FOIA News: BuzzFeed News hires 'FOIA terrorist' Jason Leopold

BuzzFeed News hires 'FOIA terrorist' Jason Leopold from Vice News

By Benjamin Mullin, Poynter, Jan. 3, 2017

BuzzFeed's legal team has helped reporters pry more than 70,000 pages of documents from government agencies with FOIA requests.

That number is about to increase in a big way. On Tuesday, BuzzFeed News announced the hiring of investigative journalist Jason Leopold, who has made a living — and eked out tons of scoops — by deluging the federal government with Freedom of Information Act requests.

Leopold, who currently works for VICE News, is a self-styled "FOIA terrorist," and has the distinction of triggering a flood of stories after suing for Hillary Clinton's State Department emails. Leopold has brought more FOIA lawsuits by himself than any other news organization except The New York Times.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Dec. 31, 2016

Liberman v. U.S. Dep't of Transp. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that online blog owned by for-profit company qualified as  "representative of the news media" and that its request was not made for commercial purposes.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: DOJ & SIGAR propose amendments to FOIA regs

Both the Department of Justice and the Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction have proposed amendments to their FOIA regulations, according to notices that appear in today's Federal Register.  

DOJ's amendments incorporate certain changes made to the FOIA by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. In addition, they amend certain provisions in the fee section to reflect developments in the case law and streamline the description of the factors to be considered when making fee waiver determinations.  DOJ will accept public comments until March 6. 2017.

SIGAR's amendments likewise incorporate changes required by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. SIGAR will accept public comments until February 3, 2017.

FOIA News: State Department releases more Clinton emails

State Department Releases New Hillary Clinton Emails

By Todd Beamon, Newsmax, Jan. 3, 2017

The State Department has released 371 of the 15,000 emails from Hillary Clinton's private email server it had uncovered in its investigation before the November election.

The documents, totaling 1,031 pages, were released Thursday, The Hill reported.

The emails are "near duplicates" of those Clinton turned over to the State Department in 2014, according to the report, and they have been made public by the agency.

According to the department, a "near duplicate" includes emails that are identical to those forwarded from the former secretary of state to aides — and they might, for example, contain the direction "Please print."

The documents are records of emails sent to or received by Clinton directly during her four years as the nation's top diplomat.

Read more here.

FOIA News: OGIS proposes new regulations to carry out FOIA mission

The Office of Government Information Services recently published a proposed rule in the Federal Register setting out new guidance and procedures by which the agency intends to carry out its statutory mission.  OGIS, which is a component of the National Archives and Records Administration, provides mediation services to help resolve disputes between agencies and FOIA requesters.  It also reviews agency FOIA policies and works to improve agency FOIA compliance.  Comments are due by February 27, 2017.

FOIA News: CPSC proposed new FOIA regulations

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published a notice of proposed rulemaking for new FOIA regulations in today's issue of the Federal Register.  The agency indicates that these revisions are necessary to conform to the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016.  Other changes reflect technical revisions. Comments are due by March 20, 2017.

Q&A: Arkansas car wreck

Q.  How do I request under FOIA for the entire file of a car accident that took my son's life?

A.  Records of crash investigations can be obtained from the Arkansas State Police by submitting this form with a payment of ten dollars.  As you may already know, preliminary fatal crash summaries are available online free of charge.  I hope this information is helpful.   

FOIA News: Clinton is "very arguably the biggest FOIA felon of all time," opines former OIP Director

Forget the Hacking, One Decision Likely Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency

By Dan Metcalfe, Law Newz, Jan. 2, 2017

Just imagine this:  What if, instead of what plagued her during the past two years, Hillary Clinton had actually had no problems whatsoever with her use of electronic mail during her tenure as Secretary of State?  What if there were no “email scandal”at all?  

This really would not have taken much – all Hillary Clinton would have had to do was act like any other Department of State official.  First, when she arrived there, she would have had to begin using an official agency email account, one ending in “state.gov,” for her basic official email communications.  Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick F. Kennedy and his staff would have set this account up for her, as he should have, regardless of her degree of technical proficiency or desire for singular expediency.  And if she was ever forced by exceptional circumstances to use her personal email account for the conduct of some official business, her aides would have routinely retrieved those emails for direct placement on the State Department’s official email system.

Read more here. 

FOIA News: National Endowment for the Humanities issues final FOIA regs

The National Endowment for the Humanities has updated its FOIA regulations to incorporate the changes required by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, according to a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January 3, 2017.  The NEH did not solicit public comments before promulgating these regulations, which become effective on February 2, 2017.  

Q&A: Love thy neighbor?

Q.  I received a violation from the Arlington County [Virginia] Code Enforcement Inspector for debris, junk and miscellaneous items around my property.  A neighbor made a complaint.  I have asked several times about the name of the neighbor who filed the complaint.  This is just to satisfy me.  I have been told that I can file a F.O.I.A form. Please advise me on the next step to take. 

A. All the information needed to make a FOIA request is available on the Arlington County's website.  I doubt, however, that the County will release the identity of the complainant.  The Virginia FOIA specifically exempts the "names, addresses and telephone numbers of complainants furnished in confidence with respect to an investigation of individual zoning enforcement complaints or complaints relating to the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.) or the Statewide Fire Prevention Code (§ 27-94 et seq.) made to a local governing body."  Even if that specific exemption does not apply, the complainant's identity is likely to be withheld under other provisions aimed at protecting an individual's privacy and safety.