If a Utah lawmaker was looking to keep a story out of the headlines, he picked a bad way to do it.
Veteran Republican state Sen. Jerry Stevenson, one of the most powerful figures in the Beehive State’s legislature, slapped a phone out of the hand of a journalist on Wednesday during a heated moment in the parking lot of the business Stevenson founded.
Police were called to the scene, but there were no arrests.
#Policeinvestigating confrontation between Sen. Jerry Stevenson senator and ABC4 journalists.https://t.co/zycHzDdfRW
— Kakaty (@TigerSharkLover)May 8, 2026
According toKTVX-TVin Salt Lake City, the incident arose when KTVX reporter and anchor Bayan Wang was covering the aftermath of votes Monday by the county commission in Box Elder County on resolutions to approve a large data center in thesparsely populated countyin Utah’s northwest corner.
The facility is being created in partnership with the Military Installation Development Authority — a state agency that Stevenson helps oversee as a member of its board, KTVX reported.
Data center construction, spurred by expanding use of artificial intelligence computer programs, has been a flashpoint of controversy around the country, with opponents blaming the centers for everything frompower shortagesto health problems among residents living nearby. And elected officials havefelt the heat.
The Box Elder County project faces outspoken opposition, KVTX reported, that includes calls to boycott Stevenson’s business, J&J Nursery and Garden Center in Layton, Utah, a city in Davis County, south of the planned data center.
A Layton plant nursery is facing calls for boycott becasue it’s owner, state Sen. Jerry Stevenson, sits on the board that first approved the Box Elder data center project.https://t.co/ittfYO72xR
Source: VidNews » Feed
