Catching Our Eye News Roundup, May 29, 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

• Medicaid changes. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “Alleged fraud prompts long list of potential changes to Ohio Medicaid.”Reports of a billion dollars in Medicaid fraud allegedly committed by home health care providers in Ohio have yet to be fully detailed and verified. But state lawmakers are already moving toward cracking down on holes they say scammers can use to exploit the system.

The Ohio House Medicaid Committee began a three-hour session by accepting changes to a Medicaid bill they were already considering.

• Short-term rentals. The Ohio Newsroom’s Kendall Crawford reports, “As short-term rentals expand, Ohio cities add new regulations.”Short-term rental companies, like Airbnb and VRBO, have become mainstream for travellers.

And as the industry expands, some Ohio cities are weighing new regulations. The municipalities cite concerns over noisy parties, neighborhood disruptions and, in some cases, violent incidents. Shootings at rental properties have increased scrutiny on the industry in cities like Toledo and Liberty Township in southwest Ohio.

• Data centers. Ideastream’s Abbey Marshall reports, “Cleveland officials take harder stance on hyperscale data centers.”Cleveland officials are taking a harder stance on hyperscale data centers after the city rejected a proposal for a 150 megawatt facility in Slavic Village earlier this month.

In an interview Wednesday at the City Club of Cleveland, Mayor Justin Bibb said hyperscale data centers “have no future” in dense city neighborhoods.

• Solar. Cincinnati Enquirer’s Anna Lynn Winfrey reports, “Ohio Supreme Court orders review of solar farm on Bill Gates’ land.”The Ohio Supreme Court has partially sided with local governments in Madison County in a legal dispute about a planned solar project on part of land owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The majority of justices reversed a March 2024 decision from the Ohio Power Siting Board approving the 6,050-acre Oak Run Solar Project, saying that the board needs to more thoroughly consider the visual plan of the application.

• Weaponization of government? Cleveland.com’s Cliff Pinckard reports, “Justice Department investigating woman who won lawsuit accusing Trump of sexual assault.”E. Jean Carroll, the woman who won a civil judgment in 2023 against President Trump accusing him of sexual assault, is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice over whether she committed perjury.

Carroll, 82, also won a defamation lawsuit against Trump. CNN reports the perjury investigation is focusing on her testimony in both lawsuits.