I spent 4 hours at an AI data center town meeting. Things got rowdy.

A man wears a shirt opposing an AI data center in Upper Merion Township, a suburb about 20 miles from Philadelphia. Joe Lamberti for BI The chair of the planning commission in Upper Merion Township, a suburban town about 20 miles from Philadelphia, began a long-anticipated meeting to discuss a large-scale data center proposal with a warning befitting the middle school auditorium where it was held. Don't get rowdy, Matt Popek told a packed house. Anyone who disrupts the proceedings will be ki...