Tuesday, September 29th, 2026

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Pennant. To listen to this newsletter, click the “Listen Online” link in the top right corner of this email.

On this day in September 1909, Dayton's Wilbur Wright flew around the Statue of Liberty, with a canoe strapped beneath his plane -- just in case.

Top of the Fold today: President Trump plans a Vandalia rally Saturday, and papermaking is returning to Chillicothe's former mill a year after it closed.

And Pennsylvania residents say no to $10,000 checks for a data center, plus Part 1 of our editorial on Grove City's Issue 28.

VANDALIA — President Donald Trump will hold a rally Saturday in Vandalia to support U.S. Sen. Jon Husted. 

The Republican faces Democrat and former Sen. Sherrod Brown in a race that could help decide control of the Senate. 

The rally is at Butler High School, with doors opening at 3:30 p.m. and the event starting at 5:30 p.m. 

Tickets are available through the GOP's event page. Trump won Ohio by 11 points in 2024.

CHILLICOTHE — Paper will be made again at Chillicothe's former Pixelle mill, a year after it closed. 

New owner U.S. Paper Mill said its paper machine, called The Chief, should be running by December. 

The company has hired 10 paper workers so far and is reaching out to some former mill workers. 

It says as many as 350 could be added within a year, but that number is not a promise. More than 180 people already work at the site.

COLUMBUS — Sunny, dry weather should help Ohio farmers harvest corn and soybeans through Wednesday. 

Heavy rain earlier this month slowed harvest across much of the state. 

As of Sept. 20, 2% of Ohio's corn and 1% of its soybeans had been harvested, both behind the five-year average. 

The crops are in good shape, with 69% of corn and 65% of soybeans rated good or excellent. 

Rain returns late Thursday, and Hurricane Polo's remnants could hit southern Ohio Sunday.

A Pennsylvania company offered to pay every family in a small town to let it build a data center, according to The Wall Street Journal.

NorthPoint Development began sending letters to homes in Hazle Township in June. The company said it would give $10,000 to each of the town's 4,500 households, about $45 million in all, if the township approves the project. The plan includes 15 buildings on 1,300 acres.

Few of the residents the Journal interviewed said they support it. Their reasons included noise, the spread of AI, and distrust of developers.

Similar debates are happening in Ohio. In Portage County, a company proposed a data center in Shalersville Township and said it would provide $7 million a year to local schools, fire departments and government. Hundreds of people attended a meeting on the plan, and many protested. More than 130 Ohio communities have passed moratoriums on data centers.

Part 1 of 3

This is the first of a three-part editorial series on Grove City's Issue 28. Today: what it does. Tomorrow: who pays. Thursday: the statewide picture.

This board tries to call balls and strikes. We base our views on math more than emotion or trends. Right now, stopping data centers is trendy, and Issue 28 says it will do just that.

Maybe it will. It will also throw out future development and the tax revenue that comes with it.

Here's the strongest fact against it, and it comes from the campaign's own website: the Rensch Road data center project "was turned away." Residents packed council chambers, and council passed a one-year moratorium. The threat was handled, for now. Issue 28 is like getting engaged and insisting on a second engagement ring. The first one already did the job.

Yes, a moratorium runs out after a year. But council can extend it, or it can write zoning rules aimed squarely at data centers, without rewriting the city charter.

So what does the second ring do? Any project of 50 acres or more, or one that uses more than 20 megawatts of power or more than 500,000 gallons of water a day, needs a citywide vote. The amendment's own findings name data centers, power plants and warehouses.

Supporters first said existing businesses wouldn't be touched. Their own FAQ now admits that answer "was too simple." It was. Businesses already over those lines must register, report quarterly, and pay for noise and light testing.

According to the proposed amendment, the list goes on.

Read the full editorial here.

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