Recently in Melissa Nann Burke Category

Unredacted is a "behind-the-scenes" blog just launched by the nonprofit National Security Archive at GWU:

"The Archive's own experience with thousands of Freedom of Information Act and Mandatory Declassification Review requests provides a wealth of data and fundamental lessons that we hope to share with you," says the first entry.

Unredacted will highlight "never before publicly seen" government documents in a "Document Friday" series and post commentary and analysis from NSA experts. Read the news release at the jump.

Listening to NPR yesterday, I was blown away by the reporting done by young journalists involving a successful FOIA request. The FOIA'd documents led to an investigative story detailing the hazing and abuse of U.S. sailors in a canine unit at a base in Behrain.

Listen to the NPR version of the story, which summarizes the story so far. An excerpt:

Incidents ranged from spraying down uniformed personnel with hoses to directing sailors to simulate sex acts on videotape. ... The (independent Naval) investigation's findings, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and corroborated by Youth Radio's interviews, show the abuse was widespread in the unit, and in some cases sanctioned and instigated by its leadership.

The story came out of the news organization Youth Radio in Oakland, Calif., which teaches journalism to young people.

Youth Radio broke the story online and, since, the current commander of naval installations in Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia, Rear Admiral David Mercer, has ordered a review of the Navy's investigation. Youth Radio has also reported on another review that's been ordered, this time by the Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy's highest ranking officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The deadline for that report is Oct. 6.

The state Supreme Court has changed its tune on records it initially ordered destroyed. From the AP:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court now says it wants to preserve the records of thousands of juveniles who appeared before an allegedly corrupt judge between 2003 and 2008.

The high court had wanted to destroy the records. That would have prevented northeastern Pennsylvania juveniles from pursuing federal claims against the judge and kept secret the extent of his misconduct.

Attorneys asked a federal judge last week to order the preservation of more than 6,000 records as evidence in their lawsuit against former Judge Mark Ciavarella and others in Luzerne County.

The Supreme Court says it no longer objects to the records' preservation.

Prosecutors say Ciavarella took millions of dollars to put juvenile offenders in privately owned detention centers.

A free showing of the documentary film “Secrecy” is planned for 7 p.m. July 15 at the Midtown Cinema (215 Reily St. in Harrisburg).

The film was directed by Harvard professors Peter Galison and Robb Moss and looks at whether government secrecy makes the country safer. The showing is sponsored by the South Central PA Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Listen to the directors discuss the film at the 2008 South By Southwest Film Festival at the jump.

USA Today spent eight months examining the impact of industrial pollution on the air outside schools across the nation.

A computer simulation predicts the path of toxic chemicals released by thousands of industrial companies located near schools.

Type in the name of your school and its location to find what the model predicts for your school population. Read more at the jump.

FBI special agents had 20 formal interviews and at least five casual conversations with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ("High Value Detainee #1") after his capture by U.S. troops in 2003.

That's according to secret FBI reports released via Freedom of Information Act requests by the nonprofit National Security Archive at GWU and posted online last week. Read more on the jump.

The folks at the Seattle Times have compiled a database of who received earmarks and who gave them in the 2008 defense bill.

The database was among the investigative projects highlighted at this year's IRE conference in Baltimore.

A quick search for earmarks secured by U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County -- who was recently appointed to the House Armed Services Committee -- shows that he helped get a few million for military contractors General Dynamics (which has a location in Red Lion) and Gichner Shelter Systems of Dallastown.

A two-part investigative project by the Charlotte Observer looks at the growing paychecks of the family who runs Inspiration Network, which has become one of the world's fastest-growing religious broadcasters largely by repeating an on-air pitch promising God's financial favor to those who donate to the network.

According to the paper, which examined the ministry's IRS filings, CEO David Cerullo is now one of the country's best-paid nonprofit leaders with compensation of more than $1.5 million a year. The paper reported that Cerullo's organization also secured relocation incentives from the government of South Carolina worth up to $26 million but has not fulfilled its development promises.

Cerullo said he works hard for his salary and has turned down recommendations that he be paid more. He said his appeals to donors are based on God's promises in the Bible, and that 80 cents of every dollar donated is spent to spread the Gospel.

"Ours is an organization based on accountability, based on integrity, based on trust," the 56-year-old minister told the Observer. "We've proven that in the last 18 years over and over again."

The FBI has posted nearly 1,000 pages of new material on its investigations of outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.

The information came from the FBI's Dallas Field Office's investigative case records, which were uncovered in the course of preparing a historical exhibit in Dallas last year, according to the agency.

I always forget how young these two celebrity criminals were when they died -- 23 and 25, respectively. Last week was the May 23 anniversary of their deaths in an ambush near Gibsland, La., in 1934 after a manhunt.

Here's a roundup of open records news in honor of Sunshine Week: