Today through Saturday, hundreds of journalists are gathering in Los Angeles, California for the Online News Association’s annual conference. As one of journalism's biggest conferences, ONA offers a wide variety of sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities. This year's programming includes both in-person and remote options.

MuckRock's Collaborations Editor André Natta will be in attendance—you might see him volunteering at the registration table or meeting with MuckRock's partners. If you're interested in meeting up with André, reach out to him at andre@muckrock.com.

Here are a few of the panels and workshops about public records, technology, and government transparency that caught our attention. Please note all times are Pacific:

• How To Use Open Source Intelligence Tools To Uncover Dark Money: Wednesday, September 21, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Speakers include Anna Massoglia from OpenSecrets, Yue Stella Yu from Bridge Michigan and Andy Kroll from ProPublica.
• There’s No “I” in Data: How To Make Analytics a Team Effort: Wednesday, September 21, 1 - 2 p.m. Speakers include Kayla Burns and Doyle Irvin from WordPress.
• It’s Documentation Day 🎉: Wednesday, September 21, 2:30 - 4:40 p.m. Speakers include Alexandra Smith from The 19th*, Sapna Satagopan from CalMatters and Cam Rodriguez from Chalkbeat.
• Artificial Intelligence: Supporting Journalists and Understanding Audiences: Thursday, September 22, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Speakers include Marc Lavallee from the Knight Foundation, Dalia Hashim from Partnership on AI, Ernest Kung from AP, and Theresa Poulson from McClatchy.
• How To Build Your Own Interactive Data Story — And Master Scrollytelling Without Coding: Friday, September 23, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Speakers include Duncan Clark and Luisa Bider from Flourish.
• Automating Local News: How We Built it, What We Learned: Saturday, September 24 from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Speakers include Jessica Davis, Eric Ulken, and Steve Dorsey from Gannett.

▶ Nearly 200 stories produced for Democracy Day: Last week, news organizations across the country shed light on the looming crisis in U.S. democracy as part of Democracy Day, an event organized by Montclair State University's Center for Cooperative Media. In total, almost 200 stories were published, ranging from explainers on public officials' jobs to a history of voting in the U.S. Check out the full list of stories here, and see MuckRock's suggestions for public records requests you can file to continue reporting on democracy.

▶ Objectivity in health reporting: MuckRock reporter Betsy Ladyzhets spoke to The Objective about her newsletter and blog project, the COVID-19 Data Dispatch, and the relationship between objectivity and writing about science and health issues. The interview also included a plug for taking a vacation before you get burned out, not waiting until the situation gets dire.

• Lawsuit filed against Jackson: Residents of Jackson, Mississippi have filed a class action lawsuit against their city leaders, claiming the city neglected public water infrastructure for decades before the shutdown last month. The full complaint is available on DocumentCloud.
• License plate readers: This week, several MuckRock users filed records requests to various local police departments asking about how these agencies are using automated license plate readers. These devices can automatically capture a lot of information about drivers, posing First Amendment concerns.
• Release of the worm: NASA recently completed a FOIA request from MuckRock user Emily Crose concerning the Morris Worm, one of the first computer viruses sent out via the internet. NASA sent back two reports describing the 1988 virus.

For The Record was written by Betsy Ladyzhets and edited by André Natta.