Marion County in Kansas has agreed to pay $3 million and apologize after local police raided the county’s weekly newspaper, the Marion County Record, and the home of the paper’s publisher back in 2023. The raids followed a dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner who accused the paper of illegally obtaining information about a drunk driving incident, and after the paper had been actively investigating Marion County’s police chief over sexual misconduct charges. County officials have pledged to pay $1.2 million to Eric Meyer, the editor of the Marion County Record, and the estate of his mother Joan Meyer, who died of a heart attack one day after the raids. Marion County also agreed to pay the company that publishes the Marion County Record, two reporters at the paper, and Ruth Herbel, the city’s former vice mayor, whose home was also raided by Marion County police.