SEJ wrote White House Communication Director Dan Pfeiffer asking for an end to the practice of requiring permission from the press office at federal agencies before reporters can talk to federal employees — and requiring Saddam-style PIO "minders" to sit in on interviews.
Jim Morris of the Sunlight Foundation reports on the Project on Government Oversight's (POGO) so-far unsuccessful efforts to FOIA the data.
John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation has been tracking the Federal Communications Commission plan.
Various trackers are sorting through and compiling ideas, comments, and agencies' progress towards meeting the deadline.
A former Occupational Safety and Health Administration official requested the data under the Freedom of Information Act in 2005, but was denied. He sued, won in 2007, and now has the data, but OSHA has still not released the data to the public.
Monongahela National Forest's public affairs officer recently directed employees there that, if contacted by national reporters on any issue or local reporters regarding national issues, they "cannot talk to the reporter"and suggested that the instructions came from "our Washington office."
"Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says."
"A plague of oxygen-deprived waters from the deep ocean is creeping up over the continental shelves off the Pacific Northwest and forcing marine species there to relocate or die."
"Despite unanimous opposition from Republicans, Oregon's Senate passed a bill this afternoon aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars, SUVs and pickup trucks in metropolitan areas even as the state's population grows."
"As scientific evidence mounts against bisphenol-A, a chemical used in plastic baby bottles, soup cans and other containers, many states -- including Maryland -- are starting to take action to limit the chemical ahead of any federal regulation."
