# WTPN.news — We The People News

> WTPN.news is a Michigan civic-accountability platform and open data source. It publishes a verified
> directory of 227+ government bodies and 1549+ officials, a Flock/ALPR surveillance-camera accountability
> database (3383+ cameras + the votes and money behind them), renewable-energy and land/industrial-development trackers,
> plain-language issue guides, sourced legislative roll calls, enacted-law tracking, and the full 600+-candidate
> 2026 election field, plus original citizen journalism. Every fact links to its source.
> All read data is available over a FREE, KEYLESS, CORS-open JSON API — so anyone, including AI agents,
> can retrieve facts, compare government spending and campaign money, and check who holds (and seeks) power.

## Open API
- [OpenAPI 3.1 specification](https://wtpn.news/openapi.json): machine-readable contract for every public read endpoint.
- **MCP server: https://wtpn.news/mcp** — add it as a tool source in claude.ai, ChatGPT, or any MCP client (streamable HTTP, keyless, 32 read tools). Details in the MCP section below.
- Base URL: https://wtpn.news — all `/api/...` read endpoints return JSON, need no key, and allow cross-origin requests.
- Most list endpoints accept `?q=` (search) and `?county=`; detail endpoints take a `{slug}`.

## Local lookup (start here)
- [https://wtpn.news/api/local/summary?address=ADDRESS](https://wtpn.news/api/local/summary): the flagship endpoint — pass an address (or lat/lng) and get the resident's districts, nearby Flock cameras, reviewed energy and land/industrial project locations, upcoming votes, local government, `taxDollars`, and the full 2026 ballot. Land results use only reviewed official locations, never inferred city centroids.

## Government directory
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/bodies](https://wtpn.news/api/government/bodies): councils, boards, courts, county + state offices. Filter `?county=`, `?bodyType=`, `?jurisdictionType=`.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/officials](https://wtpn.news/api/government/officials): 1549+ office-holders with contact info, party, term, next election, and cross-links to any surveillance / energy / candidate record for the same person. Use `?view=directory` for the slim listing projection. Canonical profile URLs: `/government/officials/{jurisdiction}/{name}`.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/payments](https://wtpn.news/api/government/payments): paginated Michigan state-government payment rows from the official SIGMA bulk checkbook export. Filter by fiscal year, legal vendor name, department, object category/group, check date, and amount. Every row carries its source file SHA-256 and exact source-row number. The bulk file does not print payment/check numbers, funds, or units, so WTPN does not infer them. Coverage and source limitations: [payment metadata](https://wtpn.news/api/government/payments/meta).
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/vendors](https://wtpn.news/api/government/vendors): paginated legal vendor names from SIGMA state payments plus separately sourced local contract/vote disclosures. Filter `?q=` and `?source=sigma|disclosures`. Detail at `/api/government/vendors/{slug}`; exact source identities are not silently merged.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/procurement/meta](https://wtpn.news/api/government/procurement/meta): official state contract/procurement source status. Procurement records are stored separately from payment rows and are linked only when an official source prints a matching contract or purchase-order identifier.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/bodies/{slug}/spending](https://wtpn.news/api/government/bodies): a body's latest annual reported actuals — revenue-by-source + expenditure-by-function, available `expenditureByObject` natural types, and municipal F-65 `expenditureAccounts` with the reported account code, description, expense type, and fund split. `dataKind=reported_actuals` explicitly distinguishes these figures from adopted/amended budgets, contracts, invoices, and payments. School districts & ISDs use MDE-CEPI FID; community colleges use NCES IPEDS. The response's `source`/`sourceUrl` name the exact dataset per body.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/bodies/{slug}/receipts](https://wtpn.news/api/government/bodies): a body's verified local check-register rows, immutable source-document checksums, reconciliation totals, and explicit published/missing/held/conflict coverage calendar. No-register packets and unresolved overlaps remain visible as held coverage instead of being counted as payments.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/compare?county=Genesee&category=school](https://wtpn.news/api/government/compare): compare peer governments' budgets — rank a county's school districts, municipalities, or community colleges by the share they spend on any function or type. Answers "which district spends the most on instruction vs. administration?" `?category=school|municipal|college`.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/stats](https://wtpn.news/api/government/stats): directory totals.

## Surveillance / Flock ALPR accountability
- [https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/cameras](https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/cameras): Flock/ALPR camera locations (DeFlock/OpenStreetMap + WTPN research). Filter by `?county=` or `?bbox=`.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/actors](https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/actors): officials with a surveillance voting record + accountability labels.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/projects](https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/projects): Flock/ShotSpotter/drone procurements — the responsibility chain, votes, and dollar amounts.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/money](https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/money): how surveillance vendors and the officials who adopted them are funded.
- Detail endpoints `/api/surveillance/projects/{slug}`, `/actors/{slug}`, and `/bodies/{slug}` return the sourced votes, actions, money, government links, and documents behind one record. [Upcoming decisions](https://wtpn.news/api/surveillance/upcoming-votes) include meeting/agenda links where available.

## Energy accountability
- [https://wtpn.news/api/energy/projects](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/projects): solar / wind / battery projects, their votes, parcels, and tax abatements. Filter `?county=`, `?category=`.
- Detail at `/api/energy/projects/{slug}` includes votes, actions, officials, parcels, tax agreements, grid records, and exact sources.
- [Developers](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/developers) (detail at `/developers/{slug}`) · [official actors](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/actors) · [government bodies](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/bodies) · [upcoming votes](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/upcoming-votes) · [turbines](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/turbines) · [stats](https://wtpn.news/api/energy/stats).

## Land, megasites, data centers, and industry
- [https://wtpn.news/api/land/sites](https://wtpn.news/api/land/sites): stable land-site records with acreage, prior/current use, current status, project history, public-money stages, canonical government bodies, scoped official actions, related meetings, source conflicts, and exact official sources. Filter `?county=`, `?status=`, or `?type=data-center`.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/land/projects](https://wtpn.news/api/land/projects): tenant and facility proposals kept separate from the land. A withdrawn proposal remains visible and does not erase the site's history.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/land/map](https://wtpn.news/api/land/map): reviewed official geometry/reference points only; no inferred municipality or ZIP centroids.
- Detail endpoint `/api/land/sites/{slug}` also exposes reviewed boundary versions, independently labeled parcel-evidence layers, current municipal owner headers, prior owner/acquisition records, assessed values, and stage-specific land/title/payment/demolition events. An option seller, access grantor, contract price, or option fee is not silently converted into a completed deed or payment. Both site and project detail endpoints expose timelines, public money, government decisions, scoped official positions, related meetings, conflicts, exact excerpts/sources, explicit unknowns, approved `media.photos`, `media.videos`, and `media.documents` evidence, plus `relatedCoverage`. Related reporting, analysis, opinion, and community voices are content-labeled and never silently promoted into evidence. The standalone `/api/photos`, `/api/videos`, and `/api/documents` endpoints accept `entityType` plus the canonical `entityRef` slug.

## Michigan issues, bills, votes, hearings, and laws
- [Issue guides](https://wtpn.news/api/government/issues): WTPN-curated plain-language groupings with tracked bills, latest action, next hearing, and cross-links to surveillance, energy, land, or other accountability records. Detail: `/api/government/issues/{slug}`.
- [Bill and roll-call index](https://wtpn.news/api/government/votes): featured/recent bills and aggregate coverage. [Search the full tracked session](https://wtpn.news/api/government/votes-search?q=) by number, title, Public Act, or motion; detail at `/api/government/votes/{billKey}` returns every sourced roll call and verbatim printed voter label.
- [Committee hearings](https://wtpn.news/api/government/hearings): upcoming and recent schedules, agenda bills, results, and source links.
- [Enacted laws](https://wtpn.news/api/government/laws): tracked bills with a Public Act number, signing date, status, and direct official enrolled/Public Act documents when available. Filter `?q=`, `?signedYear=`, and `?page=`. Private editorial review/diff verdicts are not public.
- Trust rule: a printed vote is linked to an official only when chamber, district, party, and surname all agree. Otherwise WTPN preserves the printed voter label without guessing. WTPN analysis is separately labeled from official bill text and vote facts.

## Elections & candidates (2026)
- [https://wtpn.news/api/election/candidates](https://wtpn.news/api/election/candidates): 600+ candidates across federal, statewide, legislative, and county races. Filter `?office=`, `?party=`, `?county=`; use `?view=directory` for the slim listing projection. `status` = filed | nominated | declared | withdrawn | disqualified.
- Candidate detail responses include reviewed `challenges`; one published exchange is available at `https://wtpn.news/api/election/challenges/{id}`. Candidate questions, answers, and rebuttals are candidate-submitted words, reviewed before publication but not endorsed as fact by WTPN.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/election/claims](https://wtpn.news/api/election/claims): WTPN's fact-check library — political claims rated Verified / Partly Verified / Needs Context / Unverified / Incorrect / Opinion-Analysis / Public Record, each with what-the-records-show, plain-English meaning, honest caveats, and source URLs. Detail: `/api/election/claims/{slug}` (includes any labeled candidate response).
- [https://wtpn.news/api/election/donors](https://wtpn.news/api/election/donors): who's really behind the money — donor-translation cards.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/election/money-trail](https://wtpn.news/api/election/money-trail): statewide and exact-race candidate rankings for committee receipts, spending, cash, debt, candidate money, outside support, and outside opposition. Compact sort values never replace the attached literal filing label, source URL, and review date.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/machine-watch](https://wtpn.news/api/machine-watch): source-linked editorial ledger of campaign mechanisms, including endorsement cascades, field clearing, war chests, self-funding, and independent spending.
- Candidate finance snapshots on each candidate record are dated to their filing (FEC July Quarterlies through 6/30/26 for the U.S. Senate field; Michigan pre-primary filings land July 24, 2026) and always link the original filing.

## News & citizen journalism
- [Full-site search](https://wtpn.news/api/search?q=Flint) distinguishes articles, candidates, current elected officials, cities and government bodies, land sites, industrial projects, bills, issue guides, and finance vendors with canonical links.
- [https://wtpn.news/api/stories](https://wtpn.news/api/stories) · [https://wtpn.news/api/stories/search?q=](https://wtpn.news/api/stories/search) · [https://wtpn.news/api/stories/slug/{slug}](https://wtpn.news/api/stories) · [https://wtpn.news/api/feed](https://wtpn.news/api/feed).

## Meeting transcripts
- [https://wtpn.news/api/government/transcripts?bodySlug=SLUG](https://wtpn.news/api/government/transcripts): verbatim public-meeting transcripts per government body; structured analyses (summary, agenda, votes) appear only after WTPN review passes its audit gate. Detail: `/api/government/transcripts/{id}`.

## Questions an agent can answer with this API
- "Who represents me on my city council and county board at <address>?" → /api/local/summary
- "Which Michigan officials voted to install Flock cameras, and who funds them?" → /api/surveillance/actors + /money
- "Rank the 2026 governor candidates by money raised, cash, debt, self-funding, or outside spending." → /api/election/money-trail
- "Has WTPN fact-checked <claim / candidate statement>, and what do the records show?" → /api/election/claims?q=
- "What solar or battery projects and tax abatements are near <county>?" → /api/energy/projects?county=
- "What industrial or data-center projects are proposed for this land, who approved them, and what public money is committed?" → /api/land/sites + /api/land/projects/{slug}
- "Which bills are tied to this issue, who voted yes or no, and what source proves it?" → /api/government/issues/{slug} + /api/government/votes/{billKey}
- "Which tracked bills became Michigan law in 2026, and where are the enrolled and Public Act documents?" → /api/government/laws?signedYear=2026
- "Which vendors did a Michigan state department pay, when, and how much?" → /api/government/payments?department=
- "What did the <city> council actually say and vote at its last meeting?" → /api/government/transcripts?bodySlug=
- "Is there a contested primary in my district on August 4?" → /api/local/summary (ballotCandidates)

## MCP server (live)
- Connect WTPN as a tool source from claude.ai, ChatGPT, or any MCP client: add **https://wtpn.news/mcp** (Model Context Protocol, streamable HTTP, keyless, read-only). It publishes 32 tools.
- Core research: `get_local_summary`, `search_site`, `search_officials`, `list_candidates`, `get_candidate`, `rank_candidate_money`, `get_machine_watch`, `search_stories`, `search_claim_checks`, `search_state_payments`, `get_body_spending`, `get_meeting_transcripts`.
- Accountability trackers: `find_cameras`, `list_surveillance_projects`, `get_surveillance_project`, `search_surveillance_actors`, `get_surveillance_actor`, `list_energy_projects`, `get_energy_project`, `list_energy_developers`, `get_energy_developer`, `list_land_sites`, `get_land_site`, `list_land_projects`, `get_land_project`, `list_upcoming_tracker_votes`.
- Legislature: `list_issues`, `get_issue`, `search_bills`, `get_bill`, `list_laws`, `list_legislative_hearings`.
- `get_bill` returns all roll-call summaries and roster counts by default; pass a returned roll call's `id` as `rollCallId` to retrieve one complete verbatim member roster without overflowing agent context.

## Roadmap (not yet live)
- An authenticated WRITE path so a logged-in reporter's agent can submit a story or mark a Flock camera; API keys + per-key rate limits. See docs/API-AND-AGENTS-ROADMAP.md.
- A separate OAuth-authenticated admin MCP connector for WTPN staff agents (editorial/publishing tools; never public, admin login required).

## Data & licensing
- Facts are published for public accountability; every record carries source URLs — cite wtpn.news and the underlying source.
- Camera data derives from OpenStreetMap/DeFlock (ODbL). Keep automated read traffic reasonable; the edge rate-limits abusive clients.