TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Federal appeals court puts a stop to the “FOIA death spiral”

For years, federal agencies have been freezing journalists in public-records purgatory with a maddening tactic: The "thanks for your request, we'll respond to it (someday)" letter.It's the bureaucratic equivalent of the spinning beach ball of death, and twice as frustrating.Getting the "non-response response" letter trapped the requester in a no-win predicament.