The approval of a $6 billion data center in a Missouri city led voters to kick out four members of the city council who were running for re-election.

The four incumbents lost by a wide margin to their challengers, and the council was unable to meet Wednesday evening because of a lack of quorum.

‘This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here.’

The council approved of the data center project on March 30 by a vote of 6 to 2, and three of the incumbents who lost their elections had voted in favor of the data center.

“I think when the people in leadership are not listening, it shows that democracy is a solution to them ignoring their constituents,” said Gabe Cotton, a voter opposed to the data center, to KTVI-TV.

Opponents accused city officials of violating transparency laws before approving the plan by CRG Clayco to build on a 360-acre property near Highway 67.

“This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here,” said Dan Moore, one of the candidates who defeated an incumbent in the election. “People are awake now, and we’re not going to let this continue on anymore.”

Festus City Administrator Greg Camp argued that the data center would bring new opportunities for the city from increased tax revenue.

“It’s unlike anything that any of these, certainly the city, or any of those institutions, have ever seen before,” Camp said.

The results of the election must be certified before they are official.

Supporters of the data centers say that critics are exaggerating their detrimental effects and argue that they’re critical for the U.S. to stay in the artificial intelligence race.

RELATED: ‘We are totally unprepared’: Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez propose law to shut down future AI data centers

“Banning data center construction is absurd and completely unacceptable. We need commonsense rules that protect consumers from rising energy bills, but stopping progress altogether — and losing to China — is the wrong approach,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) on social media Thursday.

“Americans shouldn’t see their energy or water bills go up, but we also can’t afford to lose the computer race to China. We’re in a new Cold War, and sidelining data center development risks ceding our technological edge,” he continued.

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​Festus missouri, Data center vote, City council voted out, Data center opposition, Politics 

Four Texas teens kidnapped a high school student and tortured him after a dispute over a girl, police records say.

The Houston Chronicle identified the suspects — all 17-year-olds — as Jose Rojas-Alvarado, Oscar Armando Santiago-Martinez, Angel Lemus-Perez, and Carlos Roberto Oliva-Villeda.

The affidavit said the suspects threatened to kill the alleged victim and harm his family and friends if he contacted the police about the reported encounter.

Court records show that all four suspects have been charged with aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon and engaging in organized criminal activity — both first-degree felonies.

Citing an arrest warrant, KVUE-TV reported that the alleged victim departed Del Valle High School with three of the four suspects and went to a nearby gas station on Feb. 19.

The alleged victim told police that the suspects — whom he had been friendly with for approximately two years — invited him to go and get food, the affidavit said.

However, the affidavit also said the suspects drove past the restaurant and instead drove the alleged victim to Rojas-Alvarado’s home, where the student said he had previously visited.

The alleged victim told investigators that he and the suspects were in the garage of the home talking for about an hour and a half before they instructed him to sit in a chair in the middle of the room, where he had his hands and legs restrained with duct tape, according to the affidavit.

“Two of the suspects left, with Rojas-Alvarado returning with a gun,” KVUE reported. “He then allegedly pressed the gun to the victim’s head and told him not to move as the other suspects began restraining him in the chair with duct tape.”

The affidavit said the suspects took turns hitting the alleged victim with aluminum baseball bats, belts, and a walking cane while Rojas-Alvarado held him at gunpoint.

Police said the alleged victim told them that Lemus-Perez heated a box cutter with a lighter and pressed it against his chest, while Rojas-Alvarado forced him to drink from a bottle of clear alcohol.

The alleged victim informed investigators that Rojas-Alvarado threatened to cut off his toe with the box cutter if he didn’t drink the alcohol from the bottle, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said Rojas-Alvarado grabbed a chainsaw and a machete while the suspects threatened to cut off his body parts. However, the alleged victim said Rojas-Alvarado was unsuccessful in starting the chainsaw.

RELATED: Woman thought she was buying a puppy — instead she’s lured into an ambush, shot, set on fire in likely revenge killing: Cops

The purported victim said Rojas-Alvarado told him he was being beaten and tortured for talking to his girlfriend, the affidavit revealed. The alleged victim said Rojas-Alvarado ordered him to stay away from his girlfriend.

The affidavit said the suspects threatened to kill the alleged victim and harm his family and friends if he contacted the police about the reported encounter.

The alleged victim told investigators that Rojas-Alvarado deleted his and the other suspects’ contact information from the teen’s phone, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said the suspects cut the alleged victim loose from the chair and then dropped him off at an unknown location.

KVUE reported that police obtained a search warrant and discovered evidence at the residence of Rojas-Alvarado that corroborated the alleged victim’s claims.

According to KVUE, police noticed contusions and redness on the alleged victim’s thigh consistent with blunt force trauma, as well as irregular marks on his chest, back, and abdomen.

During follow-up interviews with detectives, Santiago-Martinez, Lemus-Perez, and Oliva-Villeda admitted to planning the alleged attack a week prior and then coordinating and carrying out the purported confrontation, KVUE stated.

KVUE reported that Santiago-Martinez and Oliva-Villeda confessed to threatening, beating, and holding a toy gun to the head of the alleged victim.

The four suspects were arrested.

The Del Valle Independent School District provided the following statement to KEYE-TV:

Del Valle ISD is aware of the reports of an off-campus incident that resulted in the arrests of former DVISD students. The incident is being actively investigated by the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. The district does not have further information at this time. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and we will continue to monitor this incident. We will always communicate with the school community when there are impacts to the school environment.

J’Kaideon Mitchell, a student at Del Valle High School, told KEYE, “I thought it was insane, especially at our school. It’s just crazy how strong that person would have to be to report it and just stay alive, honestly.”

The investigation is ongoing.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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Hollywood actor George Clooney criticized President Donald Trump for threatening to destroy Iran, and the White House fired back with a humorous response on social media.

The actor and director was speaking to about 3,000 high school students in Italy on Wednesday when he said the president’s threat would constitute a war crime if he followed through on it.

‘You can still support the conservative point of view, but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.’

“Some say Donald Trump is fine. But if anyone says he wants to end a civilization, that’s a war crime,” Clooney said. “You can still support the conservative point of view, but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.”

The president posted the message on his Truth Social account on the day of a deadline he had set for Iran to stop blocking ship traffic across the Strait of Hormuz.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he posted on Tuesday morning.

“47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” he added.

Many other critics called for the president to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment for the threat to end a civilization. That evening, however, the president announced that a ceasefire had been reached with Iran after they both agreed generally to pause the conflict for two weeks.

Assistant to the President and White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung fired back at Clooney in a post on the X platform.

“The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability,” he posted.

Oil prices dropped after the announcement of the ceasefire, but the agreement appeared to be on shaky ground after Iran accused Israel and the U.S. of violating the terms only a day later.

RELATED: Weeks after hosting ritzy fundraiser for Biden, George Clooney calls for his replacement: ‘It’s devastating to say it’

Clooney went on to express his concerns about the U.S. possibly leaving NATO.

“I’m worried about NATO,” the actor said. “It has ensured that Europe, but also the rest of the world, has been safe. Dismantling an institution like this worries me. Aside from many mistakes, I believe the U.S. [with NATO] has also done many extraordinary things that have stood the test of time.”

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​George clooney vs trump, Trump war crimes, Civilization end threat, Iran us israel ceasefire, Politics 

It’s been nearly five years since the Walt Disney Company leaned into the corporate vogue of diversity, equity, and inclusion across its theme parks.

Now, some parkgoers think they’re hearing something different — something familiar.

‘The sound of the trip starting for real.’

DEI dream

Back in 2021, Disney confirmed to Newsweek that it would phase out the classic greeting, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” from announcements at Magic Kingdom. In its place came a more neutral line: “Good evening, dreamers of all ages,” part of a broader push to make park language more “inclusive.”

At the time, the change was treated as small but symbolic — another piece of Disney’s effort to align itself with the cultural priorities of the moment.

Now, a clip circulating on X suggests the company may be quietly loosening its grip on that approach. In the video, a monorail announcement clearly addresses riders as “ladies and gentlemen” while instructing them to hold the handrail — a phrase that, until recently, had been scrubbed from official park language.

Old times

No announcement has been made. No policy has been reversed, at least publicly.

But at a place like Disney, where every word is scripted and nothing is accidental, even a small change can signal something larger.

For longtime visitors, it’s not really about the phrasing itself. It’s about what it represents: a return to tradition — or at least a pause in the steady rewriting of it.

RELATED: Lindsey Graham spotted holding bubble wand at Disney World during shutdown

No place for ‘ladies’

Various Disney-centric sites have stated that the removal of “ladies and gentleman” from park experiences was actually a bigger blow than it seemed. Inside the Magic called it the most recognized part of the vital experience that leads Disney fans into the theme park.

Disney Dining called the phrase “the sound of the trip starting for real,” noting its specific cadence made it memorable to park goers.

That Park Place reported that it took just a year for Disney to start treating gendered language like a bygone era, with progressive ideology becoming part of Disney’s internal training philosophy. The outlet cited diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware, who reportedly said cast members were being taught to avoid saying “ladies and gentlemen” and “boys and girls.”

Instead, the outlet stated, they were taught to say, “Hello, everyone,” or, “Hello, friends.”

The language shift wasn’t the only obvious change to standards at Disney, either.

RELATED: BOX OFFICE KRYPTONITE: ‘Supergirl’ star flames fans ahead of premiere

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Mixed-up mouse

In 2023, Disney partnered with a man who claimed to be “gender fluid” in order to promote a Minnie Mouse-themed clothing set that included a red dress, yellow pumps, and red hair bow.

Earlier that year, an employee at Disneyland, who appeared to be a man in a dress, was seen greeting little girls at the salon and dress shop called the “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.”

Align reached out to Disney Parks to ask when the gendered language was brought back into the attractions and the reasoning behind the policy change, but did not receive a reply.

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​Align, Woke, Disney, Theme parks, Dei, Diversity, Gender, Gender activism, Disney world, Entertainment