By McKenzie Romero | Editor
Fear and frustration over a possible data center discussed for a Utah Inland Port Authority project area near Tooele and the Great Salt Lake have people — more than 1,100 of them — demanding assurance the project won’t proceed.
The authority’s board told speakers in a public meeting that not only is the project not advancing at this point, it’s not clear if it ever will. But concerned Tooele residents, who learned of the project through records requests rather than public discussions, want a firm commitment.
In today’s Dispatch we break down the latest on the stalled Tooele data center discussion, why Utah won’t enforce it’s new location-based age verification law for Pornhub (yet), and how you can greet Salt Lake airport travelers at their gate without buying a ticket.
“Dead is a very strong word … (but) I don’t consider it alive right now, that’s for sure.” — Ben Hart, executive director of the Utah Inland Port Authority, when asked about the status of a possible data center project for the authority’s Tooele Valley project area.
The Utah Inland Port Authority’s Tooele Valley Project Area is pictured with a view of a new road and rail line leading into Grantsville in September 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Utah Inland Port Authority)
By Katie McKellar
A developer has been pushing Tooele County officials behind-the-scenes to allow building a data center on the south end of the Utah Inland Port Authority’s Tooele Valley project area. That’s according to emails obtained by members of TooeleCARES, a group of concerned residents, through a public records request.
Tooele County leaders, who maintain land use authority for the project area, have pushed pause on considering any data center applications until after the county’s planning commission and the Tooele County Council consider an ordinance regulating data center development.
The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Alixel Cabrera
Utah won’t enforce a new law requiring pornography websites to verify users’ ages in the state even if they hide their location. But the state says the exception is only temporary and just for Pornhub’s parent company as litigation over Utah’s restrictions on adult content websites unfolds.
Aylo Freesites, Pornhub’s parent company, sued the state over a 2026 law that establishes that Utah rules must be applied for all individuals accessing websites from the state, regardless of whether they use a virtual private network “or other means to disguise or misrepresent the individual’s geographic location.”
People walk through Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By McKenzie Romero
Salt Lake City International Airport is one of 14 airports that will allow approved visitors to send off or greet travelers at airport gates rather than waiting outside security checkpoints. Gateside passes are available to those approved for TSA PreCheck.
Salt Lake City’s airport is known for large, emotional gatherings as family and friends greet returning missionaries from the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The airport’s remodel even includes a greeting room just outside the security exit intended to move large greeting parties out of the walkway, with mixed success.
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