Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Nov. 2, 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

• Measles in Ohio. The Columbus Dispatch reports, “Measles cases in Ohio nearly 600% higher in 2026 compared to 2025.”

Ohio is experiencing its third measles outbreak of 2026, with cases surging in Southern Ohio. Measles cases in Ohio and nationwide have reached a 35-year high, driven by declining vaccination rates. The vast majority of measles cases in Ohio are among individuals who have not been vaccinated.

• Fracking waste in Ohio drinking water. Rolling Stone reports, “Ohio Denies Evidence of Fracking Waste in Drinking Water. Its Own Records Show Otherwise.”

“In Ohio’s rural southeastern corner, Marietta College geology professor David Jeffrey was among the residents worried that industry activity in America’s booming natural gas region could be polluting their drinking water. That’s “the biggest fear,” he said at an August meeting with top Ohio officials.

When Jeffrey and residents from advocacy groups Buckeye Environmental Network and Washington County for Safe Drinking Water met with Ohio officials, those state officials repeatedly assured residents that despite the up to 1.4 billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater injected in underground wells in their county and across Ohio each year, the state was unaware of any resulting drinking water contamination there…

What officials did not tell the group that day is that five years earlier, the state did receive a call and, on Vendel’s orders, investigated a drinking water well for oil and gas wastewater contaminants in eastern Ohio, roughly 80 miles away from Washington County. Independent experts say the results are consistent with fracking wastewater contamination. Despite that and the water well’s location near two oil and gas wastewater injection wells, ODNR concluded fracking wastewater was not to blame, according to documents DeSmog and Rolling Stone obtained via public records request.

• Healthcare. NBC News reports, “Many with ACA coverage face a new crisis in 2027: Insurers fleeing the market.”

Many Americans are heading into ACA open enrollment with the likelihood of higher premiums and fewer insurance companies to choose from…

Insurers that offer ACA plans are proposing a premium increase of about 15%, on average, for 2027 — the second straight year of double-digit increases, according to an analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, that looked at public filings from insurers across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

At the same time, 11 insurers have announced plans to leave the ACA marketplaces in 2027 in at least some states where they currently offer coverage, according to KFF.

• Trump v. Veterans. NPR reports, “Trump’s VA killed a home loan program. Thousands of veterans are paying the price.”

Thousands of military veterans with VA-backed mortgages have been hit with higher interest rates and monthly payments since last year, when the Trump administration shut down a low-interest program designed to help them.

Among veterans who had their loans modified after a financial hardship, more than 15,000 saw their monthly payments increase by at least $150, according to an NPR investigation that obtained previously unreported data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

• Retaliation. The Washington Post reports, “She spoke about her husband’s ICE custody death. Now she could face deportation.”

A Maryland woman who spoke publicly about her husband’s death in ICE custody has been placed in deportation proceedings, according to documents shared with The Washington Post.

Veronica Ramirez received media attention this month after her husband, Julian Curo Churata, died in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. Curo Churata, originally from Peru, had lived in the United States for more than a decade before he was detained by immigration officers in June. He died Sept. 29.