This week a news report documented how three corporations made $1.6 million in contributions to pro-Trump dark money group America First Policies, a group whose leadership has previously made racist, sexist, bigoted and pro-Nazi statements. The story is also notable for how it used corporate disclosures of political contributions to provide insight into a 501(c)4 "dark money" group, which is otherwise not required to disclose its donors.

This week MSNBC host Joy Reid was called out over homophobic posts attributed to her political blog, The Reid Report, in the late-2000s. There are several fascinating elements to this story with important implications for how the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, and a complementary system called archive.today, can be used when documenting a since-deleted website.

The California Supreme Court has decided unanimously that public officials' emails and text messages on personal accounts are subject to public disclosure under the Public Records Act if they pertain to government business.

VR Research has prepared a 50 state guide for how to search and download Personal Financial Disclosures for state legislators and other statewide elected officials. These records are an essential resource when conducting research on public officials, to understand their business dealings, financial backgrounds and potential conflicts of interest. 

July 4th marked the 50th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act, which has just been newly amended to improve public record access and modernize the law.

Lobbying data is an essential resource when researching influence over elected officials. Lobbyist registrations and expenditures have become readily accessible to search and download, but access to this data varies widely by state. To make this easier to navigate, VR Research has prepared this 50 state guide for how to access, search and download lobbying data.