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Michigan highlights from the Pew Center on the States report released Wednesday:
In Arizona, the budget has grown so gloomy that lawmakers are considering mortgaging Capitol buildings. In Michigan, state officials dealing with the nation's highest unemployment rate are slashing spending on schools and health care.
Michigan's governor warned Tuesday of a possible 20 percent cut in state spending next year, a draconian step after billions in cuts since 2003 have already dented police and fire services, pushed schools toward insolvency and reduced oversight of prison inmates.
The recession is probably over, which means states' financial troubles have only begun.
In a Sept. 26 story about Michigan's looming budget deadline, The Associated Press reported erroneously the surname of Connecticut's governor. Her correct name is Jodi Rell, not Rendell.
Economically beleaguered Michigan faces a possible government shutdown — shuttering highway rest areas, state parks, construction projects and the state lottery — if lawmakers fail to reach a budget deal in the next few days.
Ben Ahlvers is a full-time arts education coordinator, but his passion is with the fanciful creatures, human figures and oversized hammers he fashions from clay.
As it turns out, mating gophers and badgers isn't so easy. Just ask the bureaucrats in Wisconsin and Minnesota, who are trying to find efficiencies and save money on everything from sharing amusement ride inspectors to buying ammunition and tires.
States are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece on special legislative sessions whose chief purpose, ironically, is to trim more funding from their eroding budgets.
In state after cash-strapped state, lawmakers are fighting a familiar partisan battle over taxing and spending with a new urgency and higher political stakes as they wrestle with multibillion-dollar deficits forcing widespread budget cuts.
South Dakota eliminated grants for mosquito spraying. Illinois stopped paying for funerals for the poor. Kansas reduced mowing along highways and turned off air conditioning in government buildings earlier than usual.
With its IOUs and plans to close state offices three days a month, California gets all the attention as lawmakers fight to write a budget set off balance by a $26.3 billion deficit.
As lawmakers in cash-strapped states wrestled this year with revenues that kept on falling, both campaign promises and long-standing reform efforts got pushed to the side. There just wasn't enough time or money to expand health care or improve education — or, in Rhode Island, finally get around to banning indoor prostitution — while also passing a budget.
Colin Daymude was out of work last year after his business failed and eagerly filed his taxes in mid-January, figuring he'd get his refund sooner. He was wrong.
Several states are facing the prospect of government shutdowns and program cuts as they enter the first weekend of the fiscal year and July Fourth holiday without a budget in place.
Legislators in more than a half-dozen states, their revenues evaporating in the recession, frantically worked to stave off government shutdowns and devastating service cuts. California failed to meet a midnight deadline and now may need to issue IOUs instead of paying bills.
The California Senate has shut down for the night after failing to approve a stopgap plan to stave off the need for IOUs and ease the state's $24.3 billion budget deficit.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is laying off as many as 22,000 state employees. New York's governor is raising the possibility of selling — or more accurately, leasing — the Brooklyn Bridge. Nevada is burning through its rainy-day fund like a gambler on a losing streak. And Maryland is pinning its hopes on slot machines.
School budgets have seemed to defy gravity in recent years — going up steadily without ever coming down. But school board members from across the country say that's likely to change soon, and they're bracing for leaner times forced by the nation's economic downturn.
An independent investigation has found that imprisoned former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham took advantage of secrecy and badgered congressional aides to help slip items into classified bills that would benefit him and his associates.
Have we discovered it all? Billions are spent on medical research, but we have entered an era of diminishing returns
I live on a busy highway. Just 25 feet from my front door is a four lane highway. It is a main vein between cities in the northern woods of Wisconsin. And I am happy here.
10 Reasons Why the Microsoft-Apple Battle Helps PC BuyersNews Analysis: As the marketing battle between Apple and Microsoft continues to heat up, PC buyers are benefiting from improvements in features, security and user experience on both platforms.
Global Melt Down about to restart with New US Mortgage Fight!!!Federal Bankruptcy Judge Linda Riegle ruled earlier this year in Las Vegas that MERS had no standing because the company is not the real party in interest — it doesn't actually own the loan. In other words, in the course of bankruptcy proceedings, MERS had no claim to the house.
Wall Street - Run by Cannibals and Vampires that Own Congress and SenateLooting and plundering the world is the primary goal of the criminal cabal that controls America. We've previously demonstrated how they amass wealth by the destruction of people and material through the tactic of unending war.
Nations largest states all under Democrat control are ALL FAILING!!!THE NATION'S two megastates are poised to embark on constitutional experiments of a scale not seen since Philadelphia in 1787.
The Party that rules California is Responsible for the State of Trouble thereWhatever the wisdom of ballot initiatives that protect some programs from cuts, they are not the root cause of California's fiscal disaster. That cause is the government's spending addiction. From 1990 to 2008, California's revenues increased 167%, but total spending soared 181%.
Cities Too Poor To Bury Dead Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/cities-too-poor-to-bury-d_n_306702.html"CNN's Assignment Detroit project released a report Thursday detailing how 67 people lie in wait at the Wayne County morgue.
Three Decades of Democrat Controlled of the State of California has Produced What???It's been a mess for much of the past three decades because the combination of an out-of date tax system, reckless spending and fickle voters has made state government extremely vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of the economy.
Economy Pinches TV PilotsA must read article for cast and crew regarding the continuing financial climate and how it effects production.
Budget cuts: Free Library of Philadelphia to closeAll Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009 All Free Library of Philadelphia Customers,
TRICARE To Reduce Spending By $1.6 BillionThe Defense Department is projected to reduce spending by $1.67 billion...
Now that you are apparently able to bring a loaded gun to town halls in some states, it will most certainly prevent or reduce a number of them from taking place across the Country. This is exactly what the health care companies want and need to happen.
Judges order state to release nearly 43,000 prisoners in next two years California's prisons are so overcrowded that the state is violating inmates' constitutional rights, three federal judges ruled today in a decision imposing a cap on the prison population that will force the state to release nearly 43,000 prisoners over the next two years.
Ed Fishbein: California's woes might be a sneak preview for the nation Much of the rest of the nation seems to be getting a good laugh out of California's budget fiasco. The undercurrent in many of the television and print reports seems to be that the self-indulgent Left Coasters are getting exactly what they deserve.
States brace for government shutdowns Of the 46 states whose fiscal year ends today, 32 did not have budgets passed and approved by their governors as of Monday afternoon, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Best Online Tools for Personal Financefree online tools for budgets, loans, investments, and credit cards
House Members' Office Spending Records to Go Online - washingtonpost.comHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that the House will soon start posting online quarterly records of how members use their personal office funds, giving watchdog groups a chance to examine staff salaries and other spending by members of Congress.
States' Budget Woes Are Poised to Worsen State budgets look bad now, but they are set to get worse. The bulk of funds from the federal government's stimulus package will be allocated by 2011, but tax collections aren't likely to be enough to take their place -- even if the economy is recovering.
David Frum: Quick fix today, crisis tomorrow in Obama's White House And so will the other states, as they too get the message: no pay cuts for unionized workers will be tolerated by Obama's Washington. So, result:
Benefits of Using Unionized WorkersCommuters in our Nations Capital who cannot find time to make it to the gym for their workouts are now able to burn off those extra calorie lunch's compliments of the DC Metro Union worker's Obama Method, spend big- cut little, "Let's Get Fit " Program.
Pets sacrificed when wolf is at the door Some pet lovers have been forced to make the cruelest cut to their dwindling budgets. Pet owners are being forced to put their pets up for adoption due the economy.
I want a show of hands, how many of you have planned a wedding? I seriously think I should become a wedding planner! I have been a security guard, bartender, band manager, pooper scooper, dental assistant, writer and now....wedding planner!
Just because you're broke doesn't mean that you should stop going out on dates. Here's a list of creative date ideas that don't cost a lot of money.Whether you're in a relationship that needs some romantic rekindling or you're a single person looking for a swinging good time, these 30 creative date ideas should bring a low-cost spark back into your world.
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