Request 042, 043, 044, and 045, and 046 — 2/11 to 2/15/2026

Call me beep me if you wanna reach me

It’s Sunday, happy foiaday! (And happy belated Valentine’s Day!)

If you’re reading this, I’m on deadline.

Sometimes, the journalist-reporting-the-news side of my work trumps the journalist-running-an-unpaid-side-project side of my work. Unfortunately, that’s what you get when you mix full-time-freelance with travel and unpaid projects and deadlines. Ahhhhhhh, deadlines.

So I’ll keep this tight. Five requests — Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and today’s. Read Tuesday’s email, with a boatload of licensing (though not boat licenses) here!

If there's a coworker or friend you think would benefit from this newsletter, feel free to forward it to them! If they subscribe, they'll also get a link to a template for the tracker I like to use to keep tabs on requests I've filed.

Wednesday’s request: noreply emails

We all love email requests, and I’ve done quite a few so far this year. But I stole from one of the FOIA Advent Calendar ideas to grab noreply emails received (Day 29!), something that could be nothing (junk mail!) or could be something (accounts made!).

The Illinois FOIA statute was updated this year to rule out any junk emails from disclosure (optionally). “Junk email” in this case is described as unsolicited adverts that are unopened by the recipient.

Let’s be real: unless you’re a freak (sorry), no one is ever truly “inbox zero.” Sometimes, you need Old Navy emails to gum up the Promotions tab from time to time.

So we'll see if “junk mail” gets put to the test here. What I'd really love is to get a sense of entperise systems used, third-party programs and logins with government emails.

Keeping all this in mind, let’s request:

- All emails with "noreply" in the sender/from field between 1/1/2026 and 2/1/2026. Please release emails in a .pdf format; if that is not possible, then .eml/.msg is also fine.

And we’ll grab it from some familiar places: Chicago mayor, Cook County president, and, hell, maybe Evanston’s mayor? And… yeah. We’ll start with that.

Thursday’s request: verification of people!!!!

Let's go back to those statute updates, shall we?

There’s one weird change that stands out from previous years, and, weirdly, I’ve actually encountered it before: verification of a requester’s identity.

Yes — you read that right. If a request is filed, and something seems amiss, an agency can request that the requester proves they’re a human. But they can’t ask for details that might fall under PII.

So how do you Turing-Test a FOIA requester? And how often are people actually doing this?

Maybe we start with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, which oversees the FOIA enforcement in the state? Let’s request:

- Documents, records or data sufficient to show decision-making and discussion around the enforcement of requiring a FOIA requester to provde they are a person following the filing of a request. Please limit the search to 1/1/2025 and 1/1/2026.

- Documents, data, a log or list sufficient to show all instances of enforcement of requiring a requester to prove that they are a person following the filing of a request. This is a new component of the FOIA statute in 2026, but please include all instances between Jan 1, 2024 until Feb 12, 2026, or whenever this request is processed. Please release documents as a .pdf and redact any PII about the requester.

Friday’s request: the Marvel-Industrial Complex

Did you know that the Department of the Defense really, really likes Marvel Comics?

Kind of. Enough to provide millions of dollars and in-kind support to the production, including filming on bases, with equipment and aircraft and with personnel.

This isn’t new news, and there have been great stories and pieces about the military-industrial complex and its role in Hollywood. So let’s request some records about it!

The DoD (erm, Department of War) requests that all productions seeking support in any form fill out this document, and email it to a specific address. That gives us two separate document types to request: completed Production Assistance Request forms, or a list of them, and any emails sent to that address.

- a list, log, data or documents sufficient to show all production assistance requests sent and inventoried between 1/1/2025 and present (2/15/2026). Please release this in a digitized format, like a .pdf or .xlsx.

- all individual submitted production assistance request forms (https://media.defense.gov/2025/Apr/01/2003680289/-1/-1/1/DOD-PRODUCTION-ASSISTANCE-REQUEST-FORM.PDF) received by the department between 1/1/2025 and 2/15/2026. Please release this in a digitized format, like a .pdf.

- all emails sent to osd.pentagon.pa.mbx.ce-public-inquiries@mail.mil between 1/1/2026 and 2/15/2026. Please redact any PII and release documents in a .pdf, .msg or .eml format.

As a contingency of receiving support, though, the productions are required to have their scripts reviewed by the Pentagon, as well as allow for a special screening in Washington so the film can be reviewed.

Oh, and the DoD needs to be credited:

So we’ll also grab a few more things:

- A list, log, documents or data sufficient to show all DoD/ATSD(PA) responses to proposed productions, including notifications to production companies about the outcome of their request, in 2025.

- A list, log, documents, data, memos, calendars or other records sufficient to show official DoD screenings of DoD-involved productions in 2024 and 2025 as described by this policy (https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/541016p.pdf). 

Unfortch, there is an exemption that can be slapped on the production requests (trade secrets!), though I find it hard to believe that a film production already released would be so heavily subjected to that. 🤞

Saturday’s request: lasers in aerospace

Space lasers! (Not actually.) Lasers into space! Airspace, that is!

The FAA keeps a log of all incidents of lasers being pointed at aircraft from the ground, and posts that data on its website. But they have a form that crew members can fill out (here) and I’m curious about the information that isn’t available in the dataset itself.

So we’ll grab updated data, then some form responses:

- A list or log of all reported instances of lasers being pointed at aircraft for 2026 so far, in a .xlsx or .csv format, similar to what has been released in the past for 2025 and prior years.

- Form responses to this reporting system (https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/report/laserinfo/report_incident) from 1/1/2026 to 2/15/2026. Please include all fields unless they contain PII. Please release documents in a .pdf or .xlsx/.csv/.sqlite format, whatever is machine-readable and consistent with the format in which records are kept.

We’ve already requested records from the FAA, so no log or retention schedule needed! ✈️

FINALLY! Sunday’s request: historical markers!

I can’t remember if we’ve filed for records in Indiana or not, admittedly. But this one is a good start!

In some states, like Illinois, the placing of historical markers (like those roadside plaques you see near rest stops, or by landmarks) is organized by non-profit and non-governmental organizations.

But in Indiana, the markers are placed by the Indiana Historical Bureau, which I believe is a component of the Indiana State Library.

Markers are applied for once a year, and the apps haven’t yet opened for 2026. But we can at least see the applications filed for the previous year, thanks to Indiana records laws.

So we’ll grab all applications for signs!

- A list, log, data or documents sufficient to show all applications for Indiana State Historical Markers in the 2025-2026 marker cycle. Please include all submitted fields unless they contain PII, and please include the outcome of the application if possible, as well as release documents in a .pdf, .xlsx or .csv format.

Broadly, you can check some cool markers out out at the Historical Markers Database, one of my top 10 favorite websites on the internet. Indiana has some cool ones supported by the state program, including this one about the extinction of the passenger pigeon (!):

Thanks for hanging in there with me, guys. Full weekly update tomorrow (albeit, this is pretty much the past week!) and I’ll keep y’all updated about documents as I get them!

Happy filing!

Cam