You may recall a post on this blog on August 19 all about a small weekly newspaper in Marion, Kansas.  There have been some new developments in that case.

To review, there was a police raid August 11th on the Marion County, Kansas, newspaper office.  Police seized computers, cellphones and other data from the premises of the newspaper. Local authorities also raided the home of the paper’s co-owners — Eric Meyer and his 98-year-old mother, Joan. Joan Meyer died a day after the raid and Eric has said he believes the stress of the raid led to her death.

The Poynter Project, a highly respected nonprofit that reports on journalism, posted a story at the time summarizing the situation that can be found at this link.

One week after the raid, the county attorney said there was “insufficient evidence” to conduct that raid.  All newspaper property taken by police in that raid has been returned.  The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has been looking into the matter.

Now, the mayor of Marion has suspended the local police chief.  You can read more about that from the Marion Record news Web site at this link.

Journalists and those in the news business have a responsibility to follow the law just like anyone else.  However, a heavy-handed raid for no apparent legal reason is an attack on the First Amendment and is bad for all of us.