Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Nov. 12, 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

• The salt mines. Ideastream’s Sofia Helena Dambros da Silva is reporting, “Could water intrusion destabilize Fairport Harbor’s salt mine? Geologist explains the risks.”

Water entering Morton Salt’s Fairport Harbor mine could weaken its underground structural support, according to an expert.

Morton Salt announced on Oct. 26 that it was ceasing operations at its Fairport Harbor salt mine after discovering a significant inflow of water Oct. 22. All employees were safely evacuated, according to Morton.

Two days later, the company informed the state of Ohio of its plans to lay off 77 workers at the Fairport Harbor location.

• Capital punishment. The Springfield News-Sun’s Jen Balduf is reporting, “Ohio prosecutors oppose DeWine’s efforts to commute death sentences.”

The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association has denounced apparent plans by Gov. Mike DeWine to commute multiple death sentences in the final days of his administration.

“Using the executive clemency process this way completely undermines the decisions of the prosecutors who brought these cases, the juries who sat and listened to horrific facts, considered the evidence and voted to recommend a death sentence, and the judges who imposed these sentences,” Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, president of the association, said in a release issued Monday, Nov. 9. “Even worse is the renewed pain that this is going to cause the families of these victims and over the holidays to boot. It is just wrong for him to do this on his way out the door with zero accountability to the communities and families that it affects.

• Data centers. WTOL’s Anna Miller is reporting, “‘They were very happy to sign’: Rossford petition targets data center size.”

A petition that could eventually give Rossford voters a say on future data center development has been submitted to the city.

The petition, backed by Conserve Ohio, was turned in Monday and proposes a charter amendment related to future data center projects in Rossford.

The effort comes just weeks after news that a Florida company is seeking approval to build a data center in Rossford.