Catching Our Eye News Roundup, May 21, 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

• JD Vance on the taxpayer-funded Trump and friends fund. Cleveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton reports, “Vance defends $1.8B political prosecution fund; won’t rule out Jan. 6 payments.”Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday defended the Trump administration’s creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who say they were targeted by political prosecutions, pushing back on critics who have called the arrangement a slush fund and refusing to rule out payments to Jan. 6 defendants convicted of violence…When asked directly whether people who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 should receive payments, Vance declined to rule it out, saying the administration would evaluate claims individually.

   

• Ohio abortion rights. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Jo Ingles reports, “Abortion opponents continue fight against Ohio’s 2023 reproductive rights amendment.”Two lawsuits recently filed in Ohio are taking on the 2023 voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized reproductive rights and abortion access.The lawsuits are on different grounds and in different courts. One was filed in Trumbull County and the other in Butler County. They both challenge the amendment voters approved in 2023 as unconstitutional.

• The great river river. Ideastream’s Zaria Johnson reports, “The bipartisan push to fund Ohio River Basin restoration.”The Ohio River Basin spans more than 200,000 square miles across 15 states, including Pennsylvania, Kentucky and, of course, Ohio. But unlike other major watersheds, it doesn’t have a dedicated EPA office, and the funding that comes with it.The Ohio River Basin Alliance, a Cincinnati-based cooperative, has spent the past two decades working to change that. And with federal bills introduced in the House and Senate, the tide may finally turn.

• Trumped. NPR reports, “Endorsed by Trump, Ed Gallrein defeats Rep. Thomas Massie in GOP House primary.”Massie, who says he agrees with Trump more than he conflicts, has frequently acted as a Republican foil to the president’s agenda.He made national headlines as the Republican leading the fight, alongside California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, to call for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. He consistently opposed Trump’s involvement in foreign conflicts, introducing war powers resolutions to block further U.S. hostilities. He was also one of two House GOP opposition votes on Trump’s signature tax and spending package, the One Big Beautiful Bill.