The first Texas county to ban data centers just closed the book on its rebellion — with a check. The $100 million lawsuit is dismissed, the ban is dead, and taxpayers are covering the developer's legal fees. It caps a day when protesters ringed a closed-door summit in Kansas, a judge protected a reporter from a developer's lawsuit, and Cleveland voted 14–1 to hit pause.
⚖️ **LEGAL** — Hill County, Texas' 43-day legal war is over. Developer RCM Hill dismissed its $100 million federal lawsuit with prejudice after commissioners rescinded their first-in-Texas data center ban. Under the settlement, the county pays $100,000 toward the developer's attorney fees — County Judge Shane Brassell says it comes from a contingency fund. A "Data Center Development Checklist" now stands in the ban's place. (Source: KWTX / KXXV / Texas Tribune)
🚨 **COMMUNITY** — Protesters surrounded Topeka's Docking Building as Kansas Municipal Utilities hosted its closed-to-media "Powering Growth Responsibly" data center summit for local officials. Protect Kansas founder Meghan Ryan called it "a timeshare pitch to teach other local leaders how to sell data centers to their constituents," warning that international companies are "trying to buy up our land and take our water." (Source: KWCH / KSNT)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — A San Diego judge threw out a defamation lawsuit by developer Sebastian Rucci and Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing against KPBS and reporter Kori Suzuki under California's anti-SLAPP statute. Judge Cynthia Freeland found none of the contested reporting false — including that the proposed Imperial County data center would use 750,000 gallons of water a day. (Source: KPBS / Courthouse News)
🏛️ **POLICY** — Cleveland City Council voted 14–1 Wednesday night to freeze new standalone data center projects for three months while it writes zoning rules, making it the largest Ohio city to pause. The measure was whittled down from nearly a year and exempts in-house server rooms. Former acting CIA director Michael Morell had publicly urged council not to pause. Pasco County, Florida approved its own moratorium the same day. (Source: Signal Cleveland / Crain's Cleveland / Cleveland 19)
🏛️ **POLICY** — Pulaski County, Arkansas' Quorum Court advanced a data center moratorium 8–1 — but only after exempting AVAIO Digital's $6 billion Wrightsville project. The original sweeping version failed 6–3 after a backer left the meeting ill. JP Donna Massey called the carve-out a maneuver to defeat the moratorium's purpose; the county attorney warned AVAIO could sue under either version. (Source: Arkansas Times / KATV)
💧 **WATER** — Delhi, Louisiana (pop. ~2,500) will keep supplying water to Meta's expanding Hyperion campus in Richland Parish, with Meta covering all costs — including upgrades to the town's water system and a brand-new treatment plant opening next year. The Sierra Club's Margie Vicknair-Pray warns the facility's water demand could compete with local agriculture. (Source:
