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WatchDog TipSheet

Smithsonian Adopts FOIA-Like Policies

The Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents held its first public meeting in 162 years November 17, 2008. This marks a move away from existing policies that have made the institution's meetings and records less open to public scrutiny than other federal entities.

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Investors Demand Climate-Risk Disclosure

Weary of undisclosed corporate financial risk, battered stock investors are pressuring companies to disclose the economic risks they face from climate change.

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EPA Libraries Open Doors

EPA reopened five libraries September 30, 2008, after fighting its own scientists, enforcement lawyers, open-information groups, and eventually Congress for two years in an unsuccessful effort to keep them closed.

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House Panel Probes Political Censorship of Science at EPA

More details of White House efforts to silence science at EPA emerged at a September 18, 2008, hearing of a House Energy investigations panel.

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National (U.S.)

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Follow the Money: Oil and Coal Edition

Deep Throat's advice was never more needed: "Follow the money." Those reporters who want to follow Deep Throat's advice now have tools undreamed of in Woodward and Bernstein's hey-day.

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More Tools for Covering Capitol Hill — From Outside the Beltway

Reporters on "Main Street" need not feel hindered in covering action on Capitol Hill. Here are more tools for Outside-the-Beltway reporters who want to keep an eye on Congress.

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New GAO Report Suggests EPA Doesn't Have a Clue on CAFO Toxics

A Congressional watchdog is saying efforts to exempt feedlot air emissions from standard EPA toxics reporting are based on little or no information.

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UCS to Release Agency Media Policies Study in October

A forthcoming report by the Union of Concerned Scientists — expected the second week of October 2008 — will provide the most extensive documentation to date of federal agency press policies and their impact on environmental reporting.

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EPA'S IRIS Chemical Risk Database in Shambles: GAO

Interference by the White House Office of Management and Budget has badly damaged the "credibility and timeliness" of IRIS.

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Read more about EPA'S IRIS Chemical Risk Database in Shambles: GAO

TOOLBOX: Online Sources for Researching Medical Literature

A useful roundup of links and leads for reporters researching the published literature on medical and some environmental health topics is available online at LLRX.com.

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