A small central Kansas police department is facing a torrent of criticism for raiding a local newspaper’s office and the home of its owner and publisher, seizing computers and cellphones, and, in the publisher’s view, stressing his 98-year-old mother enough to cause her weekend death.
Several press freedom watchdogs condemned the Marion Police Department’s actions as a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protection for a free press. The Marion County Record’s editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, worked with his staff Sunday to reconstruct stories, ads and other materials for its next edition Wednesday, even as he took time in the afternoon to provide a local funeral home with information about his mother, Joan, the paper’s co-owner.
Last year in New Hampshire, the publisher of a weekly newspaper accused the state attorney general’s office of government overreach after she was arrested for allegedly publishing advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising.
“I fully believe that the intent was to do harm and merely tarnish my reputation, and I think if had it been left at that, I don’t think that it would have blown up as big as it was,” Newell said in a telephone interview. Newell said she believes the newspaper violated the law to get her personal information as it checked on the status of her driver’s license following a 2008 drunken driving conviction and other driving violations.
Press freedom and civil rights organizations said that police, the local prosecutor’s office and the judge who signed off on the search warrant overstepped their authority.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kansas Police Officer Dies from Injuries Day After Being Shot While Responding to Car TheftA 29-year-old Kansas police officer who was shot by a suspect after responding to a car theft died from his injuries on Monday, according to officials.
Read more »
Fantasy Football 2023: Kansas City Chiefs PreviewWill NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes continue to reign supreme over all other quarterbacks in fantasy football?
Read more »
Kansas couple’s solar panels could result in lien on propertyA couple in Kansas who tried to save money by tapping into renewable energy says the position of their solar panels on their home has caused them to rack up thousands of dollars in fines.
Read more »
'You saved 1,368 lives today': Firefighters cool down stranded load of piglets on Kansas highwayA tractor-trailer that was hauling pigs broke down, leaving the animals stuck in the sweltering heat.
Read more »
Kansas cops raid Marion County Record newspaper office, seize records, injure reporterPolice in Marion, Kansas, raided the office of the Marion County Record, along with the home if its publisher, amid a dispute with a local businesswoman.
Read more »