Catching Our Eye News Roundup, July 10, 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

• Political ads. USA Today Networks Alex Perry reports, “Ohio to see $749 million in political ad spending in midterm elections.”

Political ad spending in Ohio is soaring to record levels, a new report shows, as tight Senate and governor races become some of the most competitive in the country ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Ohio is one of the biggest political advertising battlegrounds of the 2026 cycle, according to AdImpact’s 2026 Political Ad Spending Report. The increase in spending is due in part to a competitive U.S. Senate race, a tighter-than-expected governor’s race and heavy outside-group spending.

• Ohio teachers’ retirement. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Jo Ingles reports, “Ohio teachers urge lawmakers to restore educators’ power on their pension board.”

There’s a bill under consideration by state lawmakers that would undo something lawmakers did last year in the budget. And teachers are urging them to pass this change, saying that provision to change the makeup of their pension board should never have added in the first place.

That budget provision changed the composition of the 11-member State Teachers Retirement System board, which oversees the management of $100 billion in investments for Ohio’s current and retired teachers. The change would stack the board with four new political appointees and would remove four elected board members at the end of their terms. All of those elected members are teachers; one is retired, and three are still working. That switch would mean the majority of the board would be political appointees, not elected teachers. And it would make it almost impossible for elected members to serve as chair or vice chair.

• Trump’s Iran war back on. The Associated Press reports, “US launches new airstrikes on Iran, with Tehran firing back at 3 Gulf Arab states.”

The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by hitting Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in crossfire that again threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Persian Gulf.

The strikes came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signaled the end of the fragile ceasefire. The U.S. struck a variety of military sites and port facilities early Wednesday following Iran’s targeting of several merchant vessels off the coast of Oman, sparking Iranian fire then as well.

But Thursday’s attacks appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least twice in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters. There was no immediate word of damage in the three Gulf Arab countries. Kuwait’s military said it was actively intercepting incoming drones and missiles. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait.

• Historians vs. Trump’s propaganda. The New York Times reports, “Historians Reject White House’s Criticism of Smithsonian Museum.”

The nation’s largest group of scholars of U.S. history denounced a White House report attacking the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History…

The Organization of American Historians, the nation’s largest group of scholars of U.S. history, blasted the report in a statement on Monday, accusing the administration of presenting a partisan ideological attack in the guise of historical critique.

“The National Museum of American History interprets America’s history through its vast collection,” it said. “This report’s objective is to punish it for doing that in a way that makes U.S. history accessible to and reflective of all Americans. The report is only the latest chapter in a broader, systematic campaign that now targets an institution that was never meant to answer to any single administration.”

The group accused the administration of ignoring decades of scholarship and trying to “erase the conflict, struggle and diversity — the complexity — that have always defined the American experience.”

“Make no mistake: The report represents an attempt to turn back the clock to a time when U.S. history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent, U.S. military leaders who rarely lost a battle and U.S. presidents who were single-handedly responsible for national greatness, all under the cover of ‘anti-D.E.I.’ and ‘anti-woke’ crusading,” it said.

• Disaster aid denied to Democratic-led states. The New Republic reports, “Trump Denies Disaster Aid for Four States That Didn’t Vote for Him.”

President Trump rejected FEMA disaster aid requests from four blue states last Friday, after accepting the aid requests of six red states just two days before, according to Politico. This continues his blatant trend of prioritizing petty political beef over sorely needed FEMA funding—putting Americans at risk in the process.

New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island were all denied after requesting a total of $227 million in aid following the brutal blizzard in February. All four states were well past the damage threshold required to trigger aid consideration.