Brechner FOI Project

A new article in the Seattle University Law Review by former Brechner FOI Project Director Frank LoMonte looks at what is described as a “hole in the heart” of federal and state freedom-of-information laws: The absence of legal requirements to actually retain high-value records – or any meaningful penalty for failing to do so. In…

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.  According to a lawsuit by the Government Accountability Project against FEMA and…

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.  Jason R. Baron, a professor at the University of Maryland and member of the National Archivist’s FOIA Advisory Committee,…

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.  The request…

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. The researchers emailed record requests to 800 randomly selected cities in Slovakia,…

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. According to a report from the Des Moines Register, the lawsuit, filed April 25 in…

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. Cuillier was quoted this week in an article by The College Fix about the university failing to release public records tied to a fall 2024 course taught by former…

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. Of the 202 faculty who responded, about 25% reported being targeted, particularly for work focused…

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, backlogs, delays and costs.  The annual FOIA Report for fiscal year 2024, released April 28, indicates that federal…

As local newspapers continue to go out of business, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to preserve historic image archives. A research team from Northeastern University used the Boston Globe’s photo morgue to test how machine learning can help digitally archive photo collections. With AI, the researchers were able to…

A West Virginia bill that was set to make last-minute changes to the state’s freedom of information law, allowing more copy fees, longer delays, and more secrecy, died this month before it reached Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s desk. According to reporting from West Virginia Watch, House Bill 3412 passed out of the…

The National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame is back, under the leadership of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.  The Hall of Fame was created in 1996 by the First Amendment Center, an operating program of…