It certainly explains why the cops were so willing to go along with an illegal search warrant. Heck, maybe it wasn’t even that the restaurant owner went to the cops to complain after the city hall meeting; maybe the police chief saw this as an opportunity to raid the newspaper and take the names and he approached the restaurant owner.

Edit: another story here has the police chief posting on the department’s Facebook page:

The Act requires criminal investigators to get a subpoena instead of a search warrant when seeking “work product materials” and “documentary materials” from the press, except in circumstances, including: (1) when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.

Which is bull. The newspaper was emailed information which they did not publish and which they reported to the police. They were not ‘taking part in the underlying wrongdoing’. 1312, especially the Marion County police chief.