News
Oct 11, 2026
Nebius Says, “Ask Us Anything.” But There’s a Lot They’re Not Telling You.
Nebius has launched a paid ad campaign inviting Birmingham to “Ask us anything” about its AI Mega Factory in Oxmoor.
We read every answer on the page the ads point to.
The problem is, Nebius’ own numbers contradict each other, and the most important facts are missing altogether.
It’s time for answers.
Sep 23, 2026
Bessemer Voters Just Sent a Message. Birmingham Should Pay Attention.
Bessemer's four-term mayor signed a secrecy agreement with a data center developer, and voters replaced him in Tuesday's runoff.
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Sep 22, 2026
The Verge Visits Loudoun County, Where America's Data Center Future Arrived Nearly 30 Years Ago
The Verge has published a long report from Loudoun County, Virginia, the place its residents now call Data Center Alley. About 250 data centers have been built there, the densest concentration on earth, and the first of them arrived nearly 30 years ago.
The story is not about a fight over a single project. It is about what a community looks like after the fight is over and the data centers have won.
Neighbors describe a low-frequency hum from rooftop cooling systems that does not stop at night. A homeowner has spent $2,600 on window inserts and was quoted $15,000 for new siding to keep the sound out.
Another neighbor keeps her bathroom door shut so the data center's lights stay out of her bedroom. A third has pink ribbons on the trees along her creek, marking where a 185-foot transmission tower would go through her backyard.
Oxmoor Valley has heard the warnings about what an AI Mega Factory can do to a neighborhood. Loudoun County is what it looks like when the warnings are ignored.
Sep 21, 2026
AI Data Centers: Cautionary Tales from Other Communities
Every community that faces what Oxmoor Valley faces was quiet once. Here is the record of what came after the earthmovers, in the towns that already said yes to a data center, and the few that managed to say no in time.
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Sep 11, 2026
Taxpayer Sues to Void Nebius $3.2 Billion Tax Abatement
A new lawsuit asks a court to void the May 29 vote by The Industrial Development Board of the City of Birmingham that surrendered $3.2 billion in public tax revenue.
The complaint alleges that no notice of the meeting was given, and that the public did not learn of the vote for four weeks, until a news organization published a story sourced to an anonymous tipster.
The filing describes the Board as a public corporation with no office of its own, no staff, no published address, no published minutes, and, until four days after the vote became public, no website.
Sep 10, 2026
A Regions Shareholder Wants to Know Where $66 Million Went
AL.com and WBRC are reporting that a Regions Bank shareholder has sued the bank’s own officers, Nebius, and the executive chairman of Hoar Construction over the sale of the land beneath the AI Mega Factory.
Regions sold the 79 acres for $17.2 million.
By lunchtime the same day, a Nebius company had paid $83.5 million for it. The shareholder alleges the difference should have gone to the bank.
Sep 2, 2026
Independence Votes to Recall the Councilor Who Approved Nebius Tax Breaks
We recently told you Independence, Missouri would hold one of the first recall elections arising from a data center project.
Now, the verdict is in.
On Tuesday, 68 percent of voters in the city's First District removed Councilor John Perkins from office over his vote to give Nebius an estimated $6.26 billion in property tax breaks.
It is the first successful recall of an elected official in the city's history.
Of the five council members who approved the incentives, three are now gone.
Aug 27, 2026
AL.com Maps the Data Center Buildout Across Alabama
For the first time, the full sweep of Alabama's data center buildout is visible in one place.
AL.com has gathered every site it can document onto a single interactive map: two dozen data centers in a dozen counties, with an estimated $63 billion investment.
Aug 24, 2026
WBHM.org: Proposed Data Centers Could Draw More Power Than All Alabama Homes Combined
A report by Lee Hedgepeth, published on WBHM.org, found more than a dozen data centers proposed across Alabama, from Bessemer to the Black Belt. Built out to full capacity, they would consume more electricity than all the homes in the state combined.
Alabama Power says none of that will raise residential bills, because large customers pay the full cost of serving them. That claim rests on the electric service contract, and the company has filed the one covering the proposed AI Mega Factory in Oxmoor Valley with the Public Service Commission.
The only problem is, nearly every number in it is redacted.
Aug 21, 2026
New York Times Reports Voters Are Removing Officials Who Approved Nebius Tax Breaks
The New York Times traveled to Independence, Missouri, another American city where Nebius is building an AI mega factory. What they found was nothing short of a voter revolt.
On September 1, Independence will hold one of the first recall elections in the country motivated by a data center.
The councilman on the recall ballot voted to give Nebius an estimated $6.26 billion in property tax breaks over 20 years. Two of his colleagues who voted the same way have already lost their seats.