Utah News

(NewsNation) — “Shark Tank” star and celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary is defending the massive data center project he’s backing after Utah residents and a progressive nonprofit sued last week.

He joined “Morning in America” Wednesday to debunk what he says is misinformation about the project.

“As an industry, as developers of these projects, the demand is insatiable because we’re in a global competition for AI and for cloud compute,” O’Leary said. “But in every single location, I don’t care whether it’s Michigan, West Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, if you announce you’re doing a data center, all of a sudden you get a plethora of misinformation.”

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The Alliance for a Better Utah and a group of five anonymous residents filed the lawsuit in Utah’s 3rd District Court June 3 against government officials and the Military Installation Development Authority, a special entity overseeing the project.

The planned Stratos Project data center in Box Elder County, Utah, would span tens of thousands of acres and would be built on mostly private, unincorporated land.

The plaintiffs in the suit are challenging the constitutionality of the special entity and its approval of the project.

Kevin O’Leary: Misinformation about data centers stoking agitation

“The Stratos Project Area Plan, and actions taken by MIDA and the Commission to enact the same, puts lawmaking power respecting questions of public health, safety, welfare, morals, taxation, zoning, land use, and the like, in relation to a significant swath of county territory in a non-elected MIDA Board,” the complaint said.

Communities and state lawmakers have begun pushing back against the massive data centers needed to power AI, citing electricity use, water demands and higher costs for residents.

But O’Leary says the technology of today’s data centers is “more efficient.”

“What happened 20 years ago when they built them in Virginia, they got a bad rap there because it was really early technology,” O’Leary said. “Yes, it used a lot of water. Yes, it was noisy. Yes, it created heat. That tech is gone. The new-era data center is far more efficient, much smaller footprint, doesn’t use as much water, if any… I think as we get the real facts out, we’ll turn this around.”

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The U.S. cyber defense agency said on Wednesday that government officials now have three ‌days to deal with the most serious categories of digital ‌vulnerabilities in their networks, a compressed timeline that is due in part to hackers’ ​use of artificial intelligence. The deadline, which was set in a new directive issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, obligates civilian federal agencies with vulnerable software or equipment to fix, disable, or remove it ‌from the internet within ⁠three calendar days, depending on the severity of the threat. Many cyber experts worry that new, more capable AI ⁠models along the lines of Anthropic’s Mythos are supercharging hackers’ abilities to take advantage of digital vulnerabilities across the internet, forcing defenders to plug ​security holes ​almost as soon as they are ​discovered.

Utah prosecutors are asking the judge overseeing the case against Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin to reject a defense effort to further postpone a preliminary hearing nearly nine months after the suspect’s arrest.

Lawyers for 22-year-old Tyler Robinson have asked Judge Tony Graf Jr. to push back the routine hearing as they appeal his denial of their motion to ban news cameras from the high-profile case.

“Defendant cannot show that a stay is necessary to prevent additional prejudice from media coverage of his preliminary hearing, when this Court has already found that he failed to show that a public preliminary hearing would prejudice him at all,” Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard wrote in a court filing Saturday.

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Tyler Robinson appears during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 11, 2025. He is accused of the murder of Charlie Kirk. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via Pool)

Robinson’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Utah Supreme Court and then asked Graf to push back the hearing while they await a response.

“Nor can Defendant show that he is likely to prevail on appeal (assuming one is granted), or that a stay is not adverse to the public interest in the prompt disposition of criminal trials,” Ballard added. “Moreover, there is no need for this Court to stay the proceedings pending disposition of the petition for interlocutory appeal. If the Utah Supreme Court concludes that such a stay is warranted, that court can stay the proceedings.”

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Charlie Kirk spoke at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025, during his “American Comeback Tour.” (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

Robinson was arrested in September 2025 in connection with the assassination of Charlie Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University.

Much of the evidence prosecutors plan to use has already been revealed publicly, according to Ballard, and Robinson’s defense hasn’t proven a “realistic likelihood of prejudice” if the hearing is open to the public, he added.

The preliminary hearing, an early step in many criminal cases, has not yet been held, and as a result, Robinson has not yet entered a plea.

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Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during his “American Comeback Tour” appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. People ran after shots were fired at the campus event. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

The hearing requires prosecutors to show they had probable cause to arrest the defendant, thereby allowing the case to proceed toward trial.

The hearing was most recently delayed from the week of May 16 to the week of July 6.

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Typically, to be granted a stay in a Utah criminal case, the defense must show a likelihood that their appeal will prevail, a likelihood of “irreparable harm” that outweighs any harm to any other party — and that the stay “is not adverse to the public interest,” according to Ballard’s filing.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event in Utah on Thursday. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Reuters)

CHARLIE KIRK’S WIDOW ERIKA KIRK DEMANDS SPEEDY TRIAL, ALLEGING ‘UNDUE DELAY’ FROM TYLER ROBINSON DEFENSE

He argued that Robinson’s lawyers haven’t met any of those criteria.

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“Defendant must satisfy all three elements,” he wrote. “He hasn’t satisfied even one. In fact, he ignores this rule.”

Not only do delays hurt the prosecution, Ballard argued, they also hurt Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow and the designated victim’s advocate in the case. She has invoked the victim’s right to a speedy trial under Utah law.

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Attorneys for two groups of media outlets, one of which includes Fox News and Fox News Digital, are also expected to file a response to Robinson’s appeal this week.

In a separate, 51-page filing, Robinson’s defense also asked the judge to block hearsay testimony at the hearing, arguing that Utah laws that permit it are unconstitutional.

Kevin O’Leary’s massive Utah data center proposal is facing a new challenge after a nonprofit and five Utah residents sued over how the project was approved.

According to NBC News, the complaint argues that an unelected body was given broad authority over local land use, taxation, and public health decisions without providing residents a meaningful voice.

The Alliance for a Better Utah and five anonymous Utah residents filed the case Wednesday in Utah’s 3rd District Court, challenging both MIDA’s constitutionality and its role in advancing O’Leary’s planned Stratos Project.

The lawsuit centers on a proposal that originally called for a 40,000-acre AI data center campus in Utah’s Hansel Valley.

The plaintiffs say MIDA, a special entity overseeing the project, has been allowed to wield powers that should belong to elected local government.

Attorney David Irvine, who represents the plaintiffs, said MIDA would have “permanent, irrevocable control over public health, safety, taxation, and land use” across a large portion of the county “with no voter recourse.”

The suit also names Adams and Stevenson, who serve on MIDA’s board.

MIDA said it is reviewing the lawsuit, while Box Elder County said it had not yet been formally served.

Adams’ office also said it is reviewing the filing.

The plaintiffs argue that Box Elder County citizens are being shut out of decisions that could shape zoning, taxes, public health, and safety for decades.

Large data centers can put enormous demands on land, energy, and water resources.

In a dry state like Utah, those concerns carry particular weight for families, farmers, and nearby communities already worried about water security and environmental strain.

The lawsuit asks the court to find MIDA’s actions and the county commission’s related approvals unconstitutional.

It also seeks to block any further implementation of the Stratos Project Area Plan.

The project itself is already being reworked. After mounting political pressure, Adams asked O’Leary to reduce the data center’s size by 75%.

O’Leary said Wednesday he was “going to have to” scale back the project, and Adams later announced that O’Leary had agreed to the reduction, along with commitments to send water to the Great Salt Lake and preserve land for open space, wildlife protections, and agriculture.

Adams also said the project is still in its early stages and will undergo full permitting and environmental review.

“Backroom deals and pay-to-play have no place in Utah government, and Box Elder County residents deserve a voice in what happens to their community,” Irvine said, per NBC News.

Adams, meanwhile, said, “The response to the demand letter I sent demonstrates that public engagement matters and that Utahns’ concerns are being heard.”

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Content warning: This article contains information about alleged child sexual abuse material. Reader discretion is advised. Report CSAM to law enforcement by contacting the ICAC Tip Line at (801) 281-1211 or your local law enforcement agency. 

BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — A former First District Court judge in Box Elder County has been sentenced to three prison terms of 0-5 years for multiple child sexual exploitation charges.

In March 2025, Kevin Robert Christensen was charged with nine felonies, including two counts of enticing a minor and two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor.

One month later, Christensen pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a minor and two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor. The remaining charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Former Box Elder judge pleads guilty to sexual crimes against children

Kevin Christensen appears in Second District Court in Ogden for sentencing. Courtesy: Rick Egan, The Salt Lake Tribune

According to the Attorney General’s office, prosecutors argued for the maximum allotted sentence for the charges, which is up to 15 years imprisonment.

First District Judge Catherine Conklin stated that she felt that Christensen’s prior position of authority within the community adds a “significant” aggravating factor to the charges. She added that she feels that he presents risk to the community due to evidence she read in his psychosexual report, emphasizing that he has “explanations” that keep him from taking full accountability for his actions.

“Therapy just isn’t going to be enough,” Conklin said. “Any sentence other than prison will give the impression that Mr. Christensen got off easy.”

Ultimately, Christensen was sentenced to three consecutive terms of up to five years on June 8, 2026.

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Utah Attorney General Derek Brown commented on the sentencing, saying that “no one is above the law.”

“Kevin Christensen was a sitting judge. He swore an oath to uphold the law. Then he sent explicit images to a 13-year-old, solicited more from a 16-year-old, and left thousands of predatory messages behind, said Brown. “Today he is a convicted felon. No one is above the law, and this office will keep proving that.”

‘The sorrow I feel is truly beyond words’: Christensen speaks

Kevin Christensen took to the podium at Monday’s sentencing, saying how sorry he is for the hurt that he has caused the victims.

“The sorrow I feel is truly beyond words,” Christensen said. “It is not me feeling sorry for myself but feeling sorry for those that I have hurt and betrayed.”

“The chats I initiated and participated in were truly awful,” he continued. “My heart is broken as I see how this has affected my family, how it has broken their hearts.”

Tremonton fire chief and Box Elder judge linked in child abuse case, documents say

Background

In 2025, former Tremonton City Fire Chief Ned Brady Hansen and former First District Court Judge Kevin Robert Christensen were arrested on charges related to child sexual exploitation.

Court documents revealed that Hansen and Christensen had a sexual relationship and communicated about child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the app Kik.

Hansen was charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, while Christensen was charged with engaging in graphic sexual chats with a minor. Both men resigned from their positions following their arrests.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.

June 7, 2026, 6:44 p.m. ET