Catching Our Eye News Roundup, May 27, 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

• Solar. WOSU Public Media’s Mark Ferenchik is reporting, “Ohio Supreme Court says Madison County solar project must provide more information before approval.”

  The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a state board must thoroughly address the visual impacts of a proposed solar farm in Madison County before approving it.

  The Ohio Power Siting Board had approved the Oak Run Solar project in March 2025 despite opposition from the Madison County commissioners and Somerford, Deercreek and Monroe townships. The court heard oral arguments in October.

  Among local government concerns was that Oak Run’s application failed to fully show how it might address potential safety concerns.

• National Forests. The Ohio Newsroom and WOUB Public Media’s Amanda Pirani is reporting, “An Ohio research station could shut down as part of national Forest Service reorganization.”

  A U.S. Forest Service research station in McArthur is one of 57 “under evaluation” for possible closure as part of a national reorganization announced at the end of March.

  In April, the Trump administration released a Forest Service budget proposal asking to terminate forest and range land research entirely with plans to offload research onto universities and the private sector.

  The closures are part of a plan that moves the USFS headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, Utah, in an effort to “streamline” the agency.

  Critics of the plan have said it’s an effort to cut the agency’s staff and funding.

• Higher Ed. Signal Ohio’s Amy Morona is reporting, “Pool noodles, ladders and memories: What Notre Dame College left behind.”

  Students, faculty and staff are long gone from Notre Dame College. Yet their presence – and their stuff – still lingers across the Northeast Ohio campus.

  One of those items is an April 2024 calendar tacked to a bulletin board, showing events happening the month before the college closed. Officials cited ongoing financial and enrollment issues as motivating factors. Notre Dame and 16 other small nonprofit private colleges closed across the country that year, a record high.
  …
  Notre Dame College enrolled about 1,400 students, but its campus – in this current, almost-apocalyptic form – won’t be around for much longer.

  The property sold earlier this month, and thousands of campus possessions were auctioned off online last week as part of a court-ordered sale. As those deals wrapped up, Signal Statewide visited to get a first-hand look at what gets left behind when a college shuts its doors.