By Quentin Young | editor
“The community response has been overwhelming ... They do not want data centers, period.”
– Amy Wiles, Aurora City Council member
Construction on a data center expansion at the QTS site in Aurora is pictured on Aug. 6, 2026. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
By Jennifer Oldham
A vacant lot in Aurora is slated to become the largest data center in Colorado. Planning documents quietly filed with the city show two two-story buildings on the property that would equal 861,866 square feet combined. The current design calls for 334 megawatts of planned IT capacity, with a total electrical demand to power computer banks, as well as lights and other appliances, of about 500 megawatts. At full buildout, the energy consumed would equal about 11 times the power used by Denver International Airport, about eight miles to the north. The rules for such developments largely leaves residents out of the planning process.
Colorado state Rep. Kyle Brown, a Louisville Democrat, is pictured on the floor of the Colorado House of Representatives on the final day of the 2026 legislative session on May 13, 2026, at the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (Photo by Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline)
By Sara Wilson
The Colorado Legislature will face a third straight year of intense budget woes when it convenes in January. State economists told lawmakers on Friday that there could be a nearly $1.6 billion budget deficit. “Medicaid alone is causing the vast majority of the issue,” Mark Ferrandino, the head of the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, told the Joint Budget Committee during a routine economic forecast. It comes one day after Ferrandino and others told a legislative commission on Medicaid that the program, which provides health insurance for low-income Coloradans, ran nearly $158 million over budget in the last fiscal year and could go $443 million over budget by the end of the current fiscal year, which runs until next July.
Voters at Deering High School in Portland cast their ballot in Maine’s June 9, 2026 primary election. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
By Jacob Fischler
Voting rights groups and Democratic officials are looking to defend against what they see as possible election interference from the Trump administration ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, now that they’ve won a major battle over mail ballots. Common Cause, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization, announced a “voter protection” campaign Thursday that would place thousands of volunteers at polling sites in 25 states. The initiative is designed to counter potential administration moves to intimidate voters, such as ordering troops or law enforcement officers to polling places.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commentary: This secretive group warps democracy in Colorado | By Quentin Young
Trump rapid third-country removal policy blocked at appeals court | By Ariana Figueroa
States like Colorado fight to inspect federal immigrant detention facilities | By Shalina Chatlani
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