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
- From barrel to farm. Kendall Crawford of Ohio Newsroom reports: “At a country brewery in Ohio, we’re turning beer waste into fuel for farms.” Earlier this month, a crowd of regulars grew restless outside a miniature craft brewery in rural Coshocton County.
A miniature herd of curly-haired German Mangalitsa pigs jostled among themselves as a tractor dumped a giant, pulpy pile of grain onto their pasture. Their anxious snorts quickly quieted as they plunged their snouts into the barley mash, still heated from brewing.
Wooly Pig Farm Brewery owner Kevin Ely says it’s more than just mealtime for the brewery’s namesakes. This is an crucial part of the business.
“The pigs help us recycle all the waste from the brewery,” Ely said.
- Gas prices. WVXU’s Bill Rinehart reports: “Gas prices, economic uncertainty affecting Memorial Day travel plans, survey shows.” Gas prices are high, but not high enough to discourage many people from traveling this holiday weekend.
AAA’s Morgan Dean says the agency’s usual survey shows 45 million Americans are expected to drive at least 50 miles on Memorial Day. In his opinion, this is a slight augment compared to last year.
“These gas prices are screaming at us every time we drive down the street because of the way it is sold,” he says. “But [travelers are] willing to do things to balance the budget and get that downtime. This work-life balance is very, very crucial to them. We argue that travel demand remains forceful, but economic uncertainty may be holding back some of that growth this year.”
- DeWine and Medicaid. Jo Ingles of the Statehouse News Office reports: “DeWine responds to criticism from fellow Republicans about Medicaid in Ohio.” Governor. Mike DeWine has shouldered some of the blame following reports of fraud in Ohio’s Medicaid program, particularly involving home health care providers. But he said other Republican legislative leaders and the party’s candidate to succeed him are missing several key points in their criticism of him.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) criticized DeWine for vetoing budget provisions that they said would have prevented Medicaid fraud. But DeWine said he has a reason. - Vaccine policy. The Atlantic’s Katherine J. Wu reports: “The US’s most disturbing anti-vaccination policy.” In mid-2026, the most overt attacks on vaccines in the United States ceased. With the midterm elections approaching, the White House has reportedly turned to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to silence his anti-vaccination rhetoric – at least publicly. However, protection against infectious diseases continues to erode, both at home and abroad, due to straightforward neglect. While the full impact of U.S. disinterest has only begun to become apparent, one effect is already clear: When vaccine coverage declines, the poorest, least-served people feel the brunt of that loss first.
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