We weren't expecting to become the most important city in Ohio, but we'll take it. During CNN's liveblog session about the snowstorms that befuddled the Midwest in February, the cable news channel inadvertently declared Cincinnati to be the Buckeye State's capital city instead of Columbus. Read CityBeat's story about Cincinnati's crowning. Photo: Francisco Huerta Jr.

We weren’t expecting to become the most important city in Ohio, but we’ll take it. During CNN’s liveblog session about the snowstorms that befuddled the Midwest in February, the cable news channel inadvertently declared Cincinnati to be the Buckeye State’s capital city instead of Columbus. Read CityBeat’s story about Cincinnati’s crowning. Photo: Francisco Huerta Jr.

Congratulations, Cincinnati! We have finally knocked the teeth out of Columbus to become the capital of Ohio. Yaaaaaay, we did it!

Well, CNN seems to think so, anyway.

Photo: Cropped article by CNN

During a Feb. 18 liveblog of weather updates around the country, the cable network highlighted Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s proclamation declaring a state of emergency for Lawrence County. The county had been hit hard by the recent winter storm, with ice, snow and debris causing dangerous conditions.

That’s bad news, indeed. But it’s how CNN described Lawrence County’s location that captured our attention.

“Lawrence County is about 144 miles east of the state capital Cincinnati,” CNN posted.

“State capital Cincinnati.”

“STATE CAPITAL CINCINNATI.”

DeWine didn’t include in his proclamation that Columbus had been stripped of its rank, unfortunately, so CityBeat hasn’t been able to confirm Cincinnati’s new title.

But we’re going to continue to believe it’s true for two reasons: We’re so much better than Columbus, and cable news said so.

This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2021.