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Teacher arrested after clapping protest at AI data center hearing
The city commission approved zoning changes for the proposed 1,000-acre Flint Hills Digital Campus after the teacher was removed, according to the report.
A Kansas high school physics teacher was arrested after applauding during a public hearing where residents criticized a proposed AI data center project, Decrypt reports. The case underscores the growing resistance communities are raising against new AI infrastructure across the United States, including concerns tied to energy, water, and local impacts.
The teacher, Lux Claridge of Emporia High School, was handcuffed and removed from an Emporia city commission meeting after police warned attendees that clapping, snapping, and other demonstrations would be treated as disruptions. Claridge told KWCH after posting bail that the arrest did not deter him from speaking out, adding that he considered it “an inconvenience.”
The Emporia Police Department said it remains focused on keeping meetings safe while respecting residents’ rights to participate. Claridge plans to plead not guilty when he appears in court in September, and his brother told KWCH they are looking at legal avenues.
While the city commission ultimately approved the zoning changes needed for the project, opposition to AI data centers has also surfaced in other states over electricity consumption, water use, noise, and tax incentives, Decrypt notes. The arrest comes as local concerns have increasingly been flagged as a hurdle to the AI industry’s data center expansion, including a Brookings report cited by Decrypt that warned about demand and resource impacts.