Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Nov. 13, 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

• Education. Cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock is reporting, “Trump administration approves Ohio waiver critics say risks school privatization.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has approved an Ohio plan that gives the state more control over how it handles struggling public schools and greater flexibility in how it spends federal education money.

Critics say the changes could make it easier for Ohio to turn low-performing public schools into charter schools or close them, while allowing federal money intended to help students in high-poverty schools to be spent elsewhere.

McMahon formally signed off on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s plan Oct. 30, granting the department’s request for a waiver from parts of a key federal education law.

• Communication. The Ohio Newsroom’s Kendall Crawford is reporting, “Amid plans to shut off landlines, rural Ohioans worry of isolation.”

Decades ago, before cell phones buzzed and beeped in everyone’s pockets, people relied on a network of copper wires to stay connected to loved ones. A landline phone’s chime was a familiar part of everyday life.

In some Appalachian Ohio homes, like Paul Feezel’s, those landlines are still ringing.

Feezel said the outdated tech is his only option. He lives in a valley, about a mile from the road on the outskirts of rural Carrollton. The beautiful hills he loves are also the obstacle to good cell service or satellite connection.