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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"Becoming the Story" premieres online today. Follow veteran sportswriter Mark Fainaru-Wada and longtime investigative journalist Lance Williams as they reveal the link between high-profile athletes and a Bay Area laboratory that distributed performance-enhancing steroids. Personally congratulated by President Bush for what he called “a service” to the public, Williams and Fainaru-Wada faced spending 18 months in prison for refusing to divulge the identity of a confidential source that had provided them with key evidence.

>> Read Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada’s original reporting in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, including the reporters’ first story to cite verbatim leaked grand jury testimony obtained from a confidential source to their most recent story on former BALCO prosecutor Kevin Ryan. Check out THE CHRONICLE’s special page on the BALCO investigation for the paper’s complete coverage of the doping scandal and the reporters’ plight.

>> Also on the site. Happy Birthday, FOIA. It’s the 41st anniversary of the signing of the Freedom of Information Act by President Lyndon Johnson. Is the law that opened the government’s filing cabinets to public scrutiny having a mid-life crisis? Read "Forty-Odd Years of Freedom ... Sort of" by Tom Casciato, EXPOSÉ’s Executive Producer.

Blog content provided this week by the EXPOSÉ production team

Tag(s): BALCO , FOIA , Lance Williams , Mark Fainaru-Wada
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How does one learn the best ways to break into America's hazardous chemical facilities? From the chemical companies themselves, naturally.

In preparation for his investigation of America's most dangerous chemical sites, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW reporter Carl Prine used "worst case scenario" plans prepared by chemical company officials. The plans, filed with the Environmental Protection Agency and county governments, mapped out known security weaknesses at each plant. Using the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Prine began collecting the plans from the EPA. Then he hit a roadblock: he was told an EPA rule limited his access to plans only from his own county, plus 10 other plans per month. This wouldn't do. He was casing out hundreds of facilities -- in his home state of Pennsylvania and others, including Maryland, Illinois, and Texas. After he maxed out his EPA limit, he was able to get some plans directly from county agencies using state open records laws. But to get plans from other states, Prine went back to the EPA -- with a new strategy to get around the 10-plan limit. He hired a secretary in Washington, D.C. to accompany him to EPA headquarters on the first and last days of two months -- April 30 and May 1 -- and together they were able to request the 32 documents that he needed.

>> Read "Forty-Odd Years of Freedom ... Sort of" by Tom Casciato, Exposé's Executive Producer.

Tag(s): Carl Prine , FOIA , national security , terrorism
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