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May 7, 2007

Fun FOIA Facts

The Freedom of Information Act allows every citizen the right to view and copy any federal document, so long as it's not classified. It's a great tool for investigative journalists, but as a recent article in the San Francisco Examiner points out, backlogs of FOIA requests are piling up at many agencies due to bureaucracy and drawn-out disputes between requesters and agencies. Still, some facts are getting out; Gelf tracked down a few recent examples of some offbeat information journalists were able to wrangle via the FOIA.

The Associated Press revealed that NASA is trying to figure out what to do if someone dies onboard long spacecraft missions.

The Ball State Daily News Online found that the university's softball team exceeded its allotted practice time from 1999 to 2005.

The Flint Journal found out the Flint School District owes textbook company Houghton Mifflin millions of dollars in overdue textbook payments.

Documents obtained by the Mobile Press-Register showed Henry Douglas, an instructor at Bishop State Community College in Alabama, to be enrolled in seven of the classes he was teaching. He gave himself six As and one B.







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