Ryan Laughlin

Congrats @RyanLaughlinKOB for your Dixon Award and for reporting in the public's interest with government records and advocating for #opengov.

Tempe has turned off its Flock automated license plate reader system and will end its contract with the company. The cameras are no longer collecting license plate data, and Tempe will not seek another company to replace the system. While the cameras have helped Tempe Police solve crimes, recent misuse of automated license plate reader systems in Arizona and nationwide has raised concerns about the risks that come with the technology. Tempe Police has found no misuse of its own Flock system. Flock will remove its cameras, and previously collected data will be automatically deleted after 30 days unless it is connected to an ongoing case or investigation. Read through the slides to learn more about the decision and what it means for Tempe.

Bada Bing! We have times and networks! #GoLobos | #RealOnes26

If you value and enjoy the research and outreach we do (like the first ever footage of cougar kittens in Minnesota…some more footage here!), please support the project this year by donating to our annual fundraiser at the link below! This annual fundraiser is critical to all of the work you see and read about. Our goal is to raise $135,000 this year to help keep our research going strong. We know from past fundraisers that we only need about 3,500 people—out of the >600,000 people following our project—to make a generous donation to our project and we reach our goal. Our dream and goal is to keep the Voyageurs Wolf Project going long-term but our biggest challenge by far is funding. We don’t receive any financial support from federal or state agencies (i.e., Voyageurs National Park or Minnesota DNR). Further, the University of Minnesota does not provide us any annual funding, cover salaries of researchers, or cover other research expenses, though they do help with some logistical/administrative aspects of the project. In other words, no organization is bankrolling our project and giving us annual funding that we can rely and plan on. If we stop raising funds, our project would quite literally be over—there would be no salaries for researchers, no funding to purchase equipment or to cover research expenses. As a result, generous donors have been and will continue to be absolutely critical to keeping the project going! Conducting rigorous and high-quality wolf research is not cheap and requires remote cameras, collars, GPS units, gas for boats and vehicles, salaries, data fees & storage, genetic analysis, aerial surveys, housing, field supplies...the list goes on. Even though our project has received key funding via grants from the Minnesota Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund, we still need considerable annual support to keep the project going strong. Further, that funding is not a guaranteed annual source of funding for our project. We deeply appreciate any contribution to our project regardless of the size and are thankful for everyone who has supported the project in the past! You can support the project here: crowdfund.umn.edu/campaigns/… To donate via check, make checks out to the "Voyageurs Wolf Project (Fund 22745)" and send to: University of Minnesota Foundation P.O.Box 860266 Minneapolis, MN 55486-0266