Brechner News

Newly released documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was aware of serious health risks following the February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and controlled burn in East Palestine, Ohio. 

A new analysis in the Washington University Law Review finds that state address confidentiality programs (ACPs) meant to protect domestic violence survivors are often ineffective—and in some states, nonexistent. 

For nearly 30 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released an annual report tracking the country’s greenhouse gas emissions—until this year.  
 

As public records requests continue to rise, a new paper in AI & Society argues that artificial intelligence could play a key role in helping government agencies manage the growing demand. 

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has filed a lawsuit against Flint Community Schools for failing to comply with Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. The legal complaint comes after the school district ignored a Feb. 17 records request for more than 50 business days—well past the legal deadline. 

An experiment published in Government Information Quarterly found that public record requesters who remind record custodians of the public records law are more likely to get the records they seek, particularly when asking for large amounts of data.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register to block the release of certain government emails, citing a claim of “executive privilege” that her office says protects candid internal communications.  

Brechner Freedom of Information Project Director David Cuillier said the University of Michigan should be more responsive in providing records to people by the state-imposed deadline.

A recent survey by the Faculty Senate at Western Washington University found that a subset of faculty members has experienced harassment related to their areas of research – but little harassment through public records requests.

According to new figures out this week from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy, Freedom of Information Act requests have dramatically surged in the past year, along with denials and backlogs. 

The Iowa Legislature has passed House File 706, a bill that would add a new exemption to keep Capitol security camera footage confidential. 

As local newspapers continue to go out of business, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to preserve historic image archives.