Sunshine Week is a national push each March for cooperation in the area of open government and access to public records. Holder's March 19 memo rescinds the guidelines issued Oct. 12, 2001, by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft's guidelines basically encouraged agencies to slow-foot responses and look for technicalities to deny requests for information. News-Post reporters and editors have piles of rejection letters, based mostly on technicalities, that show many agencies took Ashcroft's guidance to heart.

Holder directed agencies to stop on a dime and head in a new direction.

"First, an agency should not withhold information simply because it may do so legally," his memo states. "I strongly encourage agencies to make discretionary disclosures of information. An agency should not withhold records merely because it can demonstrate, as a technical matter, that the records fall within the scope of a FOIA exemption."

Hear, hear.

The News-Post has literally dozens of FOIA requests pending. The test will be in the next 30, 60 or 90 days to see if federal agencies change their tone regarding the public's right to know.

You can read Holder's entire memo at www.usdoj.gov/ag/foia-memo-march2009.pdf.

News-Post staff members have used FOIA and Maryland's Public Information Act to dislodge records that may never otherwise see the light of day. You will find examples on our website under a new Watchdog section at fredericknewspost.com/watchdog.

You will find searchable databases as well as links to some of our deeper investigative pieces. Some examples:

n The FBI watched Harold Weisberg, a local author who wrote about the JFK assassination and the Warren Commission. The FBI believed Weisberg was a communist, and numerous internal memos chronicle the government's effort to block Weisberg's access to information regarding the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr.

n During a two-week period in April 2005, officials at the Army's lead biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick discovered anthrax spores had escaped carefully guarded suites into the building's unprotected areas.

Through a FOIA request, The News-Post obtained a 361-page report on the 2002 anthrax breach compiled by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, which oversees the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. The News-Post also obtained reports of Detrick workers' potential exposures to biological agents.

n Staff writer Justin Palk used accident reports obtained from the Maryland State Police under Maryland's Public Information Act to help with an analysis of fatal crashes between 2001 and 2006. Palk found one segment of Md. 75 had a fatal crash rate three times the national average.

n A seven-part series that looks at domestic violence in and around Frederick County, with searchable database of protective orders.

n An examination of airspace violations over Camp David, with searchable database.

n A review of Taser use by local law enforcement agencies, with searchable database.

n Searchable databases of salaries of public employees.

Additionally, the new Watchdog section includes sample FOIA and Maryland PIA letters for you to use.

Laser-focused requests are the best. You will increase your chances of obtaining records if you know the exact title of a document, a report, a file or date that an event occurred.

Please share your discoveries with us by e-mailing citydesk@newspost.com.