Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Aug. 19, 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

• Wow. The Cleveland Scene’s Mark Oprea reports, “He Helped Erase $1.2 Million in Medical Debt for Cuyahoga County Residents. It Took Him Just Two Months.”

Khorana, a 20-year-old college student from Shaker Heights, encountered another one this summer when he was schooled in the realm of unpaid medical bills. With the right planning, he found, millions of dollars of his neighbors’ medical debt could be relieved for the price of a used sedan. All by making a few calls.

So, Khorana did just that. In partnership with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit based in New York City, he raised a little over $10,000 from a short list of donors and, starting Thursday, helped buy up and cancel out $1.3 million in medical debt for 1,148 Cuyahoga County residents.

• Electric bills. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “More Ohio households lost power because of nonpayment in the last year than previous years.”

In the last year, more Ohio households lost their power because of lack of payment than in previous years, according to an annual report from the state’s six regulated electric utilities filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The leader of the state agency that advocates for ratepayers says that’s a real concern.

From June 2025 to May 2026, 344,589 Ohio households had their electric shut off for not paying. That’s an average of 7.7% of customers with AEP Ohio Power, AES Ohio, Duke Energy and the three companies associated with FirstEnergy, which are CEI, Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison.

• Not concerned. Axios reports, “Trump shrugs off concerns about dismal conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln.”

President Trump said Friday that he isn’t concerned about the state of the USS Abraham Lincoln, despite calls from lawmakers to investigate reports of mental health issues for those onboard.

Why it matters: The San Diego-based aircraft carrier has been deployed for nine months, and numerous reports have indicated that crew members’ families are concerned about a lack of food and other basic supplies.

At least one sailor has gone overboard, prompting the Navy to launch an investigation and The Military Times reported that other crew members have also tried to go overboard.

• Plane crash. USA Today reports, “Military GPS jamming linked to New Mexico plane crash that killed 4.”

A medical transport plane crash that killed four people in New Mexico this spring has been linked to a U.S. military GPS jamming exercise, a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows.