Kansas town silences public comment on gigawatt AI data center after receiving death threats, moves to virtual meetings — shift follows physics teacher's arrest for clapping at data center hearing
Emporia, Kansas, switched to virtual city council meetings after death threats intensified against city leaders. The move also canceled public comments, prompting some members of the public to ask why it was affected, too.
The Emporia City Council in Kansas announced they would hold their upcoming meetings online due to receiving death threats. This decision came two days prior to the scheduled meetings on August 5 and August 19, 2026. The city stated on its Facebook page that no public comment period would be provided during either meeting, citing the need to protect the safety of elected officials, city staff, and members of the public.
However, this move to virtual meetings also canceled public comments, directing citizens to an email address and phone number for airing concerns privately. This led to some citizens protesting outside the Emporia municipal auditorium. One protester, Lux Claridge, who was arrested during a previous council meeting for clapping, expressed frustration over the cancellation of public comments. Despite acknowledging the credible threats, Claridge questioned the number of threats and their origin.
The council had previously considered a petition to put a data center ban on the ballot, voting unanimously to send it for judicial review. They claimed this was to avoid potential legal issues, though they did not elaborate on why. While there haven't been reports of local jurisdictions being sued for passing data center bans, a Texas senator had warned a county that it could not legally impose such a ban.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
