Pinal Post @pinalpost

Casa Grande’s attempt to impose more conditions on data centers triggered a $140 million Proposition 207 claim. The council must now decide whether to grant a waiver or risk costly litigation. Public comments are open through July 30. pinalpost.com/casa-grande-da…

Opinion: Pinal County is rewriting its home-based business rules. The banned-business list disappears, but new limits hit power tools, outdoor work, and deliveries. Comments are open through August 11, 2026. pinalpost.com/pinal-county-h…

Pinal County's P&Z Commission delayed its vote on the Project Midway data center near Casa Grande. Questioned at the hearing: off-grid power, legality of self-supplied electricity, gas contracts, fuel cell heat ratings, water use, cooling language, noise, infrasound, aquifer impacts, building aesthetics, fire coverage, tax incentives, and the unnamed end customer. No return date is set. pinalpost.com/project-midway…

Who sees the data? How long is it kept? Pinal County sheriff's officials answered the San Tan Valley Town Council's questions about the 22 Flock license plate cameras inside town limits. pinalpost.com/san-tan-valley…

San Tan Valley held its first-ever annexation hearing this week: a vacant corner at Gantzel and Lone Star pitched for retail, restaurants, maybe a medical office. Neighbors on the private lane next door pushed back hard, saying their rural subdivision's CC&Rs were supposed to keep commercial out. Complicating things: the site still sits in the area Queen Creek reserved for its own future growth, and Queen Creek hasn't finished deciding whether to let it go. pinalpost.com/san-tan-valley…

The Project Midway data center and on-site power plant come before Pinal County commissioners Thursday. Five buildings, 400 megawatts generated by gas engines or Bloom Energy fuel cells. Unanswered questions about water, air pollution, and fire funding. Here's what residents need to know before the hearing. pinalpost.com/data-center-he…

Florence Copper brought scholarship, grant and hiring news to the Apache Junction City Council, and the councilmember who invited the company said a mining site near AJ "would be good too." The operation has produced 1.5 million pounds of copper since February, with no open pit and far less water and energy than traditional mining, the company says. Apache Junction high school seniors are automatically eligible for its scholarship program. pinalpost.com/florence-coppe…

Opinion: University of Utah research professor Robert Ricci spoke with Pinal Unlocked about the data center rush. His warnings raise new questions for Pinal County as supervisors prepare to reconsider the La Osa project on August 26. pinalpost.com/as-pinal-count…

Apache Junction prosecutions climbed 14.2% over three years, and Walmart was the #1 hotspot every single year. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller walked the City Council through the numbers Tuesday. His three-year review covered about 2,020 criminal cases prosecuted from 2023 through 2025, with prosecutions climbing sharply for DUIs and family offenses, and nine child sex trafficking prosecutions filed in 2025 for the first time. Full breakdown, three years of maps, and Miller's data down to individual addresses, all in the story. pinalpost.com/apache-junctio…

Pinal County hasn't written its microschool rules yet — and this San Tan Valley area case is a preview of what's at stake. A family-run arts school, concerned neighbors, and two 5-4 votes. The hearing continues July 16. pinalpost.com/state-48-micro…

The Valley Farms battery storage project southeast of Coolidge is approved, with solar out of the plan. Supervisor Jeff Serdy: "I'm just thrilled that there's no solar involved." The 400-megawatt batteries will be built by LG at its new Pinal County plant. Coolidge's electric provider, ED2, has also signed on to buy a share of the stored power at wholesale rates. The project brings a $600,000 community fund, required under SRP's contract with NextEra at $1,500 per megawatt, with Coolidge projects first in line, including a mobile generator for the city's adult center and lights at the regional park. Coolidge officials still opposed it, citing conflicts with the city's growth plans and the number of energy projects already in the area. Councilmember Tom Bagnall: "The City of Coolidge is a big no." But SRP's Linda Brady told the board: "we will not pick any more projects in this area. This is it, Valley Farms." pinalpost.com/valley-farms-b…

OPINION: Pinal Partnership's newsletter calls La Osa data-center fears "misinformation" — but the project's attorney chairs the group's Energy Committee, his sister chairs its board, and two of the supervisors who'll vote on the rezoning sit on that board. Eirini Pajak of Pinal Unlocked argues officials and residents should weigh it as advocacy, not neutral analysis. pinalpost.com/pinal-partners…

San Tan Valley passed its first local sales tax, 2.25%, on its first day operating independently from Pinal County. Shoppers start paying October 1, builders will pay 5% to offset impact fees the state blocked, and groceries wait until 2027 pending a November statewide vote. 👇 pinalpost.com/san-tan-valley…

Town Manager Bruce Walls is retiring August 1 after more than 40 years in public service, and the Florence Town Council has unanimously designated Deputy Town Manager and Town Clerk Lisa Garcia to step in as interim town manager on August 2. pinalpost.com/florence-inter…

Florence Council will advertise for five residents to serve on a new data center advisory committee. Councilmember Buccellato also said she would like to see a moratorium until the town works out its approach. pinalpost.com/florence-data-…

Could Arizona's next nuclear plant be built in Pinal County? SRP, APS, and TEP have a statewide search underway. Here's what residents need to know. pinalpost.com/arizona-nuclea…

Florence council cleared the land use change Tuesday for SRP's Copper Crossing research site, where two non-lithium battery pilots will test technologies that could store solar energy longer, reduce fire risk, and rely less on lithium and rare metals than today's grid batteries. pinalpost.com/copper-crossin…

Big infrastructure news from Pinal County: supervisors approved a 1,360-megawatt natural gas plant near Red Rock on June 17. Read our breakdown of the vote, the project's water use figures, and the steps still ahead before 2032 operation. pinalpost.com/sunridge-power…

A photographer's view from above. A drone over the La Osa flats shows the land a proposed data center would transform: the Hotel Rockland, Sasco's smelter ruins, Greene Wash, and a wildlife corridor. An aerial photo essay over the proposed site. pinalpost.com/la-osa-data-ce…