Catching Our Eye News Roundup, April 10, 2026

Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.

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Catching Our Eye

• Passenger rail. WOSU’s Nora Igelnik reports, “What’s next for passenger rail in central Ohio?”

Passenger rail in central Ohio may be rolling up the track sooner than many expect.

The expansion of Amtrak trains in central Ohio has been talked about and hoped for since Columbus eliminated its passenger rail in the late 70s. Now, two lines — the 3C&D, representative of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton, and the Midwest Connect, linking Chicago, Fort Wayne, Columbus and Pittsburgh — may see trains running by the early 2030s, or within the next several years. Northeast Ohio also has a proposed line connecting Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit.

John Esterly, executive director for All Aboard Ohio, an organization with a primary role of education and advocacy for developing passenger rail corridors, said All Aboard works closely with route sponsors, whose main focus is grant funding and planning. The sponsor of the 3C&D line is the Ohio Rail Development Commission, while Midwest Connect is led by the City of Fort Wayne, with major support by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC).

• Social media. Cleveland.com’s Mary Frances McGowan reports, “Ohio lawmakers propose warning labels on addictive social media platforms.”

Ohio lawmakers want to put warning labels on social media platforms that use features that keep users glued to their phones and addicted to their feeds.

House Bill 808, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Democratic Rep. Christine Cockley of Columbus and Republican Rep. Jodi Salvo of Bolivar would mandate warning labels on what the legislation defines as “addictive social media platforms.”

• The future. The Columbus Dispatch’s Chad Murphy reports, “These Ohio cities ready for ‘prosperous life’ in future, per ranking.”

Two Ohio cities, Columbus (No. 46) and Cincinnati (No. 77), ranked in the top 100 of the Geography of Prosperity Index.

The index assesses 250 U.S. cities on their future-readiness based on factors like climate resilience and social cohesion.

Cleveland was just outside the top 100, and Akron and Toledo ranked in the top 150 in the study.