For the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL reporters to figure out who was receiving federal disaster aid, they first needed names and addresses from FEMA. When FEMA denied their request, the SUN-SENTINEL took them to court. This past June, in an unprecedented decision, a federal appeals court ruled in the newspaper's favor, requiring FEMA to release the addresses, though not the names, of disaster aid recipients.

Today is the deadline for FEMA to file for a rehearing. They have until September 20 to petition the Supreme Court to review the case.

The Blog spoke to Rachel Fugate, an attorney who represented the SUN-SENTINEL in its case against FEMA. "I think a lot of newspapers were waiting to see what would happen with this case," Fugate told the Blog. "I think it might open up a door for a lot of news entities to make requests for this type of information in their reporting."

>> More of the Fugate interview

Tag(s): FEMA , FOIA
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EXPOSÉ's "Crisis Mismanagement" premieres on PBS tonight. Check local listings. Find out how the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL uncovered massive waste and mismanagement at FEMA a year before Hurricane Katrina.

>> Read the producer's notes on the SUN-SENTINEL team, including "cute, not scary" investigations editor, Joe Demma.

Tag(s): FEMA
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What ever happened to FEMA's former director, "heck-of-a-job" Michael Brown?
View our timeline of the federal aid crisis after Hurricanes Frances and Katrina, and the ensuing fallout at FEMA.

Tag(s): FEMA , Michael Brown
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In the wake of Hurricane Frances, reporters at the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL got down to business reporting the aftermath. But while analyzing maps of FEMA aid recipients, they noticed a strange pattern: The storm hit in the north, but the aid dollars were flowing south.

This week on EXPOSÉ, three reporters follow the money to reveal the internal chaos at FEMA a year before it was on anybody’s radar screen. Watch "Crisis Mismanagement" online.

>> Read the original reports in the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL.

Tag(s): FEMA
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A devastating hurricane leaves thousands in the dark as millions of tax dollars are wasted because of mismanaged federal aid. No, we're not talking about Hurricane Katrina. A full year before the incompetence of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in New Orleans dominated national headlines, one South Florida newspaper revealed similar patterns of fraud and mismanagement in the wake of another storm: Hurricane Frances.

>> Find out how the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL reporters cracked the case in EXPOSÉ's "Crisis Mismanagement" -- streamed online tomorrow.

Tag(s): FEMA
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