States of Alarm
By Bob Herbert

There is something eerie, even a little unnerving, about the budget crises that continue to spread, like a contagious, crippling disease, to states and cities across the U.S.
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A cutting edge Oregon wishes it wasn't on

Oregonians are proud that their state has been an incubator for change — a place where urban sprawl is in check, terminally ill people have the right to die and health insurance has been extended to the working poor.

Now their state is at the unenviable forefront of another trend: a fiscal crisis, fueled by the recession, that has states across the country frantically looking for ways to close the gap between government spending and declining revenues.
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Many States Face Gloomy Budget Choices
Despite months of steep cost-cutting, the worst is yet to come. A Virginia prosecutor is seeking corporate sponsors for certain types of cases.

Struggling through their worst financial crisis in half a century, states are freeing prisoners, closing libraries, hiking college tuition, even halting prosecution of abusive spouses as legislators scramble to plug budget gaps that seem to widen by the day.
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