State Budget Deficit is 9 billion?

There's a good article about the Illinois state budget deficit at the Journal-Register. Dan Hynes has been warning about a shortfall for months, but before this week I had never heard that he warned we could face anything like a $9 billion deficit. 

In a related note, the Capitol Fax blog discusses some of the politics around the state budget deficit and federal politics. 

Dan Hynes has a pretty good webpage for the Comptroller where you can read about budget issues related to various policies.