public pressure

Jaime Martinez, director of Frontline Dignity, said in a statement that township leadership “did something important last night: It listened to its community and changed its course.”

“Our police officers should be people our neighbors can call when they are afraid, not people they are afraid to call,” he added.

Locals have been fighting to stop border wall construction around the 83-year-old 2,000-acre refuge, which draws birders and nature enthusiasts from throughout the world. Jim Chapman, of the nonprofit Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, is among those opposing border wall, and he attended Monday’s hearing. “We’ve been fighting the border wall in Santa Ana for years,” Chapman told Border Report after the hearing. “They have a very strong case that the irrigation canal is important, too. It supplies thousands and thousands of acres of farmland with irrigation water.”

Many Asheville community members spoke at the meeting against both Flock and Axon contracts.

Some also brought up frustration with the lack of public comment at the earlier meeting where the council voted on the 24-hour Real-Time Intelligence Center and Axon. Some also expressed frustration that Manheimer brought up such an issue that she previously had a different opinion on before a contentious mayoral race. 

“This is something that the majority of Asheville from across the political spectrum wants,” Sean Snyder, an Asheville resident who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period, said. He, like tens of others like him, urged the council to consider ending its contract with Axon, not just the Flock contract.

Many Inola residents said they were disillusioned with the Trump administration’s characterization of the smelter. It doesn’t match what the company behind the smelter put in its February application for an air quality permit from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Roam said.

“We’ve heard President Trump say this is going to be the most modern and the cleanest smelter,” Roam said. “We’re not seeing that in the air permit application, and we don’t want to just take their word for it. So we need time in order for that information to come out, for this community to feel comfortable that it actually is going to be what they represent.”

Inola resident Thomas Harrington feels that should be an easy ask.

“Just show me that it’s safe and show that with what you’re going to put in a legally enforceable document,” Harrington said.

The moves come as some residents say they are reconsidering how much surveillance they want in daily life.

“I feel like, as a society, it’s better if we’re just kind of, like, not constantly under surveillance. Like, we don’t need cameras watching people all the time,” Andrew Faherty said.

Mike Brown pointed to reports of officers misusing camera systems as a reason for concern.

“I don’t think they need, like I said, extra surveillance. And then what we saw with the police tracking people on them already for personal reasons, I think it just shows that it could be abused,” Brown said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a sweeping executive order on Tuesday dramatically restricting data center development in Pennsylvania, marking a major shift from his initial embrace of the increasingly unpopular projects.

Shapiro, a first-term Democrat running for reelection and a rumored 2028 presidential contender, had been an early champion of data center development in the state, including a $20 billion commitment from Amazon to build at least two data centers in Bucks and Luzerne Counties.

Now he is taking a hard-line stance against the burgeoning data center industry he once courted, as proposed projects draw increasing bipartisan backlash across Pennsylvania.

Following an overwhelming turnout of passionate residents at Tuesday’s city council meeting, officials voted to keep physical books on the shelves rather than clearing them out to make room for other municipal projects.

The controversy began last week during a city budget meeting, where some council members floated the idea of moving the library’s entire adult fiction section to a digital, online database. The proposal aimed to free up building space for park and recreation initiatives.

However, the suggestion was met with immediate backlash from community members who argued that physical books are irreplaceable and that rearranging the library was not the answer.

“We wanted to get the best use possible...that was the initial thinking,” said Panama City Beach Mayor Stuart Tettemer, reflecting on the initial proposal. “Again, inarticulately expressed. I think some folks got really concerned.”

Dozens of residents attended Tuesday’s meeting to make their voices heard during public comment, firmly demanding that the library remain unchanged.

Around the country, Americans are fighting to get Flock’s cameras off their streets.

New York Assemblymember Pam Hunter introduced legislation to rein in license plate reader surveillance, though that bill won’t be considered until state lawmakers begin their next legislative session in 2027.

In the meantime, Monto hopes that Flock’s customers don’t wait for action from elected officials and act swiftly to leave Flock behind. 

At least 54 cities across the US have voted to cancel, non-renew, or reject Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPRs) since the start of the year, according to data collected by the Washington Examiner. That comes after reporting in February that some 30 cities had done the same since 2025, indicative of the rising backlash against the tech.

In all, the Examiner reports cities in 23 states have shredded their Flock contracts so far this year, led by California and Wisconsin, which each have seven rejections, cancellations, or deactivations. Other heavy hitters include New York, Washington, and Massachusetts with four each, and Virginia with three.

Though Flock has its cameras in over 5,000 US cities as of July 2026, the rise in rejections at the municipal level comes amidst a tidal wave of outrage around issues of privacy and civil rights.

Harrisonburg City Council voted Tuesday to remove the city’s fixed automatic license plate recognition cameras, end its contract with Flock Group Inc., and require council approval before similar systems can be installed in the future.

The resolution passed 4-0 and directs city staff to terminate the contract, stop using the city’s fixed automatic license plate recognition system within seven days and work with Flock to remove the cameras.

The resolution says City Council determined the benefits of the fixed camera system were outweighed by concerns about privacy, equity, data security and public trust.