A significant number of Bush administration political appointees have converted to career civil service jobs in recent months — many in areas covered by environment, energy, resource, science, and health journalists.

Results of EPA's 2008 "National Dialogue" to develop an "Information Access Strategy" are now online.

A coalition of 262 citizen groups from many walks of life urge the new Congress to pass legislation ending the widespread practice of government retaliation against federal employees who reveal government waste, fraud, and abuse.

The deepening standoff between the White House and Congressional investigators over access to information about how the Bush-Cheney administration formed its energy plan may start coming to a head Sept. 6, 2001.

Flood maps for riparian areas and coastal zones are in need of significant improvement, according to a new National Academies report. The benefits of implementing the improvements would substantially outweigh the costs.

At least eight climate change reports have been or will be released, or are open for public comment, from the National Academies' National Research Council and the US Climate Change Science Program.

President Bush is still drafting the team that will shape the country's policy over the next 3+ years.

The US Army Corps of Engineers has been exaggerating its cleanup claims for formerly used defense sites.

Incoming EPA administrator Lisa Jackson faces an immediate test on perchlorate secrecy, as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejects EPA's argument for FOIA exemption. Will EPA and the Justice Department appeal, even though Obama urges agency openness?

News media across the country will again be undertaking open-government projects in 2009. The Sunshine Week website offers you ideas on stories you could dig out of hard-to-see public records.