Court documents suggest reason for police raid of Kansas newspaper

The police chief who led the raid of a Kansas newspaper alleged in previously unreleased in court documents that a reporter either impersonated someone else or lied about her intentions when she obtained the driving records of a local business owner.

But reporter Phyllis Zorn, Marion County Record Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer and the newspaper’s attorney said Sunday that no laws were broken when Zorn accessed a public state website for information on restaurant operator Kari Newell.

The raid carried out Aug. 11 and led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody brought international attention to the small central Kansas town that now finds itself at the center of a debate over press freedoms. Police seized computers, personal cellphones and a router from the newspaper, but all items were released Wednesday after the county prosecutor concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to justify the action.

Late Saturday, the Record’s attorney, Bernie Rhodes, provided copies of the affidavits used in the raid to The Associated Press and other news media. The documents that had previously not been released. They showed that Zorn’s obtaining of Newell’s driving record was the driving force behind the raid.

The newspaper, acting on a tip, checked the public website of the Kansas Department of Revenue for the status of Newell’s driver’s license as it related to a 2008 conviction for drunk driving.

Cody wrote in the affidavit that the Department or Revenue told him that those who downloaded the information were Record reporter Phyllis Zorn and someone using the name “Kari Newell.” Cody wrote that he contacted Newell who said “someone obviously stole her identity.”

As a result, Cody wrote: “Downloading the document involved either impersonating the victim or lying about the reasons why the record was being sought.”

The license records are normally confidential under state law, but can be accessed under certain circumstances, cited in the affidavit. The online user can request their own records but must provide a driver’s license number and date of birth.

The records may also be provided in other instances, such as to lawyers for use in a legal matter; for insurance claim investigations; and for research projects about statistical reports with the caveat that the personal information won’t be disclosed.

Meyer said Zorn actually contacted the Department of Revenue before her online search and was instructed how to search records. Zorn, asked to respond to the allegations that she used Newell’s name to obtain Newell’s personal information, said, “My response is I went to a Kansas Department of Revenue website and that’s where I got the information.”

She added, “Not to my knowledge was anything illegal or wrong.”

Rhodes, the newspaper’s attorney, said Zorn’s actions were legal under both state and federal laws. Using the subject’s name “is not identity theft,” Rhodes said. “That’s just the way of accessing that person’s record.”

The newspaper had Newell’s driver’s license number and date of birth because a source provided it, unsolicited, Meyer said. Ultimately, the Record decided not to write about Newell’s record. But when she revealed at a subsequent City Council meeting that she had driven while her license was suspended, that was reported.

The investigation into whether the newspaper broke state laws continues, now led by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. State Attorney General Kris Kobach has said he doesn’t see the KBI’s role as investigating the conduct of the police.

Some legal experts believe the Aug. 11 raid violated a federal privacy law that protects journalists from having their newsrooms searched. Some also believe it violated a Kansas law that makes it more difficult to force reporters and editors to disclose their sources or unpublished material.

Cody has not responded to several requests for comment, including an email request on Sunday. He defended the raid in a Facebook post soon after it happened, saying the federal law shielding journalists from newsroom searches makes an exception specifically for “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”

The Record received an outpouring of support from other news organizations and media groups after the raid. Meyer said it has picked up at least 4,000 additional subscribers, enough to double the size of its press run, though many of the new subscriptions are digital.

Meyer blamed the stress from the raid for the Aug. 12 death of his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, the paper’s co-owner. Her funeral services were Saturday.

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Sorry, Fox News. Trump says he’s not going to the debate.

Former President Donald Trump said he will not attend the first Republican primary debate scheduled for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by a Truth Social post Sunday.

Trump’s decision to skip the first debate on Wednesday will leave the first showdown of Republican presidential hopefuls without the far-and-away frontrunner.

"New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by “legendary” numbers." Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. "The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had, with Energy Independence, Strong Borders & Military, Biggest EVER Tax & Regulation Cuts, No Inflation, Strongest Economy in History, & much more."

"I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!" he wrote.

Nine other candidates have qualified to be on stage in Milwaukee, according to POLITICO’s analysis: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessperson Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Mississippi Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessperson Perry Johnson.

All eight of the other candidates have indicated that they would participate in the debate. But without Trump, much of the draw for the first debate may have been drained away.

Trump’s decision to skip out on the first contest will likely leave DeSantis at the center of the stage in Milwaukee. He remains Trump’s chief rival for the nomination, even as his standing in the polls have diminished.

The event gives DeSantis an opportunity to shake out of his slump. He must prove himself as the leading Trump alternative. But without Trump there, it opens him up to being a pincushion for the rest of the field.

Trump's presence will still loom large over the debate.

“If he’s not there, he’ll still be there,” Fox News host Bret Baier, one of the debate moderators, said in an interview with POLITICO recently. “In other words, he’ll be a part of questioning. There may be sound bites, there may be elements where ‘this is what the leader of the primary says about this issue.’ He’ll be there, even if he’s not there.”

Trump has publicly flirted for months with not participating in the first debate, suggesting he did not want to give his opponents that are trailing him a chance to take a shot.

“You’re leading people by 50 and 60 points, you say why would you be doing a debate? It’s actually not fair,” he said on Fox News in July. “Why would you let somebody that’s at zero or one or two or three be popping you with questions?”

Trump has also said previously he would not sign a “loyalty pledge” from the Republican National Committee, which asks all the primary losers to support the eventual nominee, another requirement laid out by the national party to be on stage on Wednesday.

Christie, who cast himself as the only Republican in the race willing to take on Trump, has repeatedly called the former president a “coward” for even considering skipping the debate.

Trump’s decision does not automatically preclude him from participating in the second one, which will be next month in California.

Trump — along with DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Haley, Scott, Pence and Christie — have already qualified for that debate as well.

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Springtime for Europe’s fascists

You haven't seen this movie before. This time Germany's sharp lurch to the right is the phenomenon to watch.

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Hilary weakens as storm moves within striking distance of Mexican peninsula

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Hurricane Hilary moved closer to the coast of Mexico early Sunday on a continued path to the Baja California peninsula as a weakened but dangerous Category 1 hurricane, which the National Weather Service said was likely to bring “catastrophic and life-threatening” flooding to the region and cross into the southwestern U.S. as a tropical storm.

The National Weather Center in Miami said in the most recent advisory at 2 a.m. that the storm was about 30 miles south of Punta Eugenia, Mexico, and 385 miles from San Diego, California. The maximum sustained wind speed remained unchanged at 85 mph while spreading “heavy rains” northward over the peninsula.

Meteorologists warned that despite weakening, the storm remained treacherous.

One person drowned Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia, on the peninsula’s eastern coast, when a vehicle was swept away in an overflowing stream. Rescue workers managed to save four other people, said Edith Aguilar Villavicencio, the mayor of Mulege township.

It was not immediately clear whether officials considered the fatality related to the hurricane, but video posted by local officials showed torrents of water coursing through the town’s streets.

Forecasters said the storm was still expected to enter the history books as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, bringing flash floods, mudslides, isolated tornadoes, high winds and power outages. The forecast prompted authorities to issue an evacuation advisory for Santa Catalina Island, urging residents and beachgoers to leave the tourist destination 23 miles off the coast.

Elizabeth Adams, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service San Diego office, said rain could fall up to 3 inches an hour across Southern California’s mountains and deserts, from late Sunday morning into the afternoon. The intense rainfall during those hours could cause widespread and life-threatening flash floods.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency, and officials had urged people to finish their preparations before sundown Saturday. It would be too late by Sunday, one expert said.

The hurricane is the latest major climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from last week’s blaze that killed over 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. In Canada, firefighters on Saturday continued to battle blazes during the nation’s worst fire season on record.

Hilary brought heavy rain and flooding to Mexico and the southwestern U.S. on Saturday, ahead of the storm’s expected Sunday border crossing. Forecasters warned it could dump up to 10 inches — a year’s worth of rain for some areas — in southern California and southern Nevada.

“This does not lessen the threat, especially the flood threat,” Jamie Rhome, the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s deputy director, said during a Saturday briefing to announce the storm’s downgraded status. “Don’t let the weakening trend and the intensity lower your guard.”

Meteorologists also expected the storm to churn up “life-threatening” surf and rip currents, including waves up to 40 feet high, along Mexico’s Pacific coast. Dozens sought refuge at storm shelters in the twin resorts of Los Cabos at the southern tip of the Baja peninsula, and firefighters rescued a family in San Jose del Cabo after the resort was hit by driving rain and wind.

In Tijuana, fire department head Rafael Carrillo voiced the fear at the back of everyone’s mind in the border city of 1.9 million people, particularly residents who live in homes on steep hillsides.

”If you hear noises, or the ground cracking, it is important for you to check it and get out as fast as possible, because the ground can weaken and your home could collapse,” Carrillo said.

Tijuana ordered all beaches closed Saturday, and set up a half dozen storm shelters at sports complexes and government offices.

Mexico’s navy evacuated 850 people from islands off the Baja coast, and deployed almost 3,000 troops for emergency operations. In La Paz, the picturesque capital of Baja California Sur state on the Sea of Cortez, police patrolled closed beaches to keep swimmers out of the whipped-up surf.

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U.S., Japan and Australia plan joint navy drills in disputed South China Sea, Philippine officials say

MANILA, Philippines — The United States, Japan and Australia are planning a joint navy drill in the South China Sea off the western Philippines this week to underscore their commitment to the rule of law in the region after a recent show of Chinese aggression in the disputed waters, Filipino security officials said Sunday.

On Aug. 5, Chinese coast guard ships used water cannons against Philippine vessels in the contested waterway where disputes have long been regarded as a potential flashpoint and have become a fault line in the rivalry between the U.S. and China in the region.

The drill will include three aircraft and helicopter carriers sailing together in a show of force and undertaking joint drills. Their commanders are set to meet with Filipino counterparts in Manila after the offshore drills, two Philippine security officials told The Associated Press.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to publicly discuss details of the planned drills.

The U.S. plans to deploy an aircraft carrier, the USS America, while Japan would send one of its biggest warships, the helicopter carrier JS Izumo. The Royal Australian Navy would send its HMAS Canberra, which also carries helicopters, one of the two officials said, adding that the joint drill was planned a few months ago.

The Philippines would not be part of this week’s drills due to military logistical limitations but is open to becoming a participant in the future, the official said.

The United States, Japan and Australia were among several countries that immediately expressed support for the Philippines and concern over the Chinese action following the tense stand-off earlier this month.

Philippine officials said six Chinese coast guard ships and two militia vessels blocked two Philippine navy-chartered civilian boats taking supplies to the Philippine forces stationed at the Second Thomas Shoal. One supply boat was hit with a powerful water cannon by the Chinese coast guard while the other managed to deliver food, water, fuel and other supplies to the Filipino forces guarding the shoal, the Philippine military said.

The Chinese coast guard acknowledged its ships used water cannons against the Philippine vessels, which it said strayed without permission into the shoal, which Beijing calls Ren’ai Jiao.

“In order to avoid direct blocking and collisions when repeated warnings were ineffective, water cannons were used as a warning. The on-site operation was professional and restrained, which is beyond reproach,” the Chinese coast guard said. “China will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty.”

The Philippine military said on Saturday that it would again attempt to deliver basic supplies to its forces in the Second Thomas Shoal, but didn’t provide further details.

The mission “to the shoal is a clear demonstration of our resolve to stand up against threats and coercion and our commitment in upholding the rule of law,” the Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a statement.

Following the incident, Washington renewed a warning that it is obliged to defend its longtime treaty ally if Philippine public vessels and forces come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

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Hope is hard to let go after Maui fire, as odds wane over reuniting with still-missing loved ones

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The days of waiting have become harder and harder as the odds grow longer and longer, but Kevin Baclig remains undeterred in his search for his wife and her parents, missing since Aug. 8 when a wildfire engulfed and flattened the Hawaiian town of Lahaina.

He has gone looking from one shelter to another, hoping strangers might recognize the faces on the flyers he brings with him. Baclig, 30, has driven back and forth to Lahaina, desperately scouting for anything that might lead him to his wife, Angelica, and her parents, Joel and Adela Villegas. Six other relatives who lived next door also remain unaccounted for.

“I’m not going to give up until I see them,” he said. “Of course I’m hoping to find them alive. ... What else can I do?”

Even as he tries to sound optimistic, his voice is subdued.

“I’ve been searching and searching — in Lahaina, everywhere,” Baclig said, speaking in Ilocano, a dialect of the northern Philippines.

The blaze took scores of lives and destroyed hundreds of homes, including the house Baclig’s family bought three years ago on Kopili Street, about a 15-minute walk to historic Front Street, once a bustling tourist center but now a bleak avenue of flattened buildings lined with charred vehicles.

The remains of 114 people have been found, most of them yet to be identified. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has said the death toll will likely rise in the days to come as the painstaking search for remains continues in the heaps of rubble and ash in Lahaina, a seaside community of 12,000 and a tourist hotspot on Maui.

Officials acknowledge they don’t have a firm number on the missing. Many initially listed as unaccounted for have since been located.

Crews have sifted through about 60% of the fire zone, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Saturday.

“We are making progress, and we will continue to be with the people of Hawaii every step of the way,” Criswell said. The agency approved nearly $7 million to aid more than 2,000 households, including $3 million in rental assistance.

More than 1,000 federal personnel are on Maui, nearly half of whom are assigned to help in the search for remains, the White House said.

A spokesperson for Maui County, Mahina Martin, said Saturday that authorities involved in the search effort were working to compile a list of the missing and continued to vet the information being gathered.

The only publicly available list has been compiled by good Samaritans hoping to link family with loved ones, but isn’t always up-to-date.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Lahaina on Monday to survey the devastation and meet with survivors and local officials.

Earlier this week, Police Chief John Pelletier said authorities would do their best to track down the missing. “But I can’t promise that we’re going to get them all,” he said.

On the day before the fire, Po’omaika’i Estores-Losano, a 28-year-old father of two, wished aloha to his ohana, the Hawaiian word for family. “Another beautiful day in Hawaii,” he wrote on Facebook, ending his post by urging his circle to “have fun, enjoy,” and to never be “unhappy and grumpy.”

He was among the scores still missing Saturday. His family has scoured the island looking for him, checking hospitals and shelters. Without a car, Estores-Losano would have had to outrun the fire and smoke.

“We don’t want him to think we stopped looking for him,” said Ku’ulei Barut, who last spoke to her brother the day before he went missing.

His mother, Leona Castillo, wants to hang on to the possibility that her son is still alive, but she knows she may have to face a reality she’s not yet ready to accept. Last week, as the talk of body counts intensified, she got herself swabbed for DNA.

She wants him found, no matter how and where.

“We don’t want him to be lost,” she said. “If we don’t get his body back, he’ll just be lost.”

In the days after the fire, there was chaos and confusion, with so many families looking for missing loved ones. Castillo said she was relieved for friends and neighbors who were reunited with loved ones.

But she wondered when would it be her turn.

“I just want closure,” she said.

Ace Yabes is also waiting for word about his relatives — nine in all who are missing, including Angelica Baclig, whose family lived next door to an aunt and her family, five of whom have yet to be found.

Kevin Baclig was at work as a nurse at a skilled nursing facility when the fire raced down from the hills and into town, igniting nearly everything in its path.

“I’ve been searching all the shelters, hotels, possible places they might go — I’ve gone to all of them. I’ve gone to the houses of their friends,” he said. “I’ve reported them missing to the MPD (Maui Police Department), to the FBI. I’ve been showing their pictures.”

Baclig, who is staying with friends in Kahalui on the northern flank of the island, holds out hope as he searches.

Maybe in their haste to flee, none had the time to grab their cellphones — which might explain why Baclig has yet to get a call. Maybe they are looking for him, too, and unsure about his whereabouts.

Amid anguish and uncertainty, and as he nears the end of his efforts, he continues to pray for help.

“Lord, guide me in everything,” he wrote Thursday on Facebook. “I don’t know what to do.”

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Hilary downgraded to Category 2 hurricane as Mexico and California brace for 'catastrophic' impact

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Hurricane Hilary roared toward Mexico’s Baja California peninsula late Saturday as a downgraded but still dangerous Category 2 hurricane that's likely to bring “catastrophic” flooding to the region and cross into the southwest U.S. as a tropical storm.

Meteorologists warned that despite the hurricane's weakening, the storm's speed had accelerated Saturday, and urged people to finish their preparations by sundown. By Sunday, one expert said, it would be too late.

Forecasters said the storm is still expected to enter the history books as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, and bring along flash floods, mudslides, isolated tornadoes, high winds and widespread power outages.

Heavy rainfall and flooding began Saturday ahead of the storm's expected Sunday crossing into the southwestern U.S., where it is expected to dump up to 10 inches of rain in southern California and southern Nevada.

“This does not lessen the threat, especially the flood threat,” said Jamie Rhome, the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s deputy director, during a Saturday briefing to announce the storm’s downgraded status. “Don’t let the weakening trend and the intensity lower your guard.”

Meteorologists also expect the storm to churn up “life-threatening” surf conditions and rip currents — including towering waves up to 40 feet high — along Mexico’s Pacific coast. Dozens sought refuge at storm shelters in the twin resorts of Los Cabos, at the southern tip of the Baja peninsula, and firefighters used an inflatable boat to rescue a family in San Jose del Cabo after the resort was hit by driving rain and wind.

In Tijuana, Rafael Carrillo voiced the fear that was at the back of everyone’s mind in the border city of 1.9 million, particularly residents who live in homes that cling precariously to steep hillsides.

”If you hear noises, or the ground cracking, it is important for you to check it and get out as fast as possible, because the ground can weaken and your home could collapse,” said Carrillo, head of the Tijuana fire department.

That city ordered all beaches closed Saturday, and set up a half-dozen storm shelters at sports complexes and government offices.

Mexico’s Navy evacuated 850 people from islands off the Baja coast, and deployed almost 3,000 troops for emergency operations. In La Paz, the picturesque capital of Baja California Sur state on the Sea of Cortez, police patrolled closed beaches to keep swimmers out of the whipped-up surf.

In the U.S., the Miami-based hurricane center issued tropical storm and potential flood warnings for Southern California from the Pacific coast to interior mountains and deserts. The San Bernardino County sheriff on Saturday issued evacuation warnings for several mountain and foothill communities ahead of the storm.

And an evacuation advisory for the tourist destination of Santa Catalina Island, 23 miles off the Southern California coast, urged residents and beachgoers to leave, while authorities in Los Angeles scrambled to get the homeless off the streets and into shelters.

Across the region, municipalities ran out of free sandbags and grocery shelves emptied out as residents stockpiled supplies. The U.S. National Park Service closed California’s Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve to keep visitors from becoming stranded amid flooding.

Major League Baseball rescheduled three Sunday games in Southern California, moving them to Saturday as part of split doubleheaders, and SpaceX delayed the launch of a satellite-carrying rocket from a base on California’s central coast until at least Monday. The company said conditions in the Pacific could make it difficult for a ship to recover the rocket booster.

President Joe Biden said Friday the Federal Emergency Management Agency had pre-positioned staff and supplies in the region. “I urge everyone, everyone in the path of this storm, to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials,” he said.

Hilary on Friday had rapidly grown into an exceedingly dangerous Category 4 Major hurricane for a time with top sustained winds of 145 mph at its peak. Its maximum sustained winds initially dropped to 115 mph earlier Saturday as a Category 3 storm, before further weakening to 110 mph — making it a Category 2.

By midafternoon Saturday, it was still 640 miles south-southeast of San Diego, California. Moving north-northwest at 17 mph, the storm was expected to turn more toward the north and pick up speed.

Forecasters said the storm was swirling off one of the westernmost spurs on Mexico’s southern Baja peninsula. The hurricane was expected to brush past Punta Eugenia on that coast before making a nighttime landfall along a sparsely populated area of the peninsula about 200 miles south of the Pacific port city of Ensenada.

Hilary is likely then to rake northward all the way up the peninsula and into Tijuana, before heading to the U.S. in its historic path.

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