We've blogged recently about our training services for the public, especially bloggers and citizen-journalists who want to shine a light on their government. We also held a session in April on getting public records and are offering a webinar Tuesday on that topic.

But did you know we also offer data-crunching services?

Many public records now come in a spreadsheet or database form, and it can help to analyze them in a program like Microsoft Access.

That's where Texas Watchdog can help. We used data-crunching in our stories on salary records for the cities of Amarillo and Corpus Christi, and our reports into dead people listed on voter rolls.

If you have databases of public records --- say, the pay records for your school district or expense accounts for your city hall --- and you would like assistance crunching the numbers, please let us know. Call 713-980-9777 or e-mail news@texaswatchdog.org.

Services are free for folks within Texas.