A Kansas county agrees to pay $3 million and apologize over a raid on a small-town newspaper
November 11, 2025
A rural Kansas county has agreed to pay more than $3 million and apologize over a law enforcement raid on a small-town weekly newspaper in 2023. Eric Meyer, editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, said Tuesday he hoped Marion County’s payment would deter similar actions against other news organizations in the future. The raid sparked an outcry over press freedom and prompted five federal lawsuits. County sheriff’s officers were involved in the raid and helped draft search warrants Marion city police used to enter the newspaper’s offices and other locations. Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, co-owner of the paper, died of a heart attack the next day, something the publisher blamed on the stress of the raid.