Tag: missouri

Tight-knit Midwest town becomes ground zero in America’s war on AI… and local politicians get swift justice

A sleepy Midwestern town has become one of the fiercest battlegrounds in America’s growing backlash against AI data centers – and voters are making their anger clear at the ballot box.

In the town of Festus, Missouri, a community of 14,000 people near St. Louis, residents have ousted four city council members who backed plans for a massive AI data center, replacing them with candidates who openly opposed the project.

The political upheaval didn’t stop there. 

At a packed City Hall meeting following the election, newly sworn-in officials were greeted with cheers – while the city’s mayor Sam Richards, who still supports the development, was met with boos and jeers from the crowd.

‘You’re next!’ one resident shouted, underscoring how heated the fight has become.

At the center of the dispute is a proposed $6 billion data center spanning roughly 360 acres, designed to support the growing demands of artificial intelligence.

Supporters say the project could transform the local economy – generating an estimated $32 million a year in tax revenue for decades, funding schools, roads, and public services.

But many locals aren’t convinced, and opponents fear the development could strain the electrical grid, push up utility bills and disrupt daily life with years of construction.

Other residents worry about environmental risks, including pollution from backup generators and wastewater systems – concerns shaped by the region’s industrial past.

In a bid to scrap the development, locals have launched a website and a Facebook group titled No Data Center in Festus, which has attracted more than 3,000 members.

The backlash quickly spilled into local politics: In the landslide election, all four incumbents who supported the data center were voted out. 

‘It was an annihilation,’ said one local campaigner. 

Since then, more than 4,000 residents have signed petitions seeking to recall the mayor and other officials still backing the plan.

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Missouri State U. shuts down Bias Response Team amid First Amendment lawsuit

Missouri State University has accelerated the process of shutting down its Bias Response Team amid a lawsuit brought by Defending Education, a national grassroots organization that fights left-wing indoctrination in classrooms.

The complaint, filed April 21, claims campus leaders abused students’ constitutional rights and chilled free speech by allowing the team to monitor and investigate alleged acts of bias.

“Missouri State University and its officials have enacted a far-reaching policy that is designed to deter, discourage, and otherwise prevent students from expressing disfavored views about the political and social issues of the day,” violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the complaint stated.

In response, the university argues it is now shutting down the 10-year-old Bias Response Team.

Missouri State University spokeswoman Andrea Mostyn said officials made the decision to begin disbanding its Bias Response Team last month, before any litigation was issued. It was originally planned for July, but “has now accelerated that timeline.”

However, she added, the “university stands behind the work of the Bias Response Team.”

“The team’s purpose was limited, and its work was conducted in accordance with the university’s obligations under the First Amendment and other applicable law,” she said in an email to The College Fix. 

“The team historically reviewed isolated, anonymous reports of bias on campus, such as graffiti containing swastikas or racial epithets,” but rarely met since it was limited in scope and infrequent, with its most recent meeting being last September, she said.

In February 2025, the Bias Response Team page, which is now inactive, stated that it “serves to advocate for both individuals and groups impacted by acts of bias” by students they deem “perpetrators.”

Defending Education mentioned three students at MSU who want to engage in open debate and dialogue, “but they credibly fear that the expression of their deeply held views will be considered ‘biased,’ ‘offensive,’ ‘discriminatory,’ or the like.” 

Some of these views include being pro-life, pro-family, and anti-illegal immigration.

Moreover, the lawsuit noted that students have been previously reported for bias “for writing a satirical article about ‘safe spaces,’ tweeting ‘#BlackLivesMatter,’ chalking ‘Build the Wall’ on a sidewalk, and expressing support for Donald Trump.”

Defending Education declined to comment to The College Fix on the pending litigation.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranks Missouri State University 123 out of 257 schools in the 2026 College Free Speech Rankings, giving it an F speech climate grade. In one poll, almost half of student respondents stated they have to self-censor on campus at least once or twice a month.

A 2020 investigation by The College Fix into some of the bias complaints filed at MSU found that in one instance, police were called to respond to a drawing of a penis.

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Voters Oust Half of City Council for Greenlighting $6,000,000,000 AI Data Center

Voters in a Missouri town ousted four city council members Tuesday for supporting an AI data center in the area.

Voters in the town of Festus, Missouri, voted against four members of the town’s eight-member city council who voted to greenlight a $6 billion data center project a week prior, according to St. Louis Public Radio. Anger has been brewing in several localities across the U.S. against data center projects, with voters in a Wisconsin town overwhelmingly opting Tuesday to crack down on a proposed development.

Tuesday’s vote followed months of at times raucous opposition against CRG Clayco’s plan to build a hyperscale data center on 360 acres in the town. The four city council members who lost their reelection bids were defeated by candidates who ran against the data centers and supported more transparency in the data center approval process.

“This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here,” Dan Moore, who defeated pro-data center incumbent Bobby Benz, told St. Louis Public Radio. “People are awake now, and we’re not going to let this continue on anymore.”

Residents opposed to the AI data center flooded a local gymnasium to voice their frustrations during a March 31 city council meeting where the council voted to approve a framework of requirements for CRG’s planned construction, St. Louis Public Radio reported.

“I am not against growth,” Festus resident Lauren Albers said during the raucous city council meeting. “I’m against putting data centers between homes. I am against rushing into development before residents get real information, real answers and a real voice.”

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Missouri Governor Says Restricting Hemp THC Products Is ‘Something We Need To Get Done’ As Ban Bill Heads To His Desk

Missouri’s governor says the state needs to take steps to restrict the availability of intoxicating hemp-derived THC products in line with legislation that lawmakers recently sent to his desk.

“At a high level, I’m very much in favor of taking these illegal drugs in the form of the candies and stuff off of the shelves for kids to be able to buy,” Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) said in an episode of  This Week in Missouri Politics that aired on Sunday.

While the governor said his office will “do bill review” on the specific provisions of the legislation that lawmakers passed last week, he generally agrees with its aim.

“The way the legislation is drawn up is it helps us match the federal standard that’s coming down on these issues,” Kehoe said, referring to national restrictions that President Donald Trump signed into law late last year and that are set to take effect this November.

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Missouri Senate Passes Bill To Ban Intoxicating Hemp THC Products

After nine hours of debate over competing proposals to ban intoxicating hemp products, the Missouri Senate finally approved a House bill Tuesday night that would align state law with a federal ban set to take effect in November.

It also includes provisions to protect marijuana consumer privacy and cannabis workers’ right to organize.

It now heads back to the House, which can either ask for a conference to work out differences with the Senate or send it to the governor.

The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Dave Hinman of O’Fallon, would prohibit hemp products from containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container, which is among the limits included in a provision in the federal spending bill Congress approved last year.

Even if Congress reverses course and decides to allow the sale of these products, Hinman’s bill would only permit them to be sold in Missouri’s licensed marijuana dispensaries. And if Congress chooses to delay the ban for a couple years, Missouri would still ban all products, except for intoxicating beverages.

“I had just a good opportunity over in the Senate to work with several of the senators to get some of the things that they wanted to get on there that I think actually benefit the bill,” Hinman told The Independent Wednesday morning. “So I’m very happy with the things that were done last night and look forward to bringing that to the House tomorrow.”

Resistance to the bill came from Republican senators who expressed concern that the hemp industry members weren’t included in the final negotiations that took place for more than 12 hours Tuesday.

And Democratic state Sen. Karla May of St. Louis argued Missouri would be taking a more restrictive approach than the federal government because the proposals would deem the intoxicating hemp products as “marijuana.”

“They claim they’re mirroring the federal regulation,” May said during the debate Tuesday. “There’s some things in there that’s going far beyond the federal regulation, such as…hemp-derived cannabinoids will be put under the marijuana umbrella and have to be sold in dispensaries.”

May successfully led a nearly seven-hour filibuster on the first bill brought for discussion, sponsored by Republican state Sen. David Gregory, which would have made the ban effective as soon as the governor signed it.

“We spent pretty much from 11 a.m. until really 9 p.m. trying to figure out where we wanted to go, trying different things,” Hinman said, regarding Gregory’s bill. “We couldn’t get everyone really to agree, and so the senator [Gregory] suggested, ‘Let’s just go back to Hinman’s bill and go with that.’”

In an unusual move, the senators decided to reconvene the Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee at about 10 p.m. The same committee had decided not to vote on Hinman’s bill earlier that day, saying Hinman needed to reach a resolution with the hemp industry.

There was no public notice of the fiscal oversight committee’s evening meeting, which ended when senators voted to move the bill forward and allowed the full Senate to take it up for debate.

An amendment was approved to keep dispensaries from collecting marijuana consumers’ information unless they “opted in,” Hinman said, and another ensured all cannabis workers can unionize and shouldn’t be considered “agricultural workers” who aren’t protected under federal law. A group of workers in St. Louis have been battling this point since 2023.

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Settlement Stops Government From Using Social Media As ‘Speech Police’

The government censorship machine took a huge hit Tuesday in a historic win for First Amendment rights. 

What is being billed as an “unprecedented” agreement will bar the three government agencies central to killing speech the Biden administration didn’t like from pressuring social media platforms from doing so in the future. 

“This case began with a suspicion, that blossomed into fact, that led to Congressional hearings and an Executive Order that government censorship of Americans’ social media posts should end,” said John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), the nonprofit civil rights group that has battled in courts for years to bring justice to victims of government-led speech suppression. 

Also celebrating, Sen. Eric Schmitt, who, as Missouri’s attorney general, sued the Biden administration for “brazenly colluding with Big Tech to silence Missourians.” 

“This is a massive win for the First Amendment and for every American who believes in free speech,” the Missouri Republican said in a press release, adding that President Biden’s tenure in office brought “the most aggressively liberal and antiliberty excesses of government that America has ever seen.”

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Missouri Nonprofit Leader Sentenced to 16 Years in $19.7M Child Meal Fraud

This week, U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig sentenced a former nonprofit executive who stole $19.7 million from a program meant to feed Missouri children to 16 years in prison and ordered her to repay the money.

Connie Bobo, 46, was executive director of New Heights Community Resource Center at the time, which accepted money to provide meals to low-income, school-age children after school and during the summer.

Bobo, 46, of St. Charles, Missouri, was convicted by a jury of three counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and two counts of obstruction of an official proceeding after a three-day trial in October. Bobo set out to defraud the state from the very outset of her participation in the state’s meal program for children, a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman says. 

“Connie Bobo’s trial clearly showed that this was the largest public assistance and pandemic fraud in state history,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “Hungry children were turned away when Bobo’s distribution events ran out of food, all because she was spending public money on luxury goods, real estate and an extravagant vehicle.”

In 2018, she submitted fraudulent state program enrollment documents and created fake board members, fake trainings and fake bylaws designed to induce Missouri to provide her with meal money, the memo says. Bobo submitted hundreds of fraudulent meal reimbursement claims from 2019-2022 and spent millions of dollars in public meal funds on luxury goods, homes for relatives, a new home for herself, a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz G550 Wagon for a romantic partner and a $2.2 million commercial real estate investment, evidence and testimony showed.

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HHS Changes Voicemail to Domino’s Pizza to Mock Taxpayers Demanding End to NIH Kitten and Beagle Experiments

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is facing backlash after a “rogue employee” allegedly changed the agency’s public voicemail to a Domino’s Pizza recording, trolling taxpayers who flooded the lines demanding an end to ongoing NIH-funded cat and dog torture experiments.

White Coat Waste Project, the bipartisan watchdog group that has long exposed wasteful government animal testing, urged supporters to call HHS this week over continued funding for cruel kitten experiments at a taxpayer-supported lab at the University of Missouri, which was covered by The Gateway Pundit.

Instead of reaching agency officials, callers heard: “Thank you for calling Domino’s Pizza.”

WCW Senior Vice President Justin Goodman exposed the sick “prank” during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“Torturing puppies with our tax dollars isn’t funny, but people at HHS apparently think it is,” Goodman said.

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Voters in 3 States Gain Ballot Measures to Protect Girls’ Sports from Trans Athletes

Voters in three states will face upcoming ballot measures regarding protecting girls’ sports from transgender-identifying athletes and preventing minors from receiving sex changes, according to multiple reports.

Voters in states such as Colorado, Missouri, and Maine will be able to vote on the upcoming ballot initiatives in the midterm elections.

In Colorado, the organization Protect Kids Colorado got enough signatures for three ballot initiatives — Initiative 108, Initiative 109, and Initiative 110 — to qualify for the ballot, according to the Colorado Sun.

Under Initiative 108, child sex trafficking would be “punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole,” while under Initiative 109, transgender-identifying children would not be allowed to participate in sports that do not “align with their biological sex,” according to the outlet.

Under Initiative 110, “surgery on a child for the purpose of altering their biological sex characteristics” would not be allowed. The use of “state or federal funds, Medicaid reimbursement or insurance coverage” to pay for a minor’s sex change would also not be allowed.

While Rocky Mountain Equality, an LGBTQ non-profit, expressed that “the questions are ‘an attack on Colorado families,’” Erin Lee, who serves as the director for Protect Kids Colorado, said her group was “empowering everyday Coloradans to take action” and “protect children.”

“We’re empowering everyday Coloradans to take actions, protect children, and restore common-sense policies through the citizen-led lawmaking process,” Lee explained.

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Former Missouri GOP House Speaker Sentenced to Prison for Pandemic Fraud – Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison

A true man of the people, Former Missouri House Speaker John J. Diehl Jr. was sentenced to 21 months in prison on fraud-related charges.

Diehl was Missouri House Speaker in 2015 until he resigned after he was caught sending sexually explicit emails to an intern.

First Alert reported:

Diehl admitted that on March 30, 2020, he applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan on behalf of his law firm, the Diehl Law Group. The loan program was designed to help struggling small businesses during the pandemic.

Less than a month after applying for the loan, an advance of $1,000 was deposited into the Diehl Law Group bank account. He later made a $1,320.15 payment to a country club for personal dues and charges.

Then, on June 9, 2020, the remainder of the loan, $93,900, was put into the law firm’s bank account. Diehl reportedly transferred some of that money into his personal bank accounts. On Sept. 16, 2020, Diehl also transferred $50,039.55 of the EIDL proceeds to the Diehl Law Group’s retirement plan, in which Diehl was the only participant.

Diehl was was sentenced to prison this week.

Diehl admitted to taking $370,000 in small business administration loans. He will also have to pay a $50,000 fine.

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