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NEWS ABOUT: Freedom of Information Act

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Romney Staff Wiped Records Before '08 Bid

Dems demand Massachusetts emails

(Newser) - Just before Mitt Romney left the Massachusetts governor's office and launched his previous bid for the presidency, 11 of his top aides took the unusual step of buying their state-issued hard drives, and the administration's emails were wiped from a server, the Boston Globe finds. The Democratic National... More »

US Fights to Keep bin Laden Death Photos Secret

Administration argues in court that they would endanger Americans abroad

(Newser) - The Obama administration filed court documents this week arguing that the 52 photographs and video recordings it has of Osama bin Laden's corpse are "wholly exempt from disclosure," and that it would not release them for fear of inspiring violence against Americans abroad. The filing is in... More »

Man Demands Town Reveal Zombie Invasion Plans

City council has yet to respond to Freedom of Information Act request

(Newser) - A man in Leicester, England, has submitted a vital Freedom of Information Act request to the city council. “Can you please let us know what provisions you have in place in the event of a zombie invasion?” Robert Ainsley asked, according to the Telegraph . “Having watched several films... More »

Foreign Banks Got Majority of Secret Fed Loans

Court forces Fed to release info

(Newser) - When the Federal Reserve opened its “discount window” at the height of the financial crisis, a lot of foreign banks lined up. The 97-year-old program hit an all-time high during October 2008, and during its peak week, 70% of the $110.7 billion doled out went to foreign banks,... More »

Homeland Security Hiding Its Emails: Insiders

Employees concerned over lengthy vetting process for internal records

(Newser) - Homeland Security insiders spent months complaining that top Obama appointees were improperly delaying the release of potentially embarrassing files sought under the Freedom of Information Act. In a raft of uncensored emails obtained by the AP , insiders called the vetting process “meddling," "crazy" and "bananas!”... More »

Supreme Court to the Fed: Release Dirt on '08 Crisis Loans

Banks sought to block details from media

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve will release information on several emergency loans it made to prominent banks when the financial crisis struck in 2008, CNNMoney reports. Bloomberg News initially filed a lawsuit against the Fed in an attempt to gain details on the loans; the Fed declined the request due to "... More »

New Loughner Mugshots Out

Lawyers had sought to block them

(Newser) - Jared Lee Loughner's second set of mugshot photos—shot by US marshals when he was taken into federal custody—have been released, despite his lawyers' best efforts. He's still smirking, though not as broadly as in the widely distributed mugshot taken by the Pima County Sheriff's Office, and sports an... More »

ACLU: Feds Covered Up Role in Torture of US Citizen

Lawsuit tries to force CIA, FBI to come clean

(Newser) - The ACLU is suing the federal government for ignoring its Freedom of Information Act inquiry into the detention and torture of an American citizen overseas. Naji Hamdan, who spent 20 years in California before moving to the United Arab Emirates in 2006, was arrested in August 2008 and, according to... More »

22M 'Missing' Bush-Era Emails Reappear

Data won't be public for years, but may shed light on Iraq, Plame

(Newser) - Twenty-two million emails that the Bush administration had given up as lost have been found. Computer experts working for two advocacy groups that sued the executive branch in 2007 for not properly archiving its emails announced the messages were in fact mislabeled. The messages must be vetted before they can... More »

'Complacency' Faulted in US Nuke Sub Crash

'Weak' command, lax standards prevailed aboard USS Hartford

(Newser) - US Navy investigators are pinning blame for the March collision between a nuclear-powered submarine and another Navy ship on lax atmosphere and “weak” command aboard the USS Hartford, where sailors slept while they were supposed to be on watch, and the radio room was rigged up with music speakers.... More »

Top Wall Street Execs Have Direct Line to Geithner

Treasury chief's calendars show frequent contact with big players

(AP) - A look at Timothy Geithner's phone calendars show the Treasury secretary has maintained close ties with Wall Street executives he has known for years. Executives at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Citigroup can reach the nation's most powerful economic official at will. While there's nothing inherently wrong with keeping tabs on... More »

Judge: Cheney Interview in Plame Case Can't Be Sealed

But government can redact certain portions

(Newser) - A federal judge has ordered the FBI to release most of the interview it conducted with Dick Cheney over the Valerie Plame case, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have tried to keep the record of the 2004 sit-down sealed, arguing... More »

Obama to Open White House Visitor Logs

Aims to boost transparency, resolve watchdog lawsuits

(Newser) - The Obama administration has agreed to release the normally private list of visitors to the White House, as a move to increase transparency, and resolve four lawsuits against both it and the previous administration from a watchdog group. “We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most... More »

Obama Met at Least 27 Health Industry Execs

Lawsuit prompts White House to finally release the list

(Newser) - Since February, President Obama has hosted at least 27 meetings with health industry bigwigs—representing hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals and insurance companies—the Huffington Post reports, in its campaign to head off resistance to health care reform. Names of the visitors were released last night, just before the president's press conference... More »

US Squelched Data on Car Phone Danger

(Newser) - In 2003 a federal agency compiled hundreds of pages of research on the dangers of using cell phones while driving, but suppressed the findings because of pressure from Congress. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a part of the Transportation Department, also planned a long-term study of the risks of... More »

'Ethics Elves' Hounded Palin Out of Office

Endless FOIA requests, ethics investigations, made her quit

(Newser) - The real reason Sarah Palin quit governing Alaska has nothing to do with 2012, writes John Fund of the Wall Street Journal. She was forced to quit by an onslaught of Freedom of Information Act requests—which anyone can file in Alaska—used by her political enemies to paralyze her.... More »

Businesses Fight to Keep Corporate Flight Info Private

(Newser) - Business execs who jet around in private planes are fighting to keep their flights secret, reports ProPublica. After a freedom-of-information request from ProPublica, the FAA agreed to change policy and reveal which businesses are allowed to keep their flight records out of public databases. Before the information came out, however,... More »

As With Bush, Obama Won't Release WH Visitors List

(Newser) - Despite President Obama’s promise of transparency, the administration is blocking requests for the White House visitors list, MSNBC reports, defying two federal court rulings that the lists are public record. In addition to denying MSNBC’s request for a list of all visitors since Jan. 20, the Secret Service... More »

Courts Unlikely to Block Release of Torture Pics

White House has slim hopes for appeal, may look to Congress

(Newser) - Barack Obama has said he wants to prevent the publication of photos depicting abuse of  detainees, but legal experts say the White House has an uphill battle in reversing the court decision to release them. The administration thinks that the Bush-era lawyers did not make a sufficiently strong case in... More »

White House Backpedals on Releasing Torture Photos

(Newser) - The White House is rethinking its promise to release photos of detainees being abused in US custody, press secretary Robert Gibbs suggested yesterday, saying President Obama has “great concern” about the impact they would have. At issue are 44 photos targeted in a Freedom of Information Act suit by... More »

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