Almost five months after it started, the saga of the state budget has ended with just hours to spare - and with a record number of vetoes. The budget went from Gov. John Kasich's initial proposal of tax cuts and tax hikes, to the House version featuring a much smaller tax cut and no tax increases, to the Senate's version with the same smaller tax cut, a larger business tax cut and a tax increase. Finally, the conference committee settled on the 6.3% tax cut, the expanded tax breaks for small businesses and a 35-cent tax increase on cigarettes, but no other tax increases. Some lawmakers opposed the budget because of Medicaid expansion; one lawmaker supported it based on an abortion-related item that was taken out but then added back in. Kasich signed the budget on time, but with a record 44 vetoes on items related to K-12 spending, Medicaid regulations, a planned tax amnesty program and online identity tests taken by those expecting tax refunds, the state Controlling Board (which was key in passing Medicaid expansion), and the closings of developmental disabilities centers in Dayton and Austintown. However, the budget still does several things not directly related to taxes: it bans collective bargaining for certain independent contractors, it withholds from cities using traffic cameras state funding equal to the amount of revenue they raise with those cameras, it requires abortion clinics to have transfer agreements with hospitals no more than 30 miles away and it eliminates the controversial PARCC tests.

Right as the budget epic was rushing toward the finale, a huge ruling came down from the US Supreme Court - in a case from Ohio. The Court ruled 5-4 in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage is legal throughout the United States, upholding the right of Jim Obergefell of Cincinnati to be listed as the surviving spouse on his husband's death certificate. While many celebrated, for some people the decision was no reason to party. The Cincinnati based group Citizens for Community Values had launched the campaign to put that before voters in 2004, and board member Rev. Tim Throckmorton of Crossroads Church in Circleville is disappointed. But Elyzabeth Holford with Equality Ohio says now that the ruling is established law, her group and others who have been fighting for marriage equality will turn their attention to other issues important to the community.