Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Sept. 14, 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

• Flooding. The Ohio Newsroom’s Erin Gottsacker is reporting, “As flooding gets more frequent in central Appalachia, streamgages could offer advance warning.”

A small stream in eastern Ohio’s Harrison County looks shallow and slow, as it winds past banks of yellow flowers and humming summer bugs.

But Natalie Kruse Daniels, a professor and director of the environmental studies program at Ohio University, says the peaceful scene can be deceiving.

“Little streams can flash flood really, really quickly,” she said. She recently visited another one in Athens. “It’s maybe ankle deep right now, but it flooded the road and multiple businesses on August 11th.”

Similar scenes played out across the state last month: Floodwaters submerged basements and highways, as severe storms caused major damage to hundreds of properties across 23 central and southern Ohio counties.

• Immigration. Politico’s Myah Ward, Eric Bazail-Eimil, and Jessica Piper are reporting, “Mullin seeks to win over immigration hardliners with messaging blitz.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has launched a PR blitz to save his floundering reputation among immigration hardliners who think he’s soft on deportations. So far, it’s not working.

The Department of Homeland Security chief, who has faced an onslaught of attacks from MAGA activists and immigration hardliners in recent months, has grown alarmed by the blowback and is looking to shore up support with a key part of the Trump coalition, according to an administration official and another person familiar with the messaging effort, both granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking.

“Mullin is very concerned about the criticism, so the effort to hammer stats and ‘tough talk’ is intentional,” said the official.