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October 2026

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Maine and Rhode Island

Behind the Story: The NEFAC Legal Fund

NEFAC Executive Director Justin Silverman recently joined WPRI for “Behind the Story” to discuss the organization’s public records work and legal fund. In a conversation with Eli Sherman and Tim White, Silverman detailed NEFAC’s first legal fund victory, a Sept. 8 Maine Superior Court decision ordering the release of records sought by local news outlets related to an October 2024 domestic violence homicide.

“We provided the financing through the Legal Fund for these newsrooms to take the Bath Police Department to court and tell them, ‘These records belong to not just us, the newsrooms, but the Bath community. We are entitled to this information under the law and we need to know all the details that happened,'” Silverman said.

▶ View Episode

▶ Request Legal Assistance

▶ Support the NEFAC Legal Fund

National

NEFAC, Media Organizations File Amicus Brief Against White House Press Ban

A week after the New England First Amendment Coalition denounced a recent press ban by the Trump Administration, the group joined more than 70 media organizations in an amicus brief arguing for the ban’s end.

In the brief, amici urge the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent the Trump Administration from excluding news outlets from White House press meetings and facilities.

“It deprives reporters and their audiences of timely, newsworthy information about the daily affairs of the presidency,” according to the brief. “It is designed to have a chilling effect, with the hope that it discourages other outlets from publishing stories that they fear might provoke similar sanctions.”

▶ Read Amicus Brief

▶ Read Statement Against White House Media Ban

ICYMI

▶ In First Win for NEFAC Legal Fund, Court Orders Release of Police Records in Domestic Violence Double-Murder Case

▶ NEFAC Joins Regional Newsrooms to Condemn White House Restrictions on Press

▶ NEFAC, National Press Advocates Argue Against New Pentagon Press Policies

Thank You to Our Supporters

NEFAC appreciates the support of all its donors and contributors. In particular, we would like to recognize the Estate of Gloria L. Negri, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the following Leadership Circle donors ($10,000+) and Major Supporters ($2,500-$9,999):

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

Rhode Island Foundation

The Harbus Foundation

The Boston Globe

Boston University

Paul and Ann Sagan

The Robertson Foundation

Champa Charitable Foundation

Philip and Judith Meyer

MAJOR SUPPORTERS

Hearst Connecticut Media Group

Academy of New England Journalists

Truro News

Gravel & Shea PC

Patrisha McLean