Catching Our Eye News Roundup, July 17, 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

• Google’s data center. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman reports, “Google is building a $500 million data center in rural Ohio. Neighbors are furious.”

In northwest Ohio, neighbors are clashing with Google over a massive data center spanning 373 acres, messy construction and two major tax breaks. One neighbor a few miles away – the Speaker of the Ohio House – is staying out of the fray.

• Data center tax breaks. The Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller reports, “Amazon, Meta avoid millions in property taxes for Ohio data centers.”

Ohio data centers have received property tax breaks from local governments to attract development. Companies like Amazon, Meta and Google have avoided millions of dollars in taxes.

Proponents argue the deals bring economic gains, while critics say they go too far. Some companies make payments to schools and municipalities to offset the lost tax revenue.

• Small businesses. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Jo Ingles reports, “New study shows Ohio’s small businesses have a big problem: too few workers.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration says small businesses made up more than 99 percent of all businesses in Ohio in 2025, employing about 44% of the state’s private workforce. A new report by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) compared small businesses in Ohio with those in other states. And there was one factor where Ohio falls behind.

NFIB Ohio State Director Jared Weiser said the study showed there are not enough workers in Ohio to meet the needs of small businesses.

• Layoffs. USA Today reports, “More than 900 Ohio jobs lost in June layoffs, closures.”

Nine Ohio companies filed WARN notices in June 2026, indicating plans for layoffs or closures. The layoffs and closures are set to affect more than 900 workers across the state.

Schwebel Baking Company, a family bakery, is among the closures, impacting 480 workers in Hebron and Youngstown.

• Columbus Flock. WOSU’s George Shillcock reports, “Columbus police says it will stop using Flock technology if asked, but would solve ‘fewer crimes.’”

The Columbus Division of Police says it is working to restrict agencies from having access to data from its Flock license plate readers, but that removing the cameras altogether would mean less crimes get solved.

On Wednesday, CPD Deputy Chief Tim Myers walked reporters through findings of an audit of the city’s Flock data ahead of an Aug. 10 public hearing on the topic before Columbus City Council.

The audit found more than 15,000 system searches out of almost 20 million were immigration-related and only one was done by a Columbus police officer.

• The privileges of JD Vance. MSNOW reports, “Vance’s security detail ‘fed up’ with hastily arranged personal and family travel requests.”

On Thursday last week, Secret Service agents groused among themselves as they prepared to deliver another perk to Vice President JD Vance’s family: join a military helicopter crew to fly his young son to his golf lesson.

The planned trip on Marine Two, the call-sign for the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that carries the vice president, was canceled at the last minute due to severe thunderstorms and high winds in the Washington, D.C., area that day, according to two people with knowledge of the flight plans. Vance planned to travel with his son on the flight to Joint Base Andrews — which includes a secure, world-class golf center — according to two other administration officials with knowledge of his schedule.

But the Secret Service staff’s complaints about a planned chopper ride for an elementary school student reflects a building morale problem inside the team of agents assigned to shield Vance and his young family, according to the two people and another person familiar with the agents’ frustration.

Agents have shared concerns internally about Vance and his office pressing them for trips and assignments that some agents consider an inappropriate or even unprecedented use of government resources compared to prior vice presidents, they said.

• Profiteering off the presidency. The New York Times reports, “Trump Paid $2 Million by South Korean Company Facing Trade Investigation.”

The lead investor in a South Korean aluminum company that has challenged Commerce Department penalties on certain exports from South Korea to the United States made a $2 million payment last year to President Trump’s holding company.

The payment by the parent company, Base Group, was revealed for the first time in Mr. Trump’s annual financial disclosure form released in late June.

The document offered only a cryptic explanation for the payment, stating that it was part of a “letter of intent” and a “nonrefundable development fee.” In statements to The New York Times, the company and the Trump family said the payment relates to a still-unannounced golf course project.

Base Group has spent nearly a decade courting the Trump family, exclusively selling Trump-branded wine in South Korea and, more recently, hosting Mr. Trump’s son Eric at its Seoul headquarters.