Kansas Newspaper Sues Over Police Raids, Claims Stress Led to Co-owner’s Death

A small local newspaper in Kansas, along with its publisher, filed a lawsuit over controversial raids conducted in August last year, accusing local officials of retaliating against them and violating their First Amendment rights. The Aug. 11, 2023 raid on the office of the Marion County Record, a weekly newspaper founded in 1869, and the home of its owner and publisher Eric Meyer sparked widespread criticism among major news organizations and journalism advocacy groups. Just one day after the raids on Mr. Meyer’s home, his 98-year-old mother Joan Meyer—who was present when police entered the home—died. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Kansas on Monday, the plaintiffs allege Ms. Meyer, who also served as co-owner of the paper, died of a sudden cardiac arrest brought on “by the stress of the illegal raid.”...