Unthinkable: Local police raid, shut down local newspaper

A local news story out of Marion County, Kansas is rapidly going national because of its potential implications for the First Amendment and freedom of the press, along with the puzzling details that set the events in question in motion. The office of the local newspaper, the Marion Country Record was raided by the police on Friday, along with the home of the publisher, Eric Meyer. Computer equipment, cell phones, and boxes of records were seized. One reporter’s hand was injured by a police officer. Mayer’s nearly 100-year-old wife was so distraught by the events that she could neither eat nor sleep and she died yesterday, despite being reportedly “in otherwise good health for her age.” The police claim they were justified in taking these actions, but outraged free speech advocates are demanding answers.  (Fox News)

Kansas police raided a local newspaper’s newsroom and its publisher’s home on Friday and seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials in what critics are calling a violation of the Freedom of the Press.

Marion Police removed the Marion County Record’s computer file server, other computers, personal cell phones and other equipment, the outlet reported. Officers injured a reporter and the newspaper’s nearly 100-year-old co-owner died a day after the search.

A search warrant signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar claimed probable cause over alleged violations related to identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers, according to the Kansas Reflector.

The person who appears to have set all of this in motion was a restaurant owner named Kari Newell. During a City Council meeting on Monday, she accused the newspaper of illegally obtaining information about her from somewhere and planning to publish a story about her. There were allegations that she had lost her license after being convicted of drunk driving but continued to drive without a license. She complained to the police who went and somehow obtained a warrant and conducted the raid...MORE