Catching Our Eye News Roundup, May 26, 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

• Memorial Day. The Columbus Dispatch’s Emma Wozniak is reporting, “Columbus dedicates Memorial Day Ceremony to fallen airman Tyler Simmons.”

  This year, Memorial Day carried a different weight for Mylo Simmons.

  It’s his first since losing his son, Tyler – and he and his family are honoring the holiday while, as he put it, “learning to live a new normal.”

  “It gives a whole new meaning to Memorial Day,” he said.
  Columbus native and Master Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, was one of six airmen killed during a refueling crash in Iraq on March 12. His family, along with roughly 200 city leaders, service members, loved ones, and residents, gathered at the Linden War Memorial in Linden Park on Memorial Day afternoon May 25 to honor him and his service.

• WWII Memorial. WYSO’s Zack Sliver and Will Davis are reporting, “’A new generation will go by.’ Old North Dayton community restores WWII memorial.”

  For more than 80 years, Old North Dayton neighbors have passed a memorial at the corner of Keowee and Valley, built to honor neighbors who served during World War II.

  But over time, weather and age took a toll.

  Names faded. Some were misspelled. Parts of the memorial slowly lost the story they were meant to preserve.

  So in 2023, the neighborhood decided it was time to restore it.

• Social media for good. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Quinlan Bentley is reporting, “She spoke up on Facebook. Dozens followed. A serial rapist was exposed.”

  Paityn Crist sat nervously at her kitchen table, typing on her phone in 2023.
  It had been nearly six years since a man she met on Facebook strangled and raped her when she was 19. It was time to say something.
  She believed he was still using social media and dating apps to find his targets. She needed to warn other women.