National News

• Big data gets bigger every day, but for the government to make the best use of its growing stores of information data governance structures need to be put in place. (Federal Computer Week)
• A new analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Congressional Republicans have long hated and recently vowed again to destroy, finds that the agency has made strides in its first three years, but its best actions happened in a transparent, iterative manner. (Government Executive)
• There are more women serving in the halls of Congress than ever, but women haven’t changed the amount of money they’ve given to political causes all that much over the past 25 years. (Open Secrets)
• Early next month the Supreme Court is set to hear the latest attack on campaign finance regulation. McCutcheon vs. FEC deals with limits on the overall level of contributions that individuals can spread around to various federal candidates. (National Journal)
• Newly declassified documents show that the NSA spied on prominent American critics of the war in Vietnam, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and two powerful member’s of Congress Sen. Frank Church (D-Id) and Rep. Howard Baker (R-TN). (Georgetown Security Law Brief)

International News

• The UK’s Independent Reporting Mechanism has a new report out about Britain’s first OGP National Action Plan. The timing is appropriate, as the country is prepping its second NAP, to be revealed next month at the OGP meeting in London. (Open Government Partnership)
• The Somali central bank signed a lobbying contract with the Podesta group as corruption allegations swirled around it earlier this month. Abdusalam Omer resigned as head of the bank a week after signing the deal, but claimed his resignation had nothing to do with the allegations.  (The Hill)

State and Local News

• The National Association of Manufacturers is building itself a new arm. The new legal center will help its members when they want to lobby on the local, state, and federal levels. (POLITICO)

Events Today

• International Right-to-Know Day Celebration. AU WCL. 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. AU Washington College of Law, WCL Room 603, 4801 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 200016.

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