data

Independence City Council set to vote Monday night on AI data center tax incentives. Approval would mean the data center developer would pay a fraction of the taxes it would normally owe on buildings, land and equipment.

Cities are grappling with how to proceed concerning the increase in data centers in Missouri. New legislation would require water permits for large-load consumers, and make them pay for grid infrastructure upgrades needed to provide them electricity.

While artificial intelligence can automate some tasks, users should be cautious when looking to chatbots for social connection or mental health advice, a Kansas City University psychology professor says.

The hyperscale data center would go in eastern Independence, near schools and an ammunition plant. A growing number of residents are trying to stop city officials from providing any tax incentives to the company to keep it from being built.

The Unified Government and the BPU are in discussions with three proposed data center projects code-named Project Red Wolf, Project Yardbird and Project Linda. Officials insist the projects won’t increase utility bills for other ratepayers, but similar promises elsewhere have been proven false.

For years, the Missouri Department of Corrections was not actually keeping track of the people who died in state prisons — with partial counts, missing names and flat-out wrong information being standard procedure. That is, until a Marshall Project reporter started asking questions.

After residents in St. Charles protested a secretive data center proposal, developer CRG is eyeing Festus, Missouri, as a site for future sites. It's not clear what tax incentives or exemptions the data centers could receive, would would lessen their economic benefit.

U.S. Sen Josh Hawley's skepticism of data centers puts him at odds with some prominent Missouri Republicans, including Gov. Mike Kehoe.

The Missouri Public Service Commission held a hearing to get feedback on Ameren Missouri's plans to build a new natural gas plant in Jefferson County. Community members opposed the plant, saying it would harm the environment and cost too much.

As officials in Missouri try to attract data center proposals from companies, pushback grows in communities where the projects are planned. One expert says the economic benefit isn't crystal clear — especially if local governments give them tax breaks.

St. Charles officials signed nondisclosure agreements as they considered a proposed data center project in their city. The agreements were with a company with links to Google. Protests from residents stopped the deal, however.

Large data centers are coming to Missouri, and they need a lot of power. Right now, there aren't regulations governing how they will use energy, so Evergy and Ameren is working to develop new rules.