"Arizona City Rejects Data Center After AI Lobbying Push"

"Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I) intervention in a local rezoning effort sparked a fight over local control."

"CHANDLER, Arizona — Officials in this Phoenix suburb on Thursday rejected a proposed artificial intelligence data center despite pressure from a former U.S. senator and the tech industry — capping a fight over local control that has captured national attention.

The Chandler City Council voted unanimously against a request by a New York developer to rezone a plot of land to build a data center and business complex. The vote caps a local battle that escalated after the intervention of former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and raised new questions about tech industry efforts to influence local decisions around data center projects.

Explaining her no vote, Chandler Vice Mayor Christine Ellis said that she had long framed her decision about the local benefits rather than the national push to build AI. She recalled a meeting with Sinema where she asked point-blank “what’s in it for Chandler?”"