Minnesota expects $876 million surplus
ST. PAUL, Minn. ( AP) — Minnesota budget officials estimated a surprise $876 million surplus for the rest of the state’s two- year budget on Thursday, easing fears of another bruising political fight just months after partisan deadlock over how to close the last budget deficit led to a partial shutdown of state government.
Predictions at the Capitol had been pessimistic, with red- ink estimates ranging from $500 million to $1 billion. But revenues came in $ 358 million higher than expected and spending was $205 million below earlier estimates, budget officials said.
“ This is obviously good news and a helpful break from recurring budget gaps,” Jim Schowalter, the state’s budget commissioner, said in a statement accompanying the forecast. “It’s also a reminder that Minnesota still has some significant strengths — aboveaverage economic performance and the discipline to quickly stabilize its finances. Future risk remains, but at least we now have a cushion.”
1 person dead in foggy highway pileup
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A small car plowed into the back of a U.S. mail truck, killing one person in just one of several collisions in a chain-reaction crash on a fogbound highway near Nashville on Thursday
It appeared the car struck stopped traffic during the morning commute, said Ray McLaughlin, a district chief with the Hendersonville Fire Department. As the fog lifted, damaged vehicles could be seen along a mile of Vietnam Veterans Parkway in Hendersonville.
“ I would compare it to a racetrack when there’s been a pileup,” McLaughlin said. “Everyone started bouncing off one another.”
The chief said emergency workers counted 179 vehicles stopped at the crash scene, 50 of which had collided.
The dead man was Paul Warren, 28, of Hendersonville, according to Shawna Zodi, a spokeswoman for the Hendersonville Medical Center. She said eight people were released after treatment for minor injuries.
Brown to submit tax-hike proposal
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Facing another budget deficit and the prospect of deep cuts to education, Gov. Jerry Brown plans to file a ballot initiative as early as today that asks voters to increase taxes on the wealthy and raise the sales tax by half a cent.
The initiative would be intended for the November ballot and would maintain a pledge Brown made during his 2010 gubernatorial race not to raise taxes without a vote of the people.
His plan was initially reported by The Los Angeles Times, which cited sources with direct knowledge of it.
A legislative source who had been briefed on the proposal but was not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on Thursday that the initiative would call for adding an extra 1 percent tax on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year.
Individuals making between $300,000 and $500,000 would be taxed an additional 1.5 percent, while those making more than $500,000 would be taxed another 2 percent.
Toyota posts 7% hike in November sales
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — Toyota says its U.S. sales rose 7 percent in November, boosted by the introductions of new models and improved dealer inventories.
Toyota’s sales have suffered in the months since the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which resulted in parts shortages that limited how many vehicles it could build.
Toyota sold a total of 137,960 new cars and trucks, up from 129,317 in the same month last year.
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