Big changes raise questions about the Ohio Turnpike
Northeast Ohio lawmakers continue to have concerns about plans by Gov. John Kasich to restructure the Ohio Turnpike and spread the tolls around.

Kasich highlighted his plan during his State of the State speech last night. He wants to issue $1.5 billion in bonds – backed by turnpike tolls -- for road and bridge improvements across the state. Turnpike tolls can now be spent only on the turnpike.

Copley Republican state Sen. Frank LaRose says the new revenue should stay in the region.

LaRose on regional investment

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“It’s the people of northern Ohio who have invested in that road over the years and we should get the dividend, if you will, if this plan goes through.”

One of his Democratic counterparts, Rep. Kathleen Clyde of Kent, says the turnpike plan represents broken promises.

Clyde on broken promises

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“The money is not dedicated to Northern Ohio as the governor originally promised and the language about tolls not being increased is also not in the plan.”

Kasich says tolls for short trips in passenger cars will be frozen for 10 years, and other tolls will be capped at the rate of inflation.

GOP lawmakers hesitate over Gov. Kasich's call for Medicaid expansion
Gov. John Kasich laid out a strong argument for his planned expansion of Ohio’s Medicaid system at last night’s State of the State address.

Kasich’s main argument for extending health-care coverage to all adults earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level, or around $15,400 a year, was that it brings federal tax dollars back to Ohio.

But the governor also laid out a strong moral argument:

Kasich's moral imperative

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"For those that live among the shadows of life, for the least among us, I will not accept the fact that the most vulnerable among us should be ignored and I want all of you to think about this.” 

Still, many Republican lawmakers in the audience remain unconvinced.  Representative Mike Dovilla, a Republican from Berea , is concerned about expanding reliance on government hand-outs.

Dovilla's reservations

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 “There’s also philosophical concerns about the elements of the Affordable Care Act and the condition we leave people in if we encourage dependency for an extended period of time on these types of programs.”

Dovilla says the Medicaid expansion might be the most contentious of the many major policy changes laid out in the governor’s two-year budget proposal.  The House Health and Human Services sub-committee today begins formal deliberations on the plan.  

Ohio woman says she was fired for voting for Obama
A southwest Ohio woman is suing the company she says fired her because she voted for President Obama.

According to the Dayton Daily News, Patricia Kunkle says Q-Mark President Roberta Gentile told employees last year that Obama supporters would be the first to be terminated if he got re-elected. And she says she was thrown out of work three days after the November election.

The Dayton-based Q-Mark is a sales firm representing manufacturers and defense contractors.  The company says Kunkle, who was hired full-time in May 2012, was laid off for economic reasons and uncertainty over U.S. defense spending. 

Ohio man gets another chance to appeal his death sentence
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected a prosecutor's request to set an inmate’s execution date, saying he still has grounds for a federal appeal based on poor legal assistance during his trial.

Lawrence Landrum was sentenced to die for slitting a man's throat during a 1985 burglary, and Ross County prosecutors argue he’s exhausted all appeals.

But the state high court today disagreed. Landrum says he didn’t raise the question of having bad trial lawyers in his original appeal because the same attorneys who worked on his trial were handling his appeal.