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Google data center to be challenged in final vote by Indianapolis councilors. What to know

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Google data center to be challenged in final vote by Indianapolis councilors. What to know


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(This story was updated to add new information.)

As Google’s proposed data center on the far southeast side seems poised for rejection by the Indianapolis City-County Council, the tech titan will have one last chance to make its case later this month.

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Councilors voted unanimously on Sept. 8 to take the rare step of hosting a public hearing where opponents of the Franklin Township data center can challenge the Metropolitan Development Commission’s approval of the rezoning for the project in August.

Councilors will take a final vote at the Sept. 22 council meeting after Google representatives and the company’s detractors present their arguments. Typically, the council rubber-stamps proposals approved by the MDC, but an outspoken group of residents near Franklin Township who oppose the data center have forced the issue.

Republican Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, who represents the district where Google wants to rezone a roughly 470-acre pastoral site for a possible $1 billion data center, forced a vote Monday night to challenge the project. Dozens of data center opponents packed the council chambers and erupted with applause after all 25 councilors voted to hold the hearing in two weeks.

Hart said his stance is shaped by his constituents, who worry that the data center will ultimately increase local energy prices because it requires huge amounts of water and electricity to operate. Opponents also say the data center would be a massive, noisy eyesore that they don’t want to live near.

The data center is expected to create only 50 full-time jobs that pay about $100,000, another shortcoming in the eyes of its opponents. Despite that relatively low number of jobs, the city would consider hefty tax breaks for Google — a Silicon Valley behemoth with a market value of nearly $3 trillion — if the project’s rezoning were to pass.

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“Indianapolis, we’re the capital city, and I think our land is a higher commodity” than more rural areas of the state, Hart said before the meeting. “You’re not making any more land, and especially here in Marion County, we’ve got to be very careful with what happens to that land.”

Details of data center’s energy usage, tax breaks still vague

How much the city would give Google in tax breaks remains unclear, as does the exact amount of energy required by the data center, which would sit on a site off I-74 and bordered by South Post Road, East Troy Avenue, Davis Road and Vandergriff Road.

A Google spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Sept. 8, but confirmed to IndyStar last month that it was the secretive company considering a data center in Franklin Township. A Google spokesperson said, “These are complex projects and development of the site is subject to a variety of factors.”

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Hart says the company told councilors in private meetings last week that it expected the data center, which would likely include four buildings, would use about one million gallons of water per day. That water would mainly serve to cool computing equipment used to store and process vast amounts of data.

Neither Google nor Citizens Energy, the utility that has agreed to supply water, confirmed the one million gallon estimate. But the Environmental and Energy Study Institute found that large data centers can consume up to five million gallons of water per day — equivalent to the water used in a town with 10,000-50,000 residents.

A Citizens Energy spokesperson told IndyStar in a statement Sept. 8 that “[w]e do not expect the needs of the data center to have an impact on our ability to serve current or future customers in the Franklin Township area.”

While the total dollar value of tax breaks the city would offer to Google remains unclear, details made public so far suggest significant savings for the tech giant.

The company could receive a 10-year real property tax abatement, an economic tool that lowers the taxes owed on new construction, and a 40-year tax exemption on personal property, according to Indy Economic Development, the city-adjacent nonprofit chaired by Mayor Joe Hogsett that is working with Google.

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The real property tax abatement would waive 50% of taxes on new real estate improvements like buildings in that 10-year period. The company has, however, committed to supplemental tax payments of at least $1 million a year.

Where Indy councilors stand on final vote for Google data center

At least 15 councilors must oppose the project on Sept. 22 to meet the 60% threshold required to overturn the MDC’s rezoning approval in August.

So far, 17 councilors have said they plan to vote no, largely because they’re following council precedent and supporting the district councilor’s position. Besides Hart, those councilors expected to vote no are Republicans Paul Annee, Joshua Bain, Derek Cahill, Michael Dilk and Brian Mowery; and Democrats John Barth, Jesse Brown, Andy Nielsen, Rena Allen, Jared Evans, Kristin Jones, Frank Mascari, Nick Roberts, Ali Brown, Jessica McCormick and Keith Graves.

“Our city deserves development that strengthens neighborhoods, protects our environment, and creates real, lasting opportunities for residents,” Graves, the most recent councilor to oppose the project, said in a statement Monday.

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Only one of the remaining eight councilors, Democrat Ron Gibson, has shared openly that he plans to support the proposed development. He told IndyStar Monday that a $1 billion investment from a company like Google is too significant to pass up.

“I think Indianapolis has got to be always on the forefront of attracting jobs, more investment, and an investment like Google is a lifetime investment,” Gibson said Monday night. “I mean, that’s significant. You don’t see those type of projects in Marion County.”

Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09





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Indianapolis, IN

Unsettled Friday and Saturday, then summer heat returns early next week | July 10, 2026

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Unsettled Friday and Saturday, then summer heat returns early next week | July 10, 2026


TODAY

Partly sunny and warm with scattered showers and thunderstorms likely through much of the bookends of the day. Highs reach the mid 80s, with a west southwest breeze around 5 mph. It does not look like nonstop rain from start to finish, but this is the least reliable daytime period in the forecast, and any stronger storm could drop a quick heavy downpour with a gusty burst of wind. 

TONIGHT

Scattered showers and thunderstorms remain possible through the evening, then another lower-end storm chance lingers late overnight. Lows settle near the upper 60s, with light wind. The severe risk looks lower than it is Thursday night, but a few pockets of heavier rain are still possible if a boundary stalls close enough to central Indiana.  

TOMORROW

Mostly cloudy and not quite as hot, with another chance for showers and thunderstorms developing mainly after mid afternoon. Highs reach the low to mid 80s, with a light northeast breeze around 5 mph. Much of the first half of the day should be usable, but later afternoon and evening plans will still need a weather eye.  

TOMORROW NIGHT

A few showers and thunderstorms may linger early, then the trend turns quieter with mostly cloudy skies overnight. Lows fall to the upper 60s, with an east northeast breeze around 5 mph. It is a calmer setup than Friday night overall, even if an early interruption is still possible.  

SUNDAY

Mostly sunny and warmer with highs in the mid 80s. An east breeze around 5 to 10 mph keeps the day from feeling too stagnant, and this looks like one of the cleaner forecast days of the stretch. Most of central Indiana should stay dry from start to finish.

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SUNDAY NIGHT

Mostly clear and seasonably mild, with lows around the mid 60s and a light east northeast breeze. Quiet weather continues overnight with no meaningful travel concerns.  

MONDAY

Sunny and hotter, with highs climbing into the upper 80s. A light east wind around 5 mph holds through the day. After the unsettled end of the workweek, this looks like a very usable summer day with heat becoming the main story instead of storms.  

MONDAY NIGHT

Mostly clear and warm, with lows near 70 and only a light breeze. There will be little trouble overnight, and the warmer pattern settles in more firmly.  

TUESDAY

Sunny and hot again, with highs near 90. Wind stays light, becoming east southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. This is another day where the weather looks broadly quiet, with heat the main thing to plan around.  

7 DAY FORECAST

The main concern in the near term is the unsettled Friday into Saturday period, when repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms could bring quick heavy rain, especially Friday afternoon and evening. After that, the pattern trends warmer and drier from Sunday into at least Tuesday, with highs returning to the upper 80s and lower 90s while heat index values stay more manageable than the late-June heat. By Wednesday and Thursday, isolated afternoon and evening storms begin to creep back into the forecast, with a more noticeable thunderstorm threat showing up later next week into next weekend.  

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Indiana Workforce Pell Grant options limited so far

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Indiana Workforce Pell Grant options limited so far


INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Education leaders on Thursday said waiting for rulemaking limited the number of programs approved for a new grant program, but they expect more approvals soon.

Created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed last year, the Workforce Pell Grant program allows students to use Pell Grants for short-term, direct-to-workforce training programs. The program began on July 1. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and Vincennes University, which are Indiana’s two two-year vocational and technical institutions, are the only institutions in the state authorized for the program so far, though state officials have said they’ll consider expanding it to other institutions depending on the results of the first year.

So far, state education officials have approved three programs for Workforce Pell Grants: certified clinical medical assistant programs at Ivy Tech and Vincennes, plus an electrical maintenance technician bootcamp Vincennes offers. Final approval must come from the federal government, which has not yet green-lit any of those programs.

Molly Dodge, Ivy Tech’s senior vice president for workforce and careers, said Ivy Tech leaders needed to make sure they thoroughly understood the requirements they would face. To be eligible, a program must have at least a 70% completion rate and a 70% job placement rate. It also must lead directly to a job in a high-growth, high-demand job sector. Dodge said the rules were finalized this spring. After that, she said Ivy Tech leaders began going through each of their courses to see which ones would be eligible.

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“Workforce Pell has a significant requirement related to job placement and wages, and so we need to backward design from an employer, in many cases, to make sure that we’re successful in launching these Workforce Pell programs,” she said.

Tony Hahn, Vincennes University’s vice president for government and legal affairs, said July 1 was the earliest under federal statute the program could begin. In practice, he said the rollout will take some time because programs must be offered for one year in exactly the same format before they become eligible for the Workforce Pell Grant.

“These are often programs that we have offered through Next Level Jobs programs and other Department of Workforce Development funding, but didn’t have the exact same requirements on number of classroom hours or number of total weeks offered,” he said. “And so, we made some modifications and we’ll be able to expand this list.”

Both Dodge and Hahn said leaders at their respective institutions are reviewing their course catalogs for other potentially eligible programs. They said they expect to add approved programs in the coming months.

Dodge said Workforce Pell-eligible programs are often designed with the expectation that you will go to work with a partner employer upon completion of the program, but that doesn’t mean education ends there. She said Workforce Pell Grant programs are stackable and can be pursued as part of a longer-term higher education strategy. Students can qualify for both traditional Pell Grants and Workforce Pell Grants, though not at the same time.

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Hahn said prospective students won’t be able to apply for Workforce Pell Grants until this fall or next spring. If you’re interested, he said you should fill out a federal student financial aid form. He said Vincennes University leaders expect to add information about eligible programs to their application website once approved.



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Indianapolis, IN

Man dies after car crashes into pole on near NW side

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Man dies after car crashes into pole on near NW side


INDIANAPOLIS – A man died in a crash on the near northwest side of Indianapolis.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were dispatched to 505 W. 16th St. around 4:15 a.m. Thursday.

A person died in a crash on West 16th Street on July 9, 2026 (WXIN/WTTV)

There, officers discovered a vehicle had crashed into a utility pole. The driver was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

The incident remains under investigation.

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