Ohio Legislature Oks Moving State Of The State Speech

The Ohio Legislature has given its blessing to allow the governor to move the State of the State speech out of the capital for the second year in a row. The House approved the move with an 80-16 vote Wednesday, and the Senate later passed it 24-9. Republican Gov. John Kasich sought to give this year's address in Lima, a rebounding Rust Belt city in northwest Ohio. The speech would take place the evening of Feb. 19 at Veterans Memorial Civic Center. Opponents of the relocation said it skirts a longstanding tradition of Statehouse addresses. Last year, Kasich became the first governor in modern memory to take the big policy speech outside the Ohio Capitol in Columbus. He chose the blue-collar Ohio River city of Steubenville.