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could handle a downhill walk. Of course, I’d heard downhill is actually harder on your body, but I never really believed it.
Shame on me. About halfway down to the raft launch site, my right knee started to swell, and by the time we were near the bottom, it was about the size of a basketball. It just so happened that there was a radiologist in our rafting group, and he was convinced I had severed a tendon. Worse still, we couldn’t radio the National Park Service for help thanks to the steep canyon walls. We ended up having to wait for a passing airliner, radioing the pilots who then relayed the message to a rescue team. A helicopter piloted by a Vietnam veteran ended up swooping in to save me. On the bright side, I was treated to a fantastic view of the Grand Canyon. And so my journey took an unexpected detour to the hospital. After X-rays and tests, the doctor gave me the news — my knee was bruised. That was it. Just a bruise. A bad one to be sure, but not exactly an epic finale to my tale, so I resolved that it wasn’t the end. After a week on crutches, I rented a mule and set off down the same trail that had done me in. The trip was still grueling, and I had plenty of blisters thanks to the hike out, but I’m glad I made it. The views were spectacular, and I’d proved to myself that I could tackle the challenge. From basketball to basketball-sized bruises, these journeys didn’t exactly end with a dragon’s treasure, but I still took away something valuable. Both trips underscored the importance of perseverance and taking one step at a time toward your goals, despite the odds. Those are the kinds of lessons that make it worth going there and back again.
Of course, the loss in the final round did sting. But compared to my other unexpected journey, March Madness 2019 was a painless experience. At least I could physically walk out of the stadium when the lights came up. I can’t say the same about my trip to the Grand Canyon. Several years earlier, I made the trip to Arizona to explore everything it had to offer. Unlike my March Madness trip, this adventure was well planned. I had already rafted the top half of the canyon, hiking out on the rugged Bright Angel Trail, so this time around, I wanted the full experience: hiking down the back half and rafting the entire length of the park. I wasn’t too worried about the hike down. After all, if I could handle the Bright Angel Trail — an uphill journey that rises a mile in elevation in just 8 miles — surely I The Freedom of Information Act, commonly referred to as FOIA, has been a crucial part of the democratic system for decades. It was designed to improve public access to governmental records, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always work as intended. In most cases, requests are only answered if a lawsuit is filed. Nevertheless, FOIA has had a crucial role in many high-profile legal cases. Here are a couple of the most significant ones in American history. A Journalist’s 16 Years in Court California-based journalist Seth Rosenfeld has had some serious contention with the FBI. In 1985, he filed his first lawsuit against the FBI for ignoring his requests for information about the Berkeley protests of the 1960s. The case was eventually settled in 1996, and Rosenfeld was awarded $560,000 in fees. In their settlement agreement, the FBI agreed to be more thorough with FOIA requests. Rosenfeld filed a second lawsuit in 2007 accusing the FBI of withholding information during former President Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Five years later, he was awarded $479,459 in attorney fees. Rosenfeld is known DIGGING FOR THE TRUTH
FOIA Lawsuits That Changed How Americans Participate in Democracy
for having some of the longest-pending FOIA requests and has received over 300,000 pages of FBI documents since the 1980s. The SCOMM Scandal In a landmark FOIA settlement concluded in 2013, the federal government paid $1.2 million to settle a suit brought by several civil rights groups over the Secure Communities (SCOMM) Immigration and Customs Enforcement program. The litigation exposed a plan to create a multi-agency database focused on collecting DNA, a person’s gait, and iris scans. When evidence was uncovered during the litigation, governors of New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts tried to opt their states out of the program, but the Department of Homeland Security determined SCOMM mandatory, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights. The case also changed how the government is required to identify, collect, and produce data for all FOIA requests. Thanks to FOIA and these important cases, the people’s right to government information (and honesty) will continue to progress in America’s democracy.
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