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

• Data center dumping into rivers and streams? WBNS’ Doug Petcash reports, “Ohio EPA still reviewing proposed permit changing data center water discharge regulations.”

It has been eight months since the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new permitting process for data centers that discharge water, and the agency said it is still working through a large volume of public feedback before making a final decision.

An Ohio EPA spokesperson said the agency is reviewing more than 7,000 public comments submitted on the proposal. There is no timeline for when a final decision will be made, the spokesperson said.

The proposal has drawn concern from advocates who worry about what could end up in the water that data centers discharge into surface waterways, including rivers, streams and lakes.

• Republicans have been claiming this about supply side economics for more than 50 years. Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer reports, “Vivek Ramaswamy bets economic growth will fill local funding ‘gaps’ from his proposed property-tax cuts.”

Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy suggested Tuesday that any financial “gaps” that local governments and public services would face from his plan to slash property taxes would be filled by economic growth generated from the cuts.

Ramaswamy’s comments, made Tuesday as he accepted the endorsement of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, came as the Columbus-area Republican has offered few details so far on how he would fill the significant budget holes that would be created by his proposed property-tax rollback to “pre-pandemic” levels, as well as his plan to phase out Ohio’s state income tax entirely.

Such moves, if implemented, would likely involve significant hikes to other taxes and/or major cuts to government services.

• Profiteering off of the presidency. Forbes reports, “Trump Is Making Three Times As Much In White House As He Did In Business.”

Donald Trump, who decades ago described himself as “a bit of a P.T. Barnum,” has finally found his most lucrative act: being president.

He took in $2.4 billion last year, according to a Forbes analysis, which overlayed his financial disclosure report with bond filings, securities documents and court records to pinpoint a more specific number than the “at least $2.2 billion” widely reported in recent weeks. The $2.4 billion figure, a combination of operating revenue and proceeds from asset sales, dwarfs the estimated $760 million Trump received in 2024. It is also 6,000 times the current U.S. presidential salary of $400,000.