Subscribe

Michael Ryan

Michael Ryan is Executive Editor of The Heartlander. A Kansas City native, he’s been an award-winning reporter, editor and opinion writer at newspapers in Kansas, Missouri, Georgia and Texas.

Kansas
Raid on small-town Kansas newspaper draws global attention, condemnation, ominous letter from attorney

Marion, Kansas officials employed “Hitler tactics” in raiding the local newspaper as if it were “a drug cartel or a street gang,” the publisher’s lawyer… Read More

August 15, 2023
Opinion
‘You better have a damn good reason’: Astonishing police raid on small Kansas newspaper sends First Amendment chill across nation

I asked a different newspaper publisher what he thought of the already-infamous law enforcement raid on the small-town Marion County Record in central Kansas on Friday. Is it… Read More

August 14, 2023
Biden administration
Hearing into Biden administration’s online censorship of conservatives goes exceedingly poorly for government, observers report

A hearing Thursday over whether the Biden administration can censor online speech “did not go well” for the federal government, according to one interested observer. Matt Taibbi – the investigative… Read More

August 11, 2023
Kansas City
Jackson County assessor facing class action lawsuit, probe by Missouri auditor, over wildly varying assessments, chaotic appeals process

Kansas City taxpayers have performed their own assessments of the Jackson County property tax system. The verdict: mass confusion, myriad complaints and record numbers… Read More

August 11, 2023
Free Speech
Rules for 2024 election discourse online likely to be set starting with hearing in Missouri v. Biden lawsuit Thursday

Missouri and Louisiana have set out to prove the Biden administration has been illegally censoring conservative speech. On Thursday, they’re going to court to put a… Read More

August 8, 2023