We have good news!
First off, no lame car insurance joke here.
Second, Gov. Mike Easley says the state is in the money, relatively speaking. In a press release issued Monday Easley said that revenue collections were expected to be about $425 million ahead of predicted for the year.
Of course, most that money will come by virtue of tax scofflaws paying up in exchange for amnesty.
And curiously, the windfall didn't help Senate budget writers put their spending plan on the table. Although they had put things in place to unveil a budget Monday, budget writers pulled back, canceling a series of meetings scheduled to lay out the Senate's budget proposal.
The group of Democratic leaders responsible for compiling the initial draft emerged from behind closed doors just before 7 p.m. Monday to say they might have something Tuesday.