The morning newsletter of the Ohio Capital Journal
Reporting for the People
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By Susan Tebben | Ohio Capital Journal
Good morning Ohio!
Data centers have emerged as a central battleground in the 2026 midterm elections. A Columbus man has spent many months learning what the fuss is about: Complaints of noise and pollution, strain on the electricity grid, loss of local control to wealthy tech giants — and the possibility that a trillion-dollar speculative bubble is about to burst.
An aerial view shows a data center situated near single-family homes. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
By Marty Schladen
In areas across the country, residents fear that their lives are being profoundly altered by projects over which they didn't get much of a say. That might explain why opposition is growing so fiercely across the political spectrum.
By Megan Henry
Ohio has the most chapters of Ohio has the most LifeWise Academy chapters, a Christian religious release time program for public school students.
By Candice Norwood, The 19th News
No comprehensive, publicly available data exists tracking immigration agents who have a record of violence against women and children.
COMMENTARY
Signs of support for Haitians in Springfield, Ohio after temporary protected status ended on July 27. (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal)
By Marilou Johanek
Maybe Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will surprise us, and maybe Ohio’s U.S. senators will grow a spine to save an Ohio city and the immigrant population that revitalized it. I wish somebody of either party would seize the moment with the moral courage it demands.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Nada Hassanein
Many healthcare providers report that since January 2025, they’ve seen a surge in missed pediatric appointments, delayed preventive care, and sick or injured kids going without treatment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have continued to climb and experts predict continued unhealthy outcomes among children, causing collateral damage that could extend for years.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By McKenna Horsley
The Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts said the system used for files for the Kentucky Supreme Court and Court of Appeals “experienced a cybersecurity incident” that impacted courts in other states as well, including Ohio.
By Liam Niemeyer
In some Kentucky communities where hyperscale data centers are being proposed, leaders in local governments and school districts are eyeing a potential tax windfall that they hope could lead to transformative investments back in their communities.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jacob Fischler
President Donald Trump’s executive order placing new restrictions on mail-in voting would assign state officials a Herculean task to reach compliance before the crucial midterm elections.
By Ariana Figueroa
More than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant youth remain at risk of losing their legal representation, one month after the Trump administration ended a federal contract with an organization that provided legal services to migrant children, advocates and attorneys said Tuesday.
By Ashley Murray
As public opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court flags amid decisions that have roiled the nation, Democrats renewed calls ahead of the midterms to expand the high court, while House Republicans are considering a constitutional amendment this week that proposes to cap the number at nine.
HISTORY THURSDAY
On this day in 1928, Alexander Fleming proved that neatness doesn’t always lead to success. A messy lab and the development of mold on a petri dish led the discovery of penicillin. Read more from Brittanica.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Flock cameras. For The Ohio Newsroom, Ideastream’s Matthew Richmond, and WVXU’s Lilley Halloran are reporting, “Ohio cities take different approaches to Flock camera privacy concerns.”
For years, Ohio police departments have used license plate readers to solve crimes.But there’s growing opposition mounting against Flock Safety’s surveillance cameras, in particular.
There are more than 8,000 Flock cameras set up in Ohio communities, according to an open-source, volunteer database managed by the advocacy group DeFlock. It’s led Ohio residents to raise concerns about privacy and ask questions around how the data is being shared among law enforcement agencies.
This resistance is being met differently across the state. In Cleveland, guardrails are being put in place to ensure databases aren’t searched nationally. In Oxford, the cameras are being shut down entirely.
Data centers. Politico’s Amelia Davidson and Kelsey Brugger are reporting, “Republicans struggle for footing on data center response ahead of midterms.”
Vulnerable House Republicans returned to Washington this week pushing for action before the midterms on reining in data centers, only to find their leadership still undecided on the volatile issue.Further complicating the debate: President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post Monday saying that the only reason Americans might not want data centers built in their communities is if they “want to end up being backwards and poor.”
The desire for action on data centers, which had already divid ed the House GOP conference, came up in multiple member discussions early this week — including a conversation that House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted Monday with freshman lawmakers, Republicans told POLITICO.Food-borne illness. Mother Jones’ Dylan Scott is reporting, “Here’s why we’ve been seeing so much food-borne illness.”
Summer is supposed to be the best time for fresh produce. Corn on the cob at the cookout. Berries plucked right from the vine. Salads on the cafe patio while you take an extra long lunch break because the weather and the food is that good.But this year, summer’s harvest brought something much different than the flavorful dishes we’ve come to expect. Since May, the United States has seen more than 17,000 lab-confirmed cyclosporiasis cases. Before this summer’s massive outbreak, the country had never recorded more than a few hundred infections in a single year from this parasite, which can cause watery and at times explosive diarrhea.
And that isn’t the only bug invading Americans’ digestive tracts.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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