does your
local government use drones?

Help us find out.

Release Notes: New Assignment question type
and sunsetting our data tool

Last week, we introduced a new question type for Assignments crowdsources: checkbox groups, that allow you to offer a variety of choices and let users pick as many (or as few) options as they’d like. We also began deprecating an experimental database feature.

This week’s FOIA round-up:
DEA database points to companies’ roles in opioid epidemic and Interior emails reveal violations of federal ethics rules

Cooking with FOIA:
Are your pastries up to military standards?

Crowdfund Alert:

Help release records on
Massachusetts
wage theft

From CIA's Archives:
Air Force’s SECRET pitch for getting stationed at Area 51

Requester’s Voice:
The Washington Post’s Steven Rich

Steven Rich, the database editor for the investigations team at The Washington Post, about taking advantage of a lawsuit to gain access to the DEA's pain pill database and how to use public records to report on private companies.