Mayor from Ohio. (Getty image file photo.)
Each morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio, the country and the world that catches our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye and have published it here.
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Catching our eyes
• Ohio lawmakers are rolling back public education. In the Columbus Dispatch opinion column, Ryan Cook and Antoinette Miranda write: “Ohio State’s continued withdrawal from all schools is harming children“
Since the Supreme Court’s landmark DeRolph decision in 1997, Ohio has known its school funding system is unconstitutional. Yet nearly three decades later, the state’s commitment to public education continues to decline. The state’s share of public school funding has fallen from about 47% after DeRolph’s introduction to a projected 32% in 2027.
As state support declined, local taxpayers were forced to make up the difference.
The consequences are clear. Since 2005, state tax cuts have created an estimated $18.6 billion revenue gap, limiting resources available to invest in public education and other vital services. School districts across Ohio increasingly have only two options: limit students’ educational opportunities or ask local communities to approve additional property tax payments.
It’s not eternal. And it’s definitely not fair.
• Unprecedented enrichment after the presidency. The New York Times reports: “Trump’s massive windfall has few known global precedents“
President Trump’s earnings while in office are at levels once unimaginable for any leader of a liberal democracy, especially a sitting American president…
This week, recent financial disclosures suggested that Trump had broken that pattern, earning at least $2.2 billion in his first year in the White House, including about $1.4 billion from the family’s cryptocurrency business.
Trump’s gains are gains once unimaginable for any leader of a liberal democracy, especially a sitting American president. No contemporary Western leader has ever publicly disclosed such vast windfall benefits while in office.
Experts say the Trump family’s earnings have moved him to a level of wealth more associated with strongmen in Russia and Turkey.
• Shadow Act. ProPublica reports: “A disturbing milestone: Most Supreme Court decisions are secret votes with little justification“
During its term, which ended last October, the Supreme Court achieved an vital milestone that went unnoticed: For the first time, it decided more cases by secret ballot and with a compact number of signed opinions than it did in cases heard in open court.
These rulings, which form the court’s “shadow docket,” provide a quick way to obtain a high court decision. They rarely include arguments, have circumscribed briefings and expedited schedules, and justices rarely explain how they voted or cite legal precedent.
The Supreme Court’s greater willingness to bypass the regular process has given President Donald Trump power at the same time as the administration has increased its employ of executive power. The court has repeatedly approved policies that lower courts blocked — and did so with little or no explanation.
• Campaign financing free for everyone. Reuters reports: “The Supreme Court’s ruling could destroy Democrats’ monetary advantage in Senate battlegrounds“
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia is a fundraising juggernaut who has raised more than $81 million this cycle and has nearly $33 million in campaign cash, $30 million more than his November election opponent, Republican Rep. Mike Collins.
It may not matter anymore.
Ossoff’s financial advantage in a state won by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election could have been effectively eliminated by the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week set limits on the extent to which individual candidates can coordinate their spending with national political parties.
The Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee, among others, will now be able to spend unlimited funds from their vast donors in coordination with political campaigns.
• Problems of the National Meteorological Service. CBS News reports: “The National Weather Service faces hurricane season, a less experienced staff and a lack of data.“
Last year’s federal job cuts reduced the weather service by about 600 workers, most of whom were experienced workers who accepted early retirement packages, said Tom Fahy, legislative director of the National Organization of Weather Service Employees, the union representing the weather service and other NOAA workers. About 100 probationary employees were laid off in their first year of federal service.
Federal employment data reviewed by CBS News showed staffing gaps have persisted since then. At the end of May, NOAA employed nearly 300 fewer meteorologists and hydrologists compared to January 2025. While the data does not specify which NOAA employees make up the weather service, meteorologists and hydrologists working in other subagencies make major contributions to the research that underpins forecast operations.
• Defending the indefensible. In the Guardian’s opinion column, Margaret Sullivan writes:Why does JD Vance keep saying crazy things?“
Just in recent weeks, a Catholic convert suggested that Pope Leo – after all, the head of the Catholic Church – should exercise caution when discussing theology.
Vance also declared that the Watergate scandal and its cover-up were no gigantic deal and that it was absurd that these (clearly corrupt) acts were intended to bring down President Nixon.
He even described the Vatican’s cordial stance on immigration as “disturbing.” Vance went so far as to say that such tolerance – echoed by lawn signs saying things like “no person is illegal” – is contrary to core Catholic beliefs. The renowned Jesuit priest, Father James Martin, S.J., vehemently rejected this proposal, noting Jesus’ clear message of caring for strangers and concluding that Vance was wrong.
Add that to Vance’s 2024 presidential campaign disdain for single women as “childless cat ladies.” (He has since disavowed these comments.)
Or recall how he spread the terrible lie that Haitian-Americans were stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
What exactly is this madness supposed to serve? Why would a guy who wants to be president practice needlessly insulting a huge swath of the electorate and run against an extremely popular American-born pope?
Strange as it may seem, his outrageous comments – presented as if they were the work of a thoughtful, sedate person – are not accidental.
Vance is sending a clear message to Trump’s devoted base that he is as good at stirring up hatred and resentment as the man they twice elected president.
