In this episode of the podcast Stories From the States, you’ll meet Max Moran, a sixth-generation Kentucky farmer, who’s part of a local fight against a proposed hyperscale data center in Mason County. Moran, also a Germantown city commissioner, helps lead “We Are Mason County,” a group pu shing back against the proposal.  At least 37 states, including Kentucky, offer some sort of financial incentives to businesses building data centers. The incentives aren’t just a drop in the bucket either. In Virginia, for instance, the state has notched up about $1.6 billion in data center tax breaks.  Public opposition is on the rise, however, and some states such as Virginia and Ohio are reconsidering whether to keep offering the financial breaks.  Stateline’s Madyson Fitzgerald breaks down the change in tune. Finally, Evening Wrap newsletter author Danielle Gaines shares the top stories she’s watching. Read the transcript  Audio transcript was created using an automated software. Chris Fitzsimon  This is Stories From The States. I’m Chris Fitzsimon. Here at States Newsroom, we know there’s a lot going on around the country, in every state capital. Thank you for being here. Today we”re talking about data centers, communities of all sizes are changing their tune about them. At least 37 states currently offer some sort of financial incentives to build data centers, and it’s not just a drop in the bucket. Virginia, for example, the data center tax break there costs the state about $1.6 billion a year. But after increased community uproar, states like Virginia and Ohio are reconsidering whether or not to keep offering them. We’ll hear from a Stateline reporter who has more on this trend. And over in Kentucky, a rural community is pushing back against a proposed data center in Mason County, one city commissioner in the area is leading the movement. Max Moran  Money isn’t everything, and the real value when it comes to the land is being able to pass it down to your next generation. Chris Fitzsimon  We’ll hear more from him in just a moment. Kentucky could be on the eve of a data center boom. But in Mason County details are sketchy. Chris Fitzsimon  On the southwest border of Ohio and Kentucky, some residents there in Mason County are fighting back on a proposed data center. According to the US census data, around 17,000 people live in Mason County, Kentucky, and one city commissioner within the county is leading the charge. Max Moran is a city commissioner of Germantown, Kentucky, where around 200 people live. He’s also the president of We Are Mason County, which was started in 2025 around when the data center was first being proposed. The group is demanding transparency, regulation and accountability from their local officials and data center developers. Max joins us now. Hi, Max. Max Moran  Hey Chris. How’s it going? Pleasure being here. Chris Fitzsimon  Thank you for being here. So first, tell us a little bit about Mason County, Kentucky. Tell us about what it’s like there. Max Moran  So Mason County, we’re a rural community. A long, long time ago, we used to be the second biggest tobacco market in the world. Our radio station here, WFTM Soft 96 it actually stands for World’s Finest Tobacco Market. We were only beat out by Lexington, Kentucky, who had the biggest tobacco market in the world. So we have a lot of history here in farming. We have only 17,000 people that live here. We’re neighborly. It’s a very nice place to live. We enjoy the rural character of our region, mostly farming community, but there is some smaller scale industrial businesses here, but there’s still a number of people who do raise tobacco here. Of course, the industry’s died down, but we have a big, big history here. Chris Fitzsimon  And what is your relationship? Your folks have been there for a while, your family. Max Moran  So my family, we’ve been here on my father’s side, at least for over, I’d want to say 200 years. There’s a small town called Moransburg. My family originated from down in that area. We had a lot of land down there. Of course, my father, in his lifetime, raised probably, I’d want to say hundreds of acres of tobacco. So we have a lot of history here. And of course, on my mom’s side of the family, they come from over in Bracken County, the next county over. And similar mindset, too. We’ve been here for a very, very long time, and I want to say for sure, because when we try tracking it back, it’s getting harder to tell. But I’m for sure, at least a sixth generation farmer on both sides of my family. So we got a long tradition there. Chris Fitzsimon  Well, tell us about you, you and a few other folks that have started a group called We Are Mason County last year. What? What was that about? Tell us why that group was started. Max Moran  So to make a long story short, it actually got started from inspiration, from our friends in Oldham County, Kentucky, down in La Grange. They were battling similar thing as us a hyperscale data center, but their situation down there was completely different from what ours is. They have videos of government officials doing actual shady deals, holding meetings outside of the public view. There’s even audio recordings where the developer and point blank words gave the elected officials marching orders for what they needed just to be able to slip into their community. So that was last year. I joined their group in April of ’25 and I mostly joined to learn, to better educate myself. Because my background, I went to Morehead State University for Space Systems Engineering, so I have a fairly well at the time, I had a fairly basic understanding of what data centers are, what they do. So with that knowledge from Oldham County, I applied it here to Mason County. We discovered, through talking with neighbors, talking with friends, that we were going to be getting a hyperscale data center. So. That’s when we started trying to educate our community on all the aspects of a hyperscale data center, and that’s how it grew from from last year ’til now. Chris Fitzsimon  What do you mean by hyperscaled? Max Moran  So hyperscale data center? This is a very big misconception that most people have. We’ve had data centers for decades. Heck, the first generation of data centers, actually, I believe, in the 1930s so they’ve been around for a very, very long time. But the difference we have right now the hyperscale. They are enormously big right now, because they’re focused more on processing information than storing information. There’s only three things that a data center, does it stores data, processes data, and transmits data. The older model data centers, which anything in this mindset we use, anything before 2022 typically, it’s just an older data center used for storage. Don’t cause much issues at all. Anything after 2022 they are resource intensive. Way, way more than a traditional center in terms of land, electric, water, HVAC systems, the actual components themselves, so they are extremely more resource intensive than the traditional centers. Chris Fitzsimon  So, and you mentioned the the resources. What about the noise? I know that’s been another issue. Max Moran  So the noise, and unfortunately here, it wasn’t addressed adequately. We uh are zoning ordinance that we have, which it’s not anywhere near what our organization was wanting. They address something called DBA now, the noise that they say that this facility can operate at is less than 50 DBA, which is good, don’t get me wrong, that is very good. But the main issue we were concerned with is what’s called DBC. DBC deals with the low frequency range of the frequency spectrum band, and oftentimes this is what’s contributed to the hum that many people poured across the nation from these things. And what it is. It’s the HVAC units, the generators, the fan blades themselves, constantly running. It’s generating this hum. But the problem we have is lower frequency travels further distance. So most people we’ve actually have studies and reports in our group. We estimate, based on where this center will be, the sound this hum can travel anywhere between one to three miles away from the center itself. Chris Fitzsimon  Interesting to me that I know the Kentucky Lantern and maybe others have reported the we don’t even know who the company is that wants to put a data center there. What it’s hard to imagine. Max Moran  Right. Well, the sad reality too, with that is, we were told by the time it came to this map amendment, we would learn who the company is at this point. But unfortunately, they’ve gone down the path of more secrecy. The actual applicants on the very first page of the nearly 100 page application is the Maysville-Mason County Industrial Development Authority. But then the only other mention of another company is a, in my opinion, a fly by night LLC that was only formed in 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. There’s no mention anywhere of it being Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Open AI, and we’re still left wondering who actually is the end user? Because even our county judges said that this is a top Fortune 100 company. And jokingly aside, I said, ‘Well, I didn’t realize our industrial authority is a fortune 100 company’. Chris Fitzsimon  What do you think? I mean, it must be disconcerting as a city commissioner to not know the company that you’re dealing with, Max Moran  Absolutely and the sad reality with it is too, and there’s been this growing movement, not just in Kentucky, but across the United States, of people that are fed up with government officials signing non disclosure agreements. NDAs, my opinion on this, and I’ve told people this from the get go, is I also do believe in trying to come to a compromise when it comes to NDAs, I believe only people who are appointed to a position such as our Industrial Development Authority, because all those people are appointed, and it is their job to recruit companies to the area. Absolutely that makes sense for them to sign NDA. But when it comes time for it to go to like the physical court, the county judge executive, the county commissioners who are elected by the people. NDAs need to be dropped. Need to come clean. Chris Fitzsimon  Right, and you do have some local officials who have signed them there, right? Some local elected officials? Max Moran  Unfortunately, yes, our county judge executive, he confirmed he signed one, several. As a matter of fact, two out of three of our physical core commissioners. They said the same thing. There’s speculation on more county officials, but I can’t confirm that at this time. Chris Fitzsimon  You wouldn’t sign one. Max Moran  Absolutely not. No sir. And the other thing. With an NDA too, that I’ve been told from people across the nation, once you sign that NDA, that company, they got you because, well, when you think about it, if you let slip the wrong thing, which I don’t blame the county judge in this instance, because it’s a mistake in his own making for signing the NDA. But if he lets slip the wrong thing. The billion dollar, trillion dollar company was like, ‘Oh, you said the wrong thing. Now we got you’. So we’re either going to do what we want to because you breached our NDA, or we’ll sue the county into oblivion because you breached the NDA. See, it was said, when you sign that NDA, you essentially become a lobbyist for that company. I tend to agree with that assessment. Chris Fitzsimon  One farming family there, Tim and Andy Grosser, said that they were asked to sign an NDA. They were offered $10 million for their farm. Another family who’s gotten some publicity, who’s offered $26 million for their land. It’s amazing that people there, as much as they might want to oppose this, that’s a lot of money to give up. Max Moran  Yes, sir, it is. And there’s other people like them too. And I’ve said from the beginning too, I don’t fault anybody who genuinely wants to sell. If you want to sell, that is your right. You know, I do believe in land rights, owner rights. But at the same time, when I tell these people, there’s two things I tell them, I say, I hope you get the full amount. Because some of these contracts I read the last year, the company wants to space out your payments across 20 years, and then they don’t specify the amount you get paid each year, kind of like with Miss Huddleston, for example, who’s made recent news, they want to space her contract out over 20 years, and she’s up in her mid 80s. Now, I hope she lives a very, very long life. But to me, that seems very selfish to do, because at least in my point of view, with our farm, I’d say you either buy the whole thing outright or you don’t buy it at all. Chris Fitzsimon  It must say something to you about your community, if these folks are turning down that kind of money. Max Moran  Oh, absolutely. And the thing with it too is that there is a big number of people, and I’m one of them too. Money isn’t everything, and the real value when it comes to the land is being able to pass it down to your next generation. And you see, that’s one thing that I want to do with our farm, specifically because the farm that I grew up on still work on to this day, 400 acre farm my family’s only the second family on paper to own that farm. The original people who owned it, their family no longer exists, unfortunately, but it dates back to the Revolutionary War. Chris Fitzsimon  Wow. Max Moran  Which is honestly amazing to me, and I want to be able to hold on to that history, being able to pass it down to my kids someday, and then hopefully to their kids eventually. Chris Fitzsimon  And before I let you go just I guess the last question you sort of answered it for folks who were listening, who aren’t familiar, what do you think is a summary of this? Why is this so important to you? Max Moran  To me, the reason this is so important because we’ve never seen anything like this, especially in my father’s lifetime. Because most people who don’t fully understand what this is, they want to compare it to like Toyota in Scott County and kind of break this down here. I hope this answers the question. But in terms of the land that they’re wanting for this project, all right, they want 21 acres here in Mason County, 2100 acres here that we know for sure, it might be a lot more. Well, Toyota in Scott County, last I checked, they occupy 1300 acres. So it’s kind of like the trade off here of, do we want large scale manufacturing that does employ people, or do we want a facility that won’t employ nearly as many people but require 10 times the resources of the major manufacturing company? And the other reason with it too to point this out, once you get one of these things into the community, it may not be the same year, it may not be next year, but there will be way more than one company. We’re already looking at potentially five more companies coming into this area already, who’s all probably just waiting on to see if our zoning board gives them the zoning change or not, because right now, we know 2100 acres for sure, but unofficially, we believe it’s going to be 10,000 acres tied up altogether. Chris Fitzsimon  Well, well, we appreciate what you’re doing there, and we appreciate you sharing it with us. Thank you very much. Max Moran  Likewise. Thank you. Thank you, Chris, and hope you have a good day. Chris Fitzsimon  Many other communities around the country are feeling similar to Max in Kentucky. From New Mexico to Vermont, public concern over data centers has grown in the last few years, and it’s leading many local officials to reconsider whether or not to keep offering the tax break for proposed data center projects and even enacting new laws. In a moment, we’ll chat with state lines, Madyson Fitzgerald about what’s going on. Moses Esheit  At a time when so many communities are losing their local news outlets. States Newsroom is filling a gap. We are now the nation’s largest state focused nonprofit news organization with reporters based in every state capital and Washington DC. But we can’t do it without your support. Your contributions allow us to produce award winning journalism and deliver it to you for free. No pop ups, no pay walls. This is a crucial time to support local journalism and every bit helps to give go to statesnewsroom.com/donate. Chris Fitzsimon  At least 37 states now offer financial incentives to data centers that’s helped the construction of the massive structures over the last few years, but as more and more people and communities are voicing their opposition. Some of the tax breaks are being taken away, and even temporarily banning data centers has been the choice of some communities. To help us understand what’s going on across the country is Madyson Fitzgerald, she’s a content producer and staff writer with Stateline. Stateline is an outlet with States Newsroom. Madyson thanks for being here. Madyson Fitzgerald  Thanks for having me. Chris Fitzsimon  Well, you’ve written quite a bit about this. What is, put this in perspective for us. Do you have any idea how much money we’re talking about with these tax breaks? Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, for some states, it’s, you know, as as much as a billion dollars that they’re handing out every year so that they can welcome these data centers into their area. I know, in Virginia, specifically, which is, you know, the data center capital of the country, they ended up, I think having a tax break that cost the state about 1.6 billion a year, and this is all taxpayer money. And so I think it’s become a lot more of a concern as data centers are maybe becoming a lot more expensive than what many states and lawmakers originally thought. Chris Fitzsimon  Yeah, it seems like we didn’t the tax maybe it was and I wasn’t just paying attention, but the tax abatement or tax breaks or whatever wasn’t a big deal when they first instituted them. Did it just take a while for communities to catch on? Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, it really did. Because in the beginning, data centers weren’t really heard about. People didn’t really know what data centers were and so to have this tax abatement, to have these, you know, incentives, it wasn’t that big of a deal because there was only maybe one or two data centers in certain areas. But as the race for more artificial intelligence systems and things like that has grown, data centers are popping up in just about every area that you can think of, and so as a result, they are obviously drawing more and more money from these states, and a lot of these data centers promise certain like incentives when they came to these communities. So economic opportunities more revenue in terms of property taxes and things of that nature. But some states and cities and other localities have noticed that it’s not as much as maybe they were promised in the beginning, and it’s no longer worth it because they’re just doling out more and more money as these data centers become more expensive in terms of paying for, you know, resources like water and electricity to run them. Chris Fitzsimon  Yeah, I was going to ask you about that the cost in a second, but it’s interesting. I guess if you for folks who are listening, if you think about being in a rural, maybe low income community with a small tax base, and you need more money for schools. If somebody comes in and says, Well, even though we’re going to get a tax break initially, we would, it’ll be a big boon to the community. I guess that’s the appeal a long term money for some places. Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, that’s actually been the case in a couple of areas in Pennsylvania, where a lot of these towns, they’ve seen a lot of different industries come through, like coal and steel and things like that. And at the time, it seemed like, you know, a big opportunity for their area. They were able to grow. They were able to get some money. But, you know, as modernization has rolled through, some of these industries are no longer as lucrative as they used to be. And so data centers has kind of become that new industry to roll in and say, Hey, we’re here to give you all these opportunities and things of that nature, but a lot of local communities are obviously kind of concerned, because not only have they seen this before, but now we’re looking across the country, and communities are scared. They’re worried about, you know, what’s going to happen with their energy what’s going to happen with their utility bills, what’s going to happen with the water and, you know, even some of the smaller things, like the sound of data centers and listening to that hum that’s constant, and things of that nature. Chris Fitzsimon  So yeah, for folks who aren’t familiar what, I guess the utilities, both water and electricity, feel like the main financial impact on people, right? Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, that’s been something that’s one of my colleagues, Kevin Hardy, has reported a lot about utility bills have risen in plenty of states as obviously, these data centers require so much power, and so a lot of states have been begun to consider legislation where these data centers would basically pay their own way, so they would have to create their own energy sources or pay for more energy sources in order to protect consumers, especially during the winter, when it’s cold and all of our bills are already high to begin with, and so I think that that’s something that a lot more lawmakers are thinking of, rather than just saying, Oh, this is a great economic opportunity. Let’s just bring them in. There’s just so much more to keep in mind. Chris Fitzsimon  Yeah, we talked to one guy in Mason County, Kentucky who is upset about a lot of it, but a lot of it seems to go around the lack of transparency, and maybe that’s what people are getting at that they really don’t know, and that some of this is seems to be almost done in secret. Madyson Fitzgerald  A lot of the state lawmakers that I’ve spoken with, that’s their main concern as well. Specifically in Michigan, they have had a boom in terms of data centers, where I think that right now on the table, there are definitely more than a dozen that have been proposed. And so in navigating that, a lot of residents and state lawmakers have been like, kind of, where have these proposals come from? When did these developers come in? And in a lot of states, some of the zoning regulations and zoning laws don’t require public hearings so that they can welcome data centers and approve them and things like that. Some of them are able to be done by just having a permit put in as a manufacturing building or kind of a warehouse building, and in that term, because they haven’t really defined data centers as fully, they’re able to come in without having to get as much approval as they would for some other buildings. Chris Fitzsimon  We talked about the community opposition for a variety of reasons. Are states doing anything to sort of go the other way, or maybe have new regulations or even bans on data centers? Madyson Fitzgerald  Well, yeah, there’s a lot of I guess, starting with bans, some states have considered legislation that would place a moratorium on data center development, whether it’s an indefinite one, or maybe just for a couple of years, so that they can study the impacts of data centers that they have on communities. I know that Georgia has really pushed this. Some lawmakers there are working really hard on this legislation, simply because a lot of counties in Georgia are struggling with their water sources. They don’t have enough water for the people that are already living there, and a lot of residents are concerned that by having more data centers come in, this water is going to just cease to exist. And so a lot of states are looking at moratoriums that would just give lawmakers more time to be able to make policy that would address these data centers and protect consumers and people that are living next to them. And then in other states, they’re kind of, you know, getting rid of tax breaks, just making sure that they’re protecting taxpayer dollars so that it’s not being doled out for, you know, something that might not have the most return. And then some other states, I think, are also looking at legislation that would basically just protect consumers from having to pay for data center energy, which is, you know, all of the electricity that goes into it, and things of that nature. Chris Fitzsimon  Just reading the coverage across States Newsroom, including Stateline, it does it. I might be wrong, but it feels like this isn’t necessarily a partisan issue, like so many things, that there are people of both parties who are worried about this. Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, I would say on both sides, everyone’s really concerned about this, because when you think about it, like obviously, people really want economic opportunities in their community. They want to be able to get more money. They want more resources to build better schools, to be able to help the homeless, to be able to have help all these different, you know, areas or whatever, but at the same time, I think a lot of areas just want to be careful about how they do it, because for as exciting and as new as these data centers seem, there’s just a lot of things under the surface that people are still learning about, people are still figuring out. And data centers have existed for a really, really long time, but there hasn’t been as much study as to what these data centers really do to communities, and so even though they’ve been around for a while, there’s just not enough research to really see how this could impact different different locations, especially when you’re looking at, you know, different sizes, the different some you know, data centers house a lot of different servers. Some just house servers from a specific company. There’s just so much that goes into it, you know, it’s just a lot to consider. Chris Fitzsimon  Yeah, and it’s interesting. We did a interview, gosh, it’s been now weeks ago with folks opposing or who used to work in a data center, one person. And I think a lot of people think of economic development as creating all these jobs. And I guess jobs and I guess jobs are created when they’re built, but they’re not a lot of people that work in these they’re mostly machines, right? Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, that really depends on the data center. Because, you know, the construction, as you said, does bring in a lot of jobs, but after the fact, you know, once those construction jobs leave, there is a little bit less work for people to do. But at the same time, a lot of these data centers do employ, you know, engineers to be able to maintain the building, just because there’s so many servers, plumbers to make sure that the water is flowing through and cooling the systems and other roles of that nature. And so I wouldn’t say that data centers don’t have any jobs, but it’s definitely, maybe not as much as were presented in the beginning. Chris Fitzsimon  Well, Madyson, thank you so much for writing about this and keeping us up to date. Thank you for your time. Madyson Fitzgerald  Yeah, thanks for having me again Chris Fitzsimon  To keep up with what’s going on with the proposed data center in Mason County and the ones around the country. You can get it all in one place at newsfromthe states.com. Coming up shortly, podcast producer Mallory Cheng will chat with Evenig Wrap newsletter writer Danielle Gaines about the top stories she’s looking out for, and about one last thing. Nelle Dunlap  Hi, it’s Nelle Dunlap, product and engineering director at States Newsroom. At States Newsroom, we believe journalism should be fair, fearless and free, with reporters working on the ground in all 50 states and Washington DC, we provide non partisan coverage of the state issues that matter most to you. You can subscribe to our work by going to statesnewsroom.com/subscribe. Mallory Cheng  Hello. It’s Podcast Producer Mallory Cheng here filling in for Chris again this week here with our lovely Evening Rap newsletter author Danielle Gaines with what’s going on this week, what she’s looking out for. And, of course, one last thing. So hello, Danielle. It’s great to be in the host chair talking to you today. Danielle Gaines  Hi, Mallory, thanks for having me. Mallory Cheng  Of course. Well, to start things off, a lot of things, of course, happen every week. But what is a story that caught your eye this week? Danielle Gaines  Yeah, so something we’ve seen coming up throughout the country this year and increasingly in the last several years is the issue of taxes on period products. Mallory Cheng  That’s so annoying, like, selfishly, that’s so annoying. Danielle Gaines  So, yes, it’s one expense on top of another expense that nobody actually wants to pay. And so two women in Kentucky are asking a state court to rule that that the 6% sales tax on menstrual products is unconstitutional for being discriminatory on the basis of sex. So in the filing, the women say that menstrual products are medical necessities and that taxing them while exempting comparable products to use by men has no rational justification. So it’s kind of a different take on this debate that we’ve seen going on over the last couple of years. Our reproductive rights team, they took this reporting a step further and noted that nearly two thirds of states have eliminated state sales tax on menstrual products. It is an essential product for half of the United States population, but 18 states still have taxes. There have been several legislative efforts this year, most of them stalled. One thing that the reproductive rights team pulled out in their reporting was testimony from a hearing in Kansas, and it was by a university student who said she remembered, you know, being in the store in her freshman year of school when money was tight, and looking at a $5 rotisserie chicken and a $10 box of tampons and trying to decide how to spend her money. And she just made the point that, like she was just a girl with a period, and that this is a decision that many women and children have to make every day, and getting rid of the tax at least helps with that expense. Mallory Cheng  Oh, I’ve also been there as a college student trying to figure that out with my monthly budget, do I get pads or tampons, or do I get dinner for later? To read more about that, you can always go to newsfromthestates.com and subscribe to our reproductive rights newsletter. So check that out. But this upcoming week, Danielle, what do you have on your radar? Danielle Gaines  Yeah, so watching something else in the courts again. So in Minnesota, prosecutors have escalated their fight with the Trump administration over evidence in shootings by federal immigration agents there. So they have filed a lawsuit. This was filed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Attorney General Keith Ellison. They filed a lawsuit in the District of Columbia, and it is looking to secure key pieces of evidence in the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa Solis. And they said they were stepping into uncharted territory by filing this kind of a lawsuit. But what they really want is just, quote, a fair, impartial and thorough investigation. There has been a lot of back and forth on a lot of this. So for instance, President Trump justified the decision to freeze out local law enforcement from investigating Renee Good’s killing by saying that they were crooked. Then the Fed said that there was going to be no investigation. Then federal officials were ordered to investigate Renee Good herself and her family, rather than the shooting. After the Alex Pretti shooting, Minnesota state agents were physically blocked from the scene by federal officials, even though they had a warrant. So the local prosecutors are just trying to get access to basic evidence in the case, guns, shell casing, cars, phones. But prosecuting federal agents is not easy, and there’s a Supremacy Clause the US Constitution. So. It’s really unclear how this will how this will pan out. Mallory Cheng  Yeah, it’s going to be an interesting few weeks, or however long this takes to see how that will play out. And finally, the favorite part of the segment for all of us here, at least on the podcast, what’s this week’s one last thing, Danielle Gaines  Yeah, I thought we could take it a little lighter. We all need that in life. And so I have a story from my home state, my beloved Maryland. So Maryland is on track to be the first state to designate an official state shark. Mallory Cheng  Oh, that’s cool. Danielle Gaines  Yes, there is legislation pending in the Maryland General Assembly, it managed to move forward before a critical deadline, crossover day, and it would designate the Megalodon, which is a an extinct giant prehistoric shark, as the state’s official shark. So in Maryland, Megalodon teeth have been found along the Chesapeake Bay and in different state parks. The fossilized teeth have been found in seven counties. And the Megalodon is just really interesting. It’s it’s extinct, so we don’t know a lot about it. We’re trying to figure out what its body shape might have been based on skeletal remains, but the curator of paleontology at the Calvert marine museum said it could have stretched nearly 50 feet long, and his daughter, a young girl, was one of the key advocates and supporters of the bill during a legislative hearing. Mallory Cheng  Oh, that’s so sweet. I love that. Danielle Gaines  Yeah, father daughter bill. Mallory Cheng  Danielle, thanks for being here. Always appreciate you being on the podcast every week. Danielle Gaines  Thank you so much. Mallory, Chris Fitzsimon  Thanks for listening to Stories From The States. I’m Chris Fitzsimon. Mallory Cheng produced and edited the podcast. David Singer produced our theme music, a special thank you this week to Liam Niemeyer of the Kentucky Lantern. If you liked what you’ve heard today, please leave a rating and review. It means a lot to know what you think about the podcast. To stay up to date on all the latest episodes. Subscribe now to Stories From The States, a podcast from States Newsroom available wherever you listen to podcasts. We’ll talk to you soon. YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. SUPPORT The post Stories From The States: KY farmer on fight against hyperscale data center in Mason County appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less