LAWRENCE — A documentary about the police raid of the Marion County Record is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2026, more than two years after law enforcement stormed the newspaper office, the publisher’s home and a city councilwoman’s home. Director and producer Sharon Liese says the film looks beyond the First Amendment implications of the raids and dives deeper into the small town of Marion in a way the public hasn’t seen before. She called it “a canary in a coal mine” type of story. “The story that we eventually told is not what you…
Author: Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — CoreCivic gave up its fight to avoid following the city of Leavenworth’s development process and applied for a special use permit. In a news release on its website, the city said Monday it received the application but did not say when it was filed. “City Staff and the City’s legal team are currently reviewing the application and anticipate working with CoreCivic’s representatives on the public process,” the news release said. Tentative public hearing dates are set for the planning commission, Feb. 2; first consideration by the Leavenworth City Commission, Feb. 24; and second consideration by the city commission,…
TOPEKA — The county involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor. In two of the four agreements, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office also crafted a statement admitting regret. “The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record. This likely would not have happened if established law had been reviewed and applied prior…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay for a portion of November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the department said Monday in a brief to a federal court in Rhode Island. The four-page report from the USDA answered U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr.’s order that President Donald Trump’s administration pay at least a portion of benefits to the 42 million people who receive assistance through the program by the end of Wednesday. McConnell on Saturday laid out two options for the administration: pay for partial benefits by the end of Wednesday through a…
MARION — Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher’s home, a district judge ruled Wednesday. But Cody won’t be tried for the raids, which Marion County Record editor-publisher Eric Meyer says is the real crime. A two-hour preliminary hearing revealed new details about the texts that Cody exchanged with Kari Newell, whose drunk driving record and request for a liquor license at her restaurant ignited an international drama two years ago.…