Data centers are “unfortunately” here to stay, a Pottawatomie County official said this week. Shanna Goodman, Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation executive director, spoke Monday to the Pottawatomie County Commission regarding the ongoing discussions of data centers. She likened the conversation to similar discussions when Jeffrey Energy Center came to the county nearly 50 years ago. Goodman explained that regardless of any decisions the county makes, the digital infrastructure of data centers isn’t going anywhere.
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Jackson Turner is anxious and frustrated.  He and his family are worried that a proposed data center-plus-solar project in the sand hills of southwest Kansas could turn their farmland into an industrial site, displacing them and killing their crops.  Ross Marston, Turner’s stepfather and a longtime Sandsage Prairie farmer, is afraid of what might happen when out-of-town developers realize how difficult it is to construct anything on the extremely fine, powder-dry sand hills. Such skepticism and resistance is widespread. Kansans are flocking to public meetings statewide as numerous data center proposals are on the table in the aftermath of a 2025 law offering a 20-year sales tax exemption to such projects. Resident concerns about environmental and economic impact echo from border to border. Still, many residents, like Turner and his relatives, feel they’re not being fully heard.
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County commissioners on Monday extended a moratorium on data center development for another year while reopening questions about whether past wind-energy regulations were adopted through proper public process. After hearing a planning commission recommendation to delay action until after the county updates its comprehensive plan, commissions unanimously approved extending a moratorium on applications related to data centers in unincorporated areas through June 1, 2027.
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The Leavenworth County Commission voted 3-2 Wednesday to impose a 90-day moratorium on data center development. The move comes as residents in Tonganoxie debate a proposed a 1,000-acre hyperscale data center north of Interstate 70, dubbed Project Bluestem. In a public comment meeting earlier this year before the commission, many Tonganoxie residents expressed concerns with the project proposal moving forward.
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Edgerton is the latest town in southern Johnson County to consider a new data center, despite continued pushback from residents — and this time, the community might not have a choice. Tuesday night, the Edgerton Planning Commission approved, by a 4-0 vote, a preliminary plat that combines three properties to convert an existing 400,000-square-foot warehouse at Logistics Park into a large-scale data center. The commission, however, also by a 4-0 vote, tabled the final site plan from Dubai-based company DAMAC Digital, putting off a final decision on the project for now. Planning Commission Secretary Jordyn Mueller was absent from the meeting. Logistics Park Kansas City is already zoned to include data centers. With the proper zoning for the DAMAC Digital site already in place and the application meeting Edgerton’s requirements, the planning commission’s hands are essentially tied. While the commission sat looking for answers on Tuesday night, people in the standing-room-only crowd yelled, “Just deny it.” However, according to City Attorney Todd Luckman, denial must be based on established code. If the city denies a project that conforms to code, it opens itself up for litigation.
Read more: Johnson County Post

CrossFit championships, the Pickleball Open, Top Gun fast-pitch softball tournaments — these are all sporting events on the calendar in 2026 that are expected to draw hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors to Overland Park. They’re all examples of sports tourism as well, a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States that’s seen major gains in the last decade or so. Visit OP — the nonprofit that serves as the city’s official visitor and tourism organization — wants to see Overland Park get a bigger cut of that economic impact.
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One of the several grass fires burning in southwest Kansas caused an evacuation that has since been lifted for Meade. Meade County Sheriff Douglas Ritter said numerous fire crews from across Kansas and Oklahoma fought the fire south of town early Friday. Crews finally stopped its progress around 3 a.m. There were no injuries.
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Duplex boom is attracting middle-income earners to the Midwestern city.
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