Hello from rainy DC. Alex Howard here, with another civic text. Sorry to be a bit out of pocket this past week; I've been tending to family matters and out of writing rhythm. (Much more to come!) As always, please feel free to reach out directly to me
Hello from suddenly steamy DC, where I'm giving the National Park Service and DC government the business for not turning on the water fountains yet. Alex Howard, with another civic text. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed so far, especially everyone who has taken a bet on
Good afternoon from cloudy DC. I hope you're well. Alex here, with another civic text. To be honest, I'm still grinding my teeth over oral arguments at the Supreme Court, where jurists appear open to the notion that a man can, in fact, be above the
FOIA
Last Tuesday, I took my daughter to Congress so she could have a bit more context into my work. We watched Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI) introduced a Congressional Transparency Caucus forum where officials and advocates discusses the U.S.'s commitment to the Open
Good afternoon from sunny Washington, where President Biden has signed a national security supplemental into law that will require ByteDance to divest from TikTok or the social media app will banned in the United States. Alex Howard here, with a new edition of Civic Texts. As I just texted, I
Good morning from sunny Washington, where I'm about to go pick up a repaired car after a month. Alex Howard here, with a new edition of Civic Texts. Happy Earth Day. I'm happy to report that my body also feels close to fixed as well, after
Good morning from Washington, where the Senate dismissed impeachment charges against DHS Secretary Mayorkas on a party-line vote, the House will consider foreign aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, privacy legislation seems to be moving forward, and NPR staffers. (Jury selection is ongoing in an "unpresidented" criminal trial
Hello from Washington, where the climate already resembles New England summer than spring. Life in DC, redux. Alex Howard here, back in your inbox with another edition of Civic Texts. If you find these valuable, I hope you'll consider sharing them with your social networks, forwarding to colleagues,
Good morning from sunny Washington, where spring is now accelerating into a climate that resembles of New England summer, the Senate is back in session, and I'm getting ready to go up to Maine to sing in an acappella reunion again. Deja vue, all over again. Thanks to
Good afternoon from sunny DC, a condition I expect that to change dramatically around 3:20 today for people across the United States where the sun is (mostly) blocked by the moon in the first total eclipse since 2017. (NASA has all of the details about where, when, and how
Hello there! Alex Howard here again. I hope your Friday is going well and that you're staying safe and well, given that April snowstorms and earthquakes are in the zeitgeist in the eastern regions of the United States today. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed since I
Good morning from DC! Today's public meeting of the 2022-2024 term of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee has just begun. The draft recommendations we will vote on, several of which I helped draft, are online. The livestream is up on YouTube, and video
Hello there! Alex here again. Many, many thanks to everyone who has signed up for Civic Texts and shared my first message. Special shoutout to the folks who have become paid subscribers, which is a humbling bet on me delivering something worth reading. I was just asked how I approach
Hey there! Alex Howard here. If all has gone well, you're reading my first newsletter from Ghost. If you've been following and reading me for a while, you know this isn't my first email newsletter rodeo. Back in 2006, when I began writing about