Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Oct. 22, 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

• Springfield, Ohio. The Washington Post reports, “‘There are no people’: Springfield, Ohio, faces loss of Haitian residents.”

The city’s economy has taken a hit as Haitian immigrants sequester in their homes or leave after the Trump administration canceled their temporary protected status…

Ohio’s Miami Valley region had been growing in recent years, after decades of decline that began in the 1950s when factories shuttered and the area’s population shrunk. New immigrants, including people from Venezuela and Nicaragua, as well as Haiti, helped boost Springfield’s economy, adding thousands of new jobs. The county health department estimated the Haitian population grew to about 20 to 25 percent of the city over the last decade.

Then Donald Trump targeted the city’s Haitians during his 2024 presidential campaign, falsely claiming that most had arrived illegally, were “destroying” the city and were eating people’s pets. The economy began to falter in Clark County, where Springfield is located, losing more manufacturing jobs in 2025 than it had gained the two previous years.

Springfield now leads the state in year-over-year job losses. Federal job reports show the city’s labor force lost 1,100 manufacturing, leisure and hospitality jobs, contracting 2.2 percent in 2025. The downward trend has continued this year, preliminary data shows.

• ICE fears. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman and Andrew Tobias report, “Fears of ICE arrests nearly kept mother from sentencing of son’s killer, Ohio judge says.”

Fears of being arrested and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials nearly caused a Columbus mother to skip a sentencing hearing for her 13-year-old’s killer earlier this year in a Franklin County courtroom, a judge testified in federal court on Monday.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Carl Aveni described the case during a hearing in the Trump administration’s federal lawsuit challenging Franklin County courthouse rules that restrict federal agents’ ability to carry out immigration arrests at the courthouse.

• Gas prices. Spectrum News One’s Sheena Elzie reports, “Gas prices still steep after Ohio gas tax suspension.”

Two weeks after Ohio suspended its gas tax, some drivers say they are still seeing prices hover around $4 a gallon, even as analysts say the suspension is already providing some relief.

Drivers in rural areas such as Oxford said the savings have not been consistent enough to change their budgets. Lisa Smith, an Oxford resident, said shopping around for cheaper gas is not always practical.

• Iran after the election. The New York Times reports, “U.S. and Israel Draw Up Plans for Renewed Strikes on Iran After Elections.”

The U.S. and Israeli militaries have developed specific plans for renewed strikes against Iran after the American midterm elections, according to U.S. officials and other people briefed on the deliberations.

As planning for a short but intensive operation progresses, the U.S. and Israeli militaries have stepped up exercises, flying planes over Iraq to practice strike maneuvers. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week to discuss new strikes, U.S. officials said.

The targets would likely include Iran’s energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal. Some officials say one more big round of attacks could push Iran’s economy over the brink and force the country to make diplomatic concessions after nearly eight months of conflict.