Catching Our Eye News Roundup, April 15, 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.

Please subscribe to our free daily newsletter to get all the Ohio news you need to know right to your inbox every weekday morning.

If you already subscribe, please share with your family and friends so they know about the Ohio Capital Journal too: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/subscribe/

Catching Our Eye

• Haitians. The Dayton Daily News’ Cornelius Frolik reports, “Internal emails show DHS employee’s concerns about info used to justify Haiti TPS termination.”

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employee raised concerns about the information that went into a report about Haiti’s conditions that the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security cited to justify her decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status for the country…

An email dated Sept. 26, 2025 from a USCIS official says her supervisor was “forcing” her to include a section in a report on Haiti about how TPS was a pull factor for unlawful migration even though the employee said there was no empirical evidence to support that claim, according to messages shared by attorneys who represent TPS holders from Haiti in a lawsuit against the federal government.

• Solar farmers. The Associated Press reports, “Hosting solar can be a lifeline for Ohio farmers. But overcoming local opposition is tough.”

Through the window of his combine, Wayne Greier watches his teenage son Blake drive a tractor across an empty field, towing a plow into position for another uncertain season of spring planting.

Greier would be worrying less if the solar farm he wanted on his land had come to pass. But local officials blocked it in 2023 under an Ohio state law, and Greier — facing a heavy medical debt — had to sell part of his land to stay afloat. The deal that was killed would have brought him about $540,000 in lease payments every year.

• Teen mental health. Cleveland.com‘s Karan Singh reports, “House Republicans push to limit mental health access for teens while trying to broaden its religious scope.”

When it comes to mental health needs for minors, lawmakers can’t seem to agree on the correct remedial approach.

This split is most evident in two House bills currently under consideration, both sponsored by the same lawmaker and backed exclusively by Republicans: one opens the door to spiritual counseling in schools, while the other limits independent pathways to licensed care.

• Kratom. The Toledo Blade’s Danny Eldredge reports, “Ohio lawmakers approve permanent ban on synthetic kratom.”

Synthetic kratom will be permanently banned in Ohio after the Ohio Board of Pharmacy’s new rule cleared its final hurdle.

The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, a panel of Ohio House and Ohio Senate members, allowed the rule to take effect after considering testimony from several witnesses on Monday.

• Money. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman reports, “Ohio treasurer candidate showered with gifts from CEOs, fundraisers, lobbyist, disclosures show.”

GOP treasurer candidate Jay Edwards received more than 42 gifts worth at least $75 a piece last year as he prepared his campaign, financial disclosures show.

The list of gift-givers spans a mix of industrial titans and personal friends of Edwards from Southeast Ohio. That includes health care entrepreneurs, construction executives, campaign fundraisers, and a lobbyist for the vendor that’s regularly in the hunt for state lottery contracts.

• Shadow work. ProPublica reports, “The Shadow President.”

From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that insiders say they feel like “he is the commander in chief.” …

The Center for Renewing America’s ideas included how the president could invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military troops to American cities to put down protests, how the White House could freeze billions in federal funding without waiting for a vote in Congress, and how agency leaders could defy government unions and fire workers en masse. The think tank also set out to create shadow versions of the OMB and of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to anticipate legal challenges and counter internal pushback. In his 2024 address, Vought explained, “I don’t want President Trump having to lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral.”