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By Anonymous

GHNewsroom

Posted Jan 12, 2011 @ 09:50 AM

From The AP and APME:

We're calling to your attention BROKEN BUDGETS-YEAR OF RECKONING, the start of the yearlong national project by The Associated Press and Associated Press Managing Editors to examine the fiscal crisis facing U.S. states and cities. The story will move in advance for Sunday AMs, with photos and a graphic.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- If 2011 is hinting at a national recovery, there is little sign of it in statehouses across the country. States that already have raided their reserve funds, relied on borrowing or accounting gimmicks, and imposed deep cuts on schools, parks and public transit systems no longer can protect key services in the face of another round of multibillion dollar deficits. As governors begin to roll out their budget proposals and legislatures convene this month, they do so amid a sputtering economic recovery and predictions of slow growth for years to come. State and local governments face lackluster revenue projections, worries from Wall Street over looming debt and the loss of federal stimulus money.

Republican and Democratic governors alike are detailing across-the-board pain for education, health care, transportation, public safety and other programs. Some say the year of reckoning for state and local governments is at hand, with calls for structural changes that could radically shift expectations of what services government provides. Many believe the year ahead will be the most challenging in memory, with consequences for those who depend on government funding. By Judy Lin and Shannon McCaffrey.

The AP-APME project will take a look at how state and local governments will deal with the fiscal crisis and how Americans' lives will change because of it. Such stories in the project can be jointly produced by the AP, its members and other journalism organizations. If your organization has a story it wants to contribute to the project, or an idea that can be produced jointly, please contact your state's AP bureau chief.