Independence Residents Fight a $6.6 Billion Data Center as Monday’s Tax Break Vote Looms
Independence is the latest front in a nationwide battle over data centers. On Monday, the city council will vote on whether to hand billions in tax breaks to a Dutch tech company for a project that, at full scale, will consume 18 times more electricity than every home in the city combined. Residents say they were never consulted.
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Latest Stories
The Defender’s Abolitionist Freedom School Is Back — Cohort 3 Applications Now Open
The Defender’s Abolitionist Freedom School is accepting applications for Cohort 3. The 14-week organizer, activist & Black study training program for Black people across Missouri and Kansas launches this spring. Applications close February 21st.
KCPD Holds Taxpayers Hostage While Shielding a Killer in Blue
The department has received $1.2 billion since 2022. Now it claims it can’t afford basic services while an officer who has killed three people remains on patrol. A Kansas City Defender investigation.
A Brilliant Boy, a Garbage Dump, and the $415 Standing Between Him and Medical School
This story marks the first installment in “The Plunder Papers,” an ongoing investigative series by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Jeter examining why Africans continue to live in grinding poverty seven decades after the alleged close of the colonial era.
SHUT IT DOWN, GET ICE OUT! Nationwide General Strike January 30th
Following Minnesota’s massively successful general strike, unions across the nation are calling for a nationwide general strike this Friday, January 30th. As ICE continues to terrorize our communities, the time to stand up and fight back is here. No politician is going to save us. Only we can save us.
