On August 11, 2023, police in Marion, Kansas, a town where “everyone knows everyone” isn’t just a saying, it’s civic policy, raided the offices of the Marion County Record. They seized computers, phones, and personal devices, even searched the homes of the paper’s staff. A day later, 98-year-old newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer died. Her doctor cited stress from the raid as a contributing factor. So begins Seized, Sharon Liese’s clear-eyed examination of tensions between local government and its hardnosed media outlet boiling over, and in the process, becoming overnight national news. Read More









