newsminer.com

Much of the material used as the basis for this series of stories on the government's funding of LOVE Social Services was obtained through several requests made under the federal Freedom of Information Act from 2005 through 2007.

The News-Miner made its first FOIA request about LOVE Social Services on Feb. 10, 2005, to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The request was for records associated with any HUD funding of the nonprofit for all years. HUD replied on Feb. 24 with a letter saying that the department had a backlog of FOIA requests and that it was, as the law allows, extending the time period under which it had to respond. The letter estimated the department may need up to 60 days to process the News-Miner's request. HUD sent a packet of material on Sept. 23, 2005. Additional information and material was obtained from HUD later, outside of the FOIA process.

A HUD spokesman in Washington, D.C. said on Dec. 13, 2005, that the News-Miner was "in possession of all that we have" on the department's two grants to Love Social Services.

The News-Miner, on July 19, 2005, sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Justice seeking copies of "any and all" documents regarding three congressional earmarks through that department's Office of Justice Programs to LOVE Social Services. A follow-up request for further supporting documentation was sent to the department on Nov. 30, 2005. The department responded with material in August 2005 and with more material in December 2005 and January 2006

A letter accompanying the Justice Department material in January 2006 informed the newspaper that the information constituted the department's final response to the newspaper's first FOIA request and that it had completed the release of "all documents maintained by the Office of Justice Program" regarding the funding of LOVE Social Services.

A second January letter, in response to the News-Miner's second request for information, was accompanied by more material and said "No other documents were located in response to your request."

The News-Miner submitted a third FOIA request to the Justice Department in January of this year to obtain information about how LOVE Social Services was spending grant funds in the months since January 2006. The department provided several documents in late February.

The newspaper also obtained documents, outside of the Freedom of Information Act, from the Internal Revenue Service, the city of Fairbanks, and several agencies of the state of Alaska.